Alternative Representation Research Articles

“We Dem Folks . . . To Be Continued”: Disrupting the Negative Social Imagery of African American Youth Through a Close Study of the To Be Continued Brass Band Across Screen Media

Abstract This article examines the potential of screen media to disrupt the negative social images of African American youth projected in mainstream culture. Black youth in America have historically been negatively misrepresented and misread within our society through mass-mediated images on television and film. The “negative social imagery” of African American youth across media continues to contribute to their marginalization and plight within society. Recent scholarship suggests that problematic values and behaviors of inner-city Black youth—violence, hypermasculinity, misogyny, drug addiction, educational failure, unemployment—is attributed to their near-total immersion in the mainstream mass media. This supports the notion of “they will be what they see.” But what if we offer them something different? Something more positive? Something within a Black cultural history rooted in a strong tradition and legacy. Drawing from such social media platforms as YouTube and Vimeo, in conjunction with ethnographic fieldwork and music analysis, this study investigates the potentially positive outcomes of presenting an alternative representation of Black youth through a jazz tradition that extends back to the great Buddy Bolden. Recreating the image of African American youth requires a multidimensional paradigmatic shift, disrupting mythological narratives that invoke further harm and misconceptions. To successfully redirect this pathology, I draw on Tyrone Howard, Terry Flennaugh, and Clarence Terry's (2012) lead and incorporate the views, ideas, and perspectives of the Black males themselves in re-creating their own mediated images. This project offers a model suggesting a more profound and critical approach to narratives, histories, and ethnographies of African American youth across screen media.

Making first order linear logic a generating grammar

It is known that different categorial grammars have surface representation in a fragment of first order multiplicative linear logic (MLL1). We show that the fragment of interest is equivalent to the recently introduced extended tensor type calculus (ETTC). ETTC is a calculus of specific typed terms, which represent tuples of strings, more precisely bipartite graphs decorated with strings. Types are derived from linear logic formulas, and rules correspond to concrete operations on these string-labeled graphs, so that they can be conveniently visualized. This provides the above mentioned fragment of MLL1 that is relevant for language modeling not only with some alternative syntax and intuitive geometric representation, but also with an intrinsic deductive system, which has been absent. In this work we consider a non-trivial notationally enriched variation of the previously introduced ETTC, which allows more concise and transparent computations. We present both a cut-free sequent calculus and a natural deduction formalism.

Minor Changes Change Memories: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Behavioral Reflections of Episodic Prediction Errors.

Episodic memories can be modified, a process that is potentially driven by mnemonic prediction errors. In the present study, we used modified cues to induce prediction errors of different episodic relevance. Participants encoded episodes in the form of short toy stories and then returned for an fMRI session on the subsequent day. Here, participants were presented either original episodes or slightly modified versions thereof. Modifications consisted of replacing a single object within the episode and either challenged the gist of an episode (gist modifications) or left it intact (surface modifications). On the next day, participants completed a post-fMRI memory test that probed memories for originally encoded episodes. Both types of modifications triggered brain activation in regions we previously found to be involved in the processing of content-based mnemonic prediction errors (i.e., the exchange of an object). Specifically, these were ventrolateral pFC, intraparietal cortex, and lateral occipitotemporal cortex. In addition, gist modifications triggered pronounced brain responses, whereas those for surface modification were only significant in the right inferior frontal sulcus. Processing of gist modifications also involved the posterior temporal cortex and the precuneus. Interestingly, our findings confirmed the posterior hippocampal role of detail processing in episodic memory, as evidenced by increased posterior hippocampal activity for surface modifications compared with gist modifications. In the post-fMRI memory test, previous experience with surface modified, but not gist-modified episodes, increased erroneous acceptance of the same modified versions as originally encoded. Whereas surface-level prediction errors might increase uncertainty and facilitate confusion of alternative episode representations, gist-level prediction errors seem to trigger the clear distinction of independent episodes.

Third-order exponential integrator for linear Klein–Gordon equations with time and space-dependent mass

Allowing for space- and time-dependence of mass in Klein–Gordon equations resolves the problem of negative probability density and of violation of Lorenz covariance of interaction in quantum mechanics. Moreover it extends their applicability to the domain of quantum cosmology, where the variation in mass may be accompanied by high oscillations. In this paper we propose a third-order exponential integrator, where the main idea lies in embedding the oscillations triggered by the possibly highly oscillatory component intrinsically into the numerical discretisation. While typically high oscillation requires appropriately small time steps, an application of Filon methods allows implementation with large time steps even in the presence of very high oscillation. This greatly improves the efficiency of the time-stepping algorithm. Proof of the convergence and its rate are nontrivial and require alternative representation of the equation under consideration. We derive careful bounds on the growth of global error in time discretisation and prove that, contrary to standard intuition, the error of time integration does not grow once the frequency of oscillations increases. Several numerical simulations are presented to confirm the theoretical investigations and the robustness of the method in all oscillatory regimes.

