Extreme Version Research Articles

Utopia of Safe Air: How Soviet Research Challenged Western Air Quality Norms, 1950s-1960s.

During the mid-twentieth century, the Soviet Union developed ambitious hygiene standards for clean air that were grounded in extremely sensitive methods of physiological research. As Western experts sought to develop universal standards for environmental regulation, Soviet hygiene research posed a challenge. This article examines the discussions surrounding the Soviet approach at international conferences on air pollution and industrial hygiene during the mid-twentieth century. The article shows that although the Soviet approach was rejected especially by United States experts, many of its qualities resonated with the ongoing discussions about environmental health in the US. The sensitive and holistic methods of the Soviets were compelling in the effort to reveal the most subtle effects environments had on human health. This article shows how the rejection of Soviet standards stemmed not from different scientific methods but from the differences in the overall ideals of environmental regulation. I argue that Soviet hygiene can be seen as an extreme version of technocratic expertise, and its failure highlights the limits of scientific expertise in managing environmental pollution.

Illicit Finance as a National Security Threat: Balancing Security and Unintended Consequences

In recent decades, illicit finance has evolved from being considered an adjunct to other security threats, such as organised crime or terrorism, to a security threat in its own right. For an issue to join the security discourse, the case for its relevance and urgency needs to be made by policymakers and accepted by a target audience. For illicit finance, the securitisation process is ongoing, primarily prompted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. When done properly, securitising a threat ensures that action to tackle it is taken expeditiously. When poorly implemented, it can become an extreme version of politicisation that leads to unintended consequences. Therefore, it is crucial that the inclusion of illicit finance in the security dialogue is grounded in sound and logical reasoning. Maria Nizzero explores the evolution of illicit finance from domestic policy issue to security threat and how it is brought into the national security discourse in the UK.◼

Невопрошающее молчание студентов как коммуникативная неудача: причины явления и способы преодоления

The article considers one of the types of communicative failure often found in pedagogical practice – the absence of questions from students in situations, implying, demanding, or disposing of them. The author, relying on pragmalinguistics and the theory of dialogue, proposed a definition of this kind of communicative failure, called unquestioning silence, as the non-meeting of the consciousnesses of participants in educational communication (student-student, student-teacher) in the event of questioning. 6 reasons for such a non-meeting are highlighted: 1) a state of epistemological concern; 2) a tendency to epistemic egoism in its extreme version; 3) fear or unwillingness to take risks; 4) recognition of the practice of questioning as hierarchical; 5) disinterest in Another, as in homo cogitans; 6) poor development of the technique and culture of questioning. The suspicion of academic disciplines in inefficiency is particularly considered in the context of the paradigm "life as a continuous business project." A behavior model focused on this paradigm assumes, in particular, the assessment of an activity as profitable and profitable for personal and professional development (now or potentially, but preferably in the shortest possible time). Questioning as a tool of cognition, self-knowledge, and reflection is a natural and necessary form of activity for mastering the content of the discipline. The initial prejudice or the conviction formed during training that a certain discipline is ineffective for personal and professional development leads to the recognition of many types of educational interaction as ineffective, including asking, which usually requires significant cognitive efforts, interest, and attention from the student, which from the point of view of using resources in such an economic-oriented attitude (moreover, negative or indifferent) to the subject seems irrational. A possible programminimum of actions is indicated to develop the ability to ask questions. Its invariant part boils down to such operations as developing an interest in Another as a cognizing subject, searching for or choosing a questioning partner, studying typologies of questions, mastering them and practicing them frequently, examining the heuristic potential of questions, and establishing a dictionary of successful, skillful, deep questions. It is emphasized that the culture of questioning should be improved by both sides of the educational process: students and the teacher.