Using alternative SMILES representations to identify novel functional analogues in chemical similarity vector searches

Chemical similarity searches are a widely used family of in silico methods for identifying pharmaceutical leads. These methods historically relied on structure-based comparisons to compute similarity. Here, we use a chemical language model to create a vector-based chemical search. We extend previous implementations by creating a prompt engineering strategy that utilizes two different chemical string representation algorithms: one for the query and the other for the database. We explore this method by reviewing search results from nine queries with diverse targets. We find that the method identifies molecules with similar patent-derived functionality to the query, as determined by our validated LLM-assisted patent summarization pipeline. Further, many of these functionally similar molecules have different structures and scaffolds from the query, making them unlikely to be found with traditional chemical similarity searches. This method may serve as a new tool for the discovery of novel molecular structural classes that achieve target functionality.

‘Historiese improvisasie’

Karel Schoeman’s fictional historiography Skepelinge. Aanloop tot ‘n roman (2017) offersan alternative representation of the early colonial history at Cape of Good Hope with itspronounced emphasis on marginalized individuals or groups and unrealized socialpotentials of the (hybridized) colonial society. By activating forgotten or concealednarratives and alternative visions of history and by writing from the position of historical‘losers’, the text also contains an anti-colonial potential and reveals a constant ideologicalstruggle in the historiographical representations. The novel therefore fits into the postapartheid literary trend of rewriting (national) history, parodizing canonical texts andcriticizing the ideological strongholds of Afrikaner nationalism.

Vertex position estimation with spatial–temporal transformer for 3D human reconstruction

Reconstructing 3D human pose and body shape from monocular images or videos is a fundamental task for comprehending human dynamics. Frame-based methods can be broadly categorized into two fashions: those regressing parametric model parameters (e.g., SMPL) and those exploring alternative representations (e.g., volumetric shapes, 3D coordinates). Non-parametric representations have demonstrated superior performance due to their enhanced flexibility. However, when applied to video data, these non-parametric frame-based methods tend to generate inconsistent and unsmooth results. To this end, we present a novel approach that directly regresses the 3D coordinates of the mesh vertices and body joints with a spatial–temporal Transformer. In our method, we introduce a SpatioTemporal Learning Block (STLB) with Spatial Learning Module (SLM) and Temporal Learning Module (TLM), which leverages spatial and temporal information to model interactions at a finer granularity, specifically at the body token level. Our method outperforms previous state-of-the-art approaches on Human3.6M and 3DPW benchmark datasets.

Measuring the classroom level of the Dynamic Model of Educational Effectiveness through teacher self-report: development and validation of a new instrument

In the Dynamic Model of Educational Effectiveness, classroom-level effectiveness factors are assessed through observations or aggregated students’ ratings. The current study is aimed at developing and validating a complementary teacher self-report instrument of effective practices at classroom level (the DMEE-Class-T). The new instrument showed concurrent validity with the CSS-T. Dimensionality of both instruments was examined using the bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) framework, testing for alternative factorial representations of the data collected in a large-scale study conducted in all Luxembourgish elementary schools. For both instruments, the bifactor-ESEM and ESEM models showed excellent fitting indices and parameters, but the ESEM solution was retained as the best model for parsimony purpose. These results suggest that the eight types of practices assessed through the DMEE-Class-T could be considered as distinct facets of effective teaching practices while taking items cross-loadings into account. Implications for research and teachers’ professional development are discussed.