3D Simulation of an Extreme SAID Flow Channel

AbstractSpace‐based observations of the signatures associated with STEVE show how this phenomenon might be closely related to an extreme version of a SAID channel. Measurements show high velocities (>4 km/s), high temperatures (>4,000 K), and very large current density drivers (up to 1 μA/m2). This phenomena happens in a small range of latitudes, less than a degree, but with a large longitudinal span. In this study, we utilize the GEMINI model to simulate an extreme SAID/STEVE. We assume a FAC density coming from the magnetosphere as the main driver, allowing all other parameters to adjust accordingly. We have two main objectives with this work: show how an extreme SAID can have velocity values comparable or larger than the ones measured under STEVE, and to display the limitations and missing physics that arise due to the extreme values of temperature and velocity. Changes had to be made to GEMINI due to the extreme conditions, particularly some neutral‐collision frequencies. The importance of the temperature threshold at which some collision frequencies go outside their respective bounds, as well as significance of the energies that would cause inelastic collisions and impact ionization are displayed and discussed. We illustrate complex structures and behaviors, emphasizing the importance of 3D simulations in capturing these phenomena. Longitudinal structure is emphasized, as the channel develops differently depending on MLT. However, these simulations should be viewed as approximations due to the limited observations available to constrain the model inputs and the assumptions made to achieve sensible results.

The Monstrous Conclusion

This paper introduces the Monstrous Conclusion, according to which, for any population, there is a better population consisting of just one individual (the Monster). The Monstrous Conclusion is deeply counterintuitive. I defend a version of Prioritarianism as a particularly promising population axiology that does not imply the Monstrous Conclusion. According to this version of Prioritarianism, which I call Asymptotic Prioritarianism, there is diminishing marginal moral importance of individual welfare that can get close to, but never quite reach, some upper limit. I argue that Asymptotic Prioritarianism faces a theoretical cost, that I call the Absolute Priority Principle. However, the Absolute Priority Principle is an extreme version of what I call the Trade-off Condition, an already noteworthy problem facing other (more widely endorsed) versions of Prioritarianism. I conclude that it is better for a theory to imply the Absolute Priority Principle and avoid the Monstrous Conclusion than to imply the Monstrous Conclusion and the Trade-off Condition. The potential for Asymptotic Prioritarianism is substantial.

Militant primitivism of F.I. Girenok and the logic of “cultural” self-awareness

The article analyzes the speech of F.I. Girenok at the Philosophical Council in 2022. The author identifies two components in Girenko’s position. The first is primitivism in thinking. The author examines the logic of sociocultural primitivism in its many historical manifestations, highlighting its ideal-typical form. The logic of primitivism is revealed as a response to the negatively understood complexity of sociocultural existence. The second component is “cultural” self-awareness. The author reveals the logic of this type of self-awareness, contrasting it with “postcultural-intercultural” self-awareness. At the same time, the logic of the sociocultural development of humanity is affirmed as moving in a “postcultural” direction. The author reveals a negative version of “cultural” self-awareness as a closure on one’s system of ultimate ideas about the world. Girenko's philosophical position is considered as a combination of an extreme version of primitivism with an extreme version of “cultural” self-awareness.

Impossible arrangements: The extreme challenge of child care for low‐income mothers

AbstractArranging safe and secure child care is necessary for parents of dependent children to maintain their participation in the labor force. This article uncovered the extreme version of work–childcare conflict faced by low‐income mothers. The constant, underlying threat of the loss of income and unsafe conditions for children influences child care and work, hindering their ability to move out of poverty even when employed. This qualitative study uses interview and focus group data collected from low‐income mothers in Colorado, Georgia, and Massachusetts from 2009 to 2020 to explore the obstacles as well as the strategies for finding and keeping child care. The data are the mother's voices as they describe their experiences negotiating care arrangements while working or looking for work. Factors that contributed to this extreme version of work–childcare conflict included: difficult conditions at work and mixed experience relying on care from family and friends. Also uncovered were problems affording paid care and utilizing public vouchers, which may undermine assistance programs. Child care from schools, family, and public programs were greatly diminished during the Covid‐19 pandemic, further exacerbating work–childcare conflict for low‐income mothers. Policy implications and the effects of the pandemic on childcare arrangements were also considered.

Adaptive tails? Parallel evolution of expanded tails in monsoonal tropics lineages of an Australian gecko radiation (Oedura)

Abstract Ecological drivers of variation in the morphology of the lizard tail are understudied despite its important and varied functions in defence, locomotion, balance, climbing, and resource storage. We quantified variation in original tail shape and surface area-to-volume ratio (SA : V) in an Australian gecko clade (Oedura) and tested whether environmental variables are predictors of this variation. To use museum specimens, we developed an approach to straighten deformed preserved tails for accurate shape analysis. Tail shape varied from a relatively ‘typical lizard’ tail—long, tapered, and circular in cross-section—to a distinctive expanded, wide, and flat shape. Extreme versions of the latter shape seem to have evolved in parallel in two distantly related lineages. Wide tails and low SA : V ratio values occur in the Australian Monsoonal Tropics, while arid zone species all had a narrow, tapered tail with high SA : V. These data suggest expanded or bulbous tails may be analogous to succulence in plants and an adaptation for resource storage in environments with predictable peaks (wet season) and dearths (dry season) of resource availability. However, limited replicated evolution of bulbous tails precludes statistical significance in this case, and more analyses of tail anatomy in Oedura and other lizard clades are required to test this hypothesis further.

How the Hinge Region Affects Interactions between the Catalytic and β-Propeller Domains in Oligopeptidase B

In order to elucidate the effect of modification of the hinge region on structural polymorphism associated with conformational transitions, structural studies of hinge-modified oligopeptidase B from Serratia proteamaculans (SpOpBmod) in the crystalline state and solution were carried out. A new crystal structure of SpOpBmod in the intermediate conformation was obtained, and a molecular model of SpOpBmod in the open conformation was created using a combination of small-angle X-ray scattering with MD simulations. The improved electron density of the mobile H-loop carrying the catalytic H652 distinguished the obtained crystal structure from that which was previously reported. Good electron density in this region was previously found only in the inhibitor-bound SpOpBmod structure, in which one of the inhibitor molecules was covalently bound to H652. Comparison of the above structures of free and inhibitor-bound enzymes showed that both tertiary folds are the result of the internal conformational dynamics of SpOpBmod, which were captured by inhibitor binding. Comparison of the SpOpBmod structures with the structures of the same enzyme with a native hinge peptide made it possible to establish the influence of hinge modification on the rearrangement of the interdomain interface during conformational transitions. The above analysis also used models of native and hinge-modified enzymes in open conformations. We found that the interdomain interface observed in the crystal structures of hinge-modified enzymes could be considered an extreme version of the H-loop arrangement, in which closure of the domains does not lead to the assembly of the catalytic triad, whereas the intermediate conformation observed in the structure of the enzyme with the native hinge sequence illustrates a productive transition to the catalytically active closed conformation.

Fuzzballs and random matrices

Black holes are believed to have the fast scrambling properties of random matrices. If the fuzzball proposal is to be a viable model for quantum black holes, it should reproduce this expectation. This is considered challenging, because it is natural for the modes on a fuzzball microstate to follow Poisson statistics. In a previous paper, we noted a potential loophole here, thanks to the modes depending not just on the n-quantum number, but also on the J-quantum numbers of the compact dimensions. For a free scalar field ϕ, by imposing a Dirichlet boundary condition ϕ = 0 at the stretched horizon, we showed that this J-dependence leads to a linear ramp in the Spectral Form Factor (SFF). Despite this, the status of level repulsion remained mysterious. In this letter, motivated by the profile functions of BPS fuzzballs, we consider a generic profile ϕ = ϕ0(θ) instead of ϕ = 0 at the stretched horizon. For various notions of genericity (eg. when the Fourier coefficients of ϕ0(θ) are suitably Gaussian distributed), we find that the J-dependence of the spectrum exhibits striking evidence of level repulsion, along with the linear ramp. We also find that varying the profile leads to natural interpolations between Poisson and Wigner-Dyson(WD)-like spectra. The linear ramp in our previous work can be understood as arising via an extreme version of level repulsion in such a limiting spectrum. We also explain how the stretched horizon/fuzzball is different in these aspects from simply putting a cut-off in flat space or AdS (i.e., without a horizon).