Representation of operators using fusion frames

To solve operator equations numerically, matrix representations are employing bases or more recently frames. For finding the numerical solution of operator equations a decomposition in subspaces is needed in many applications. To combine those two approaches, it is necessary to extend the known methods of matrix representation to the utilization of fusion frames. In this paper, we investigate this representation of operators on a Hilbert space H with Bessel fusion sequences, fusion frames and fusion Riesz bases. Fusion frames can be considered as a frame-like family of subspaces. Taking the particular property of the duality of fusion frames into account, this allows us to define a matrix representation in a canonical as well as an alternate way, the later being more efficient and well behaved in respect to inversion. We will give the basic definitions and show some structural results, like that the functions assigning the alternate representation to an operator is an algebra homomorphism. We give formulas for pseudo-inverses and the inverses (if existing) of such matrix representations. We apply this idea to Schatten p-class operators. Consequently, we show that tensor products of fusion frames are fusion frames in the space of Hilbert-Schmidt operators. We will show how this can be used for the solution of operator equations and link our approach to the additive Schwarz algorithm. Consequently, we propose some methods for solving an operator equation by iterative methods on the subspaces. Moreover, we implement the alternate Schwarz algorithms employing our perspective and provide small proof-of-concept numerical experiments. Finally, we show the application of this concept to overlapped convolution and the non-standard wavelet representation of operators.

Critical Multimodal Literacy and Oral Proficiency Development

This descriptive case study aimed to investigate the impact of critical multimodal literacy in English classes, which included the use of parody films and metaverse-based User-Created Content (UCC) related to disability, on Korean university EFL learners’ conventional literacy and awareness of disability. Data were collected from three participants with varying English proficiency and educational backgrounds over a two-month period, with weekly sessions lasting two and a half hours. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, such as questionnaires, interviews, group discussions, reflective papers, and metaverse-based UCC productions, was employed to assess the effectiveness of critical multimodal literacy in English speaking and disability education. Korean EFL students, influenced by Confucian culture, tend to hesitate when expressing their opinions publicly. In response, this research proposes using avatars to create alternative textual representations of their viewpoints instead of recording personal video presentations. This innovative approach aims to evaluate changes in students’ attitudes towards disabilities and improvements in their oral communication abilities. The overall findings indicated that (1) The critical multimodal literacy practice, employing parody films based on fairy tales in the classroom, plays a significant role in the development of conventional literacy among Korean adult EFL learners. (2) The practice of critical multimodal literacy, which involves using parody films of fairy tales that address disabilities, helps EFL learners broaden their perspectives on disabilities and modify their social behaviors. (3) Attitudes and reactions toward disabilities varied according to the individual experiences of EFL learners.

Abstract Fractional Cauchy Problem: Existence of Propagators and Inhomogeneous Solution Representation

We consider a Cauchy problem for the inhomogeneous differential equation given in terms of an unbounded linear operator A and the Caputo fractional derivative of order α∈(0,2) in time. The previously known representation of the mild solution to such a problem does not have a conventional variation-of-constants like form, with the propagator derived from the associated homogeneous problem. Instead, it relies on the existence of two propagators with different analytical properties. This fact limits theoretical and especially numerical applicability of the existing solution representation. Here, we propose an alternative representation of the mild solution to the given problem that consolidates the solution formulas for sub-parabolic, parabolic and sub-hyperbolic equations with a positive sectorial operator A and non-zero initial data. The new representation is solely based on the propagator of the homogeneous problem and, therefore, can be considered as a more natural fractional extension of the solution to the classical parabolic Cauchy problem. By exploiting a trade-off between the regularity assumptions on the initial data in terms of the fractional powers of A and the regularity assumptions on the right-hand side in time, we show that the proposed solution formula is strongly convergent for t≥0 under considerably weaker assumptions compared to the standard results from the literature. Crucially, the achieved relaxation of space regularity assumptions ensures that the new solution representation is practically feasible for any α∈(0,2) and is amenable to the numerical evaluation using uniformly accurate quadrature-based algorithms.

Screening through silence: The representation of queerness in Retablo (2017)

Retablo is a feature-length film, mostly shot in Quechua language, centred on an Indigenous family who lives in the Peruvian Andes and makes a living as artisans of the eponymous folk art. The main storyline is about Segundo, a 14-year-old only-child and apprentice, whose close relationship with his father and master, Noé, is drastically altered when it is revealed that the latter has sexual relationships with other men. Drawing from decolonial queer theory (Gomes-Pereira, Miskolci, Pelúcio), in this article I rehearse an analysis of Retablo as a case study to reconsider the notion of queer cinema and the representation of queer experiences on the continent. First, I review the use of ‘queer’ in Latin American film scholarship and argue for an understanding of the category not focused on issues such as identity, homophobia and machismo, but on the cinematic formal strategies used to portray local queer practices. Following this line of thought, I engage with Schoonover and Galt’s argument that film is a ‘queerly inflected medium’ to probe how Retablo’s attempt to incite a queer spectatorship using an Indigenous aesthetic grammar illustrates the intertwining between global queer cinema and local elaborations of sexual difference. Lastly, I use the category of ‘silence’ (Sifuentes-Jaúregui) to study Retablo’s alternative representation of queer sexuality. I suggest that the film’s depiction of queer desires resorting to unnaming and concealing is an example of an alternative figuration of queer subjectivity in Latin American cinema, one distanced from the Anglo-American narratives of ‘coming out’.

Admittance-based modelling of cables and overhead lines by idempotent decomposition

This paper presents a new modelling approach based on idempotent decomposition of the nodal admittance matrix for representation of cables and overhead lines (OHL). By subjecting the idempotent matrices rather than the nodal admittance matrix to rational fitting, the poor observability of the smallest eigenvalues in the lower frequency range is overcome. Unlike the well-known method of characteristics (MoC), this alternative representation yields a so general fully-coupled admittance matrix suitable to tackle scenarios encompassing short and long lengths. Besides retaining the frequency dependence of parameters, the proposed phase-domain model showed to be accurate and suitable to circumvent the requirement of small time-steps.

From Vilification to Celebration: Arab American Comedians and Their Alternative Representations of Arabs and Muslims in Hollywood

This article explores how Arab American comedians use humor and satire to challenge and subvert Hollywood’s negative stereotypes and portrayals of Arabs and Muslims. Drawing on the theory of Jack Shaheen, who analyzed and contested Arab and Muslim stereotypes in American media, the article uses qualitative content analysis to examine stand-up shows, films, and television series featuring Arab American comedians and other ethnic comedians in Hollywood. The article identifies common misconceptions and stereotypes, examines the techniques of humor and satire, and compares the impact of Arab American comedy with that of other ethnic comedies. The article argues that Arab American comedians successfully challenge Hollywood’s stereotypes and create alternative representations that celebrate their identity, culture, and diversity. The article contributes to existing literature on humor, satire, representation, stereotyping, resistance, empowerment, identity, culture, diversity, Arab Americans, Muslims, Hollywood, and the media.

Practices and Educational Affordances of Sound in the Postcolonial Hong Kong Protests

ABSTRACT Sound has been theorised for its functional role as informative agent in political advocacy and participation in political studies, yet the investigation on the pedagogical potential has been largely absent. This paper examines the pedagogical impact and educational affordances of sound through a case study of the political struggles in post-colonial Hong Kong. Among the series of large-scale disputes, the use of sound is multifaceted and has invited knowledge through different means including social media sonification, practices of sound as protesting tactics, and the alternative position, representation, facilitate understanding and learning of sound within the postcolonial framework. These sonic practices revealed the educational affordances of sound that goes beyond the conventional function to transfer knowledge and information, serving as a catalyst to sustain political resistance and make available the opportunity to learn through participatory studies and reflective practices. Within the postcolonial Hong Kong context, sound extends the political confrontation to the non-physical and affective space, where the listeners can afford to recognise and engage in the actualisation of sound. It also unfolded social discourses that characterised the postcoloniality of Hong Kong and revealed the evolving power relation among citizens and authorities.

New mock theta functions and formulas for basic hypergeometric series

AbstractIn recent years, mock theta functions in the modern sense have received great attention to seek examples of q-hypergeometric series and find their alternative representations. In this paper, we discover some new mock theta functions and express them in terms of Hecke-type double sums based on some basic hypergeometric series identities given by Z.G. Liu.

Painlevé V and confluent Heun equations associated with a perturbed Gaussian unitary ensemble

We discuss the monic polynomials of degree n orthogonal with respect to the perturbed Gaussian weight w(z,t)=|z|α(z2+t)λe−z2,z∈R,t>0,α>−1,λ>0, which arises from a symmetrization of a semi-classical Laguerre weight wLag(z,t)=zγ(z+t)ρe−z,z∈R+,t>0,γ>−1,ρ>0. The weight wLag(z) has been widely investigated in multiple-input multi-output antenna wireless communication systems in information theory. Based on the ladder operator method, two auxiliary quantities, Rn(t) and rn(t), which are related to the three-term recurrence coefficients βn(t), are defined, and we show that they satisfy coupled Riccati equations. This turns to be a particular Painlevé V (PV, for short), i.e., PVλ22,−(1−(−1)nα)28,−2n+α+2λ+12,−12. We also consider the quantity σn(t)≔2tddtlnDn(t), which is allied to the logarithmic derivative of the Hankel determinant Dn(t). The difference and differential equations satisfied by σn(t), as well as an alternative integral representation of Dn(t), are obtained. The asymptotics of the Hankel determinant under a suitable double scaling, i.e., n → ∞ and t → 0 such that s ≔ 4nt is fixed, are established. Finally, by using the second order difference equation satisfied by the recurrence coefficients, we obtain the large n full asymptotic expansions of βn(t) with the aid of Dyson’s Coulomb fluid approach. By employing these results, the second differential equations satisfied by the orthogonal polynomials will be reduced to a confluent Heun equation.