И отново: към какво няма интерес естетическата незаинтересованост? (Шопенхауер след Хобс)

The article retraces a broader context for the emergence of the notions driving the disputed idea of aesthetic disinterestedness, first, by looking at how Shaftesbury aimed to counter Hobbes’s concept of desire as an individual-centred, unsatisfiable drive to possess. In a second step, the article maps those tensions onto tensions within Schopenhauer’s aesthetics and metaphysics (usually classed in a quite different tradition of thinking), where we meet a notoriously extreme version of disinterestedness. The article argues that to make sense of it, it is worthwhile to interpret Schopenhauer’s contrast between a desire-driven, growth-seeking everyday life and the calm repose of aesthetic contemplation as a radical version of an opposition to the emerging capitalist lifeworld that put its mark onto aesthetics as it shaped itself as a self-standing discipline through the 18th–19th centuries.

Digestive Jurisprudence Restated: On Breakfast and Digestion as Bias-Arousers

“Digestive Jurisprudence” is the view that judicial decisions depend on what judges had for breakfast. The view is usually associated with Frank’s version of Legal Realism. The paper shows that, disputable as it is, that view comes from the philosophical background of Peirce’s pragmatism and the legal background of Holmes’ prediction theory. Peirce’s pragmatism was an account of concepts in terms of their predictable consequences. Holmes’ prediction theory was an account of law in terms of predictions of what judges will do. And Legal Realism focused on judicial behavior as determined by various factors including, in its most extreme and provocative version, breakfast quality and digestive processes. The paper does not ascertain whether the digestive view is true (to some extent); rather, it makes the working hypothesis that breakfast quality, or digestion quality, is not a sufficient condition of a certain outcome but, most likely, a bias-arouser.

Ethno-Federalism and Subnational Conflicts in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Ethiopia is unique in its extreme version of ethno-federalism as it constitutionally grants unconditional rights of self-determination and secession to all ethnic communities. The defacto practices of power in governing multiple contesting groups, however, creates regime priorities. The post-2018 politics generated violent opportunities to make viable claims on control, representation, and authority. Further, conflicts at the local, regional and national level increased because of the new regime’s need to co-opt and placate subnational elites. This suggests that ethno-federal systems incentivize distinct, co-occurring forms of political violence. Such a system provides the context for violence, but regime politics provides the spark.

Better Generalized Few-Shot Learning Even without Base Data

This paper introduces and studies zero-base generalized few-shot learning (zero-base GFSL), which is an extreme yet practical version of few-shot learning problem. Motivated by the cases where base data is not available due to privacy or ethical issues, the goal of zero-base GFSL is to newly incorporate the knowledge of few samples of novel classes into a pretrained model without any samples of base classes. According to our analysis, we discover the fact that both mean and variance of the weight distribution of novel classes are not properly established, compared to those of base classes. The existing GFSL methods attempt to make the weight norms balanced, which we find help only the variance part, but discard the importance of mean of weights particularly for novel classes, leading to the limited performance in the GFSL problem even with base data. In this paper, we overcome this limitation by proposing a simple yet effective normalization method that can effectively control both mean and variance of the weight distribution of novel classes without using any base samples and thereby achieve a satisfactory performance on both novel and base classes. Our experimental results somewhat surprisingly show that the proposed zero-base GFSL method that does not utilize any base samples even outperforms the existing GFSL methods that make the best use of base data. Our implementation is available at: https://github.com/bigdata-inha/Zero-Base-GFSL.

Examining constraints on embodiment using the Anne Boleyn illusion.

Using a mirror box, the concurrent stroking of the lateral side of the fifth finger behind the mirror along with stroking the empty space next to the mirror-reflected hand's fifth finger results in a strong sense of having a sixth finger-the Anne Boleyn illusion. We used this illusion to understand what constraints illusory embodiment. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the anatomical constraints, posture, and stroking of the sixth finger, along with other variants. Given evidence from other body illusions, we predicted no illusory embodiment in conditions in which the sixth finger was created in a manner incompatible with a typical hand, when the mirror and viewed hands were in different posture, and when stroking differed. Surprisingly, the illusion was persistent in most variants, including those with curved fingers, elongated fingers, and even with mismatches between the posture