Grid Equivalent Representation of Power Systems With Penetration of Power Electronics

The Thévenin equivalent is considered as the standard grid equivalent for power system analysis. The integration on power electronics components in the power systems introduces non-linear operation characteristics that cannot be captured by Thévenin equivalent. Therefore, an alternative grid equivalent representation is required. This paper presents a steady-state equivalent representation of power systems with penetration of power electronics, which is suitable for both normal operation studies and short-circuit calculations. This equivalent grid representation is developed based on the voltage-current ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">U-I</i> ) characteristic of a power system to map the relationship between voltages and currents of a specific network node. Such grid equivalent representation has been presented for single-phase, balanced and unbalanced three-phase power systems in this paper. A methodology is presented to identify operation points when the equivalent system under study is connected to any external system. The proposed equivalent grid representation and the methodology for operation points identification have been tested on the Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based test system and are validated through dynamic simulations.

Painting with Data: Visually based open-source tool for geo-computing

In this article we present, the conceptual and technical background of a tool for mapping and geo-computing, Painting with Data (PWD). PWD was inspired by early computer mapping algorithms that focused on drawing as an intuitive interface between spatial data and architectural practice. PWD embraces the potential of such techniques, coupled with alternative computational representations, modes of interaction, and computational interfaces, to encourage public participation in planning and design. Essential to this task, is PWD’s integration of open-source, collaborative, interactive, and web-based technologies to create an online software with a visually based approach to spatial analysis and mapping that dramatically reduces the steep learning curve required for GIS software. As a high-level graphical interface, PWD allows users to iterate by intuitively creating spatial models on-the-fly based on their subjective understanding of information. In PWD, we deploy voxels, a data structure that organizes information as 3D pixels, which allows users to compute with spatial information visually, to potentially inform the ways in which users build quantitative models. In PWD, multiple layers of information can be visualized concurrently, and visual correlations can be made instantly. Users build spatial models by directly manipulating the map itself instead of manipulating a database that then produces a map. PWD’s high-level interaction is made possible by custom data structures that leverage GPU processing, which makes them significantly faster than traditional topological data structures. Computationally, user interactions generate visualization specifications and declarative queries that are compiled and executed by the platform. Lastly, PWD introduces a visual programming language, which enables intuitive geospatial modeling and visualization. Practical work has shown the value of PWD’s approach to design students, planning agencies and community non-profits. Throughout the process, PWD’s open-source spatial models generated a user community with more than 3000 users, including designers, students, and educators.

Excavation Damage Zone fracture modelling for seismic tomography: A comparison of explicit fractures and effective medium approaches

We model the full wavefield produced by a seismic velocity survey and optimise the representation of the fracture zone to best match field waveforms. The velocity survey was part of a mapping study on fractures in the Excavation Damage Zone (EDZ) of ONKALO underground research facility at Olkiluoto. The EDZ results from excavation of the rock mass, which modifies stress conditions changing the nature and behaviour of pre-existing fractures and generating new fracturing. These fractures act as the main transport pathways for contaminants both in and out of a geological disposal facility (GDF). Our goal is to test different representations of the fracture zone and to determine which models most successfully improve the interpretation of the fracture zone, producing estimates of a key unknown parameter, fracture stiffness, in addition to fracture sizes, fracture geometry, fracture density and crack density. We use modelling techniques previously tested in theoretical and laboratory studies and assess their performance on a real engineering problem. The paper introduces the field experiment and relevant information from the GDF in Finland. It describes the methodologies used for representing the fracture networks in the models — Explicit Fracture models with two approximations called Pixelised Fracture Model (PFM) and Equivalent Discrete Fracture Medium (EDFM), the Effective Medium (EM) model, and two versions of the Localised Effective Medium (LEM) model (LEM fine, LEM thick). These alternative representations were used within models of the field experiment and the calculated waveforms were used in an iterative inversion for fracture stiffness. Results show that the EM model and the EDFM model were unsuccessful in matching recorded waveforms. The fine LEM model and the explicit PFM model produced the best results especially after iterative optimisation of the fracture stiffness, giving confidence that further optimisation will lead to improved characterisation of the fracturing from the full waveform data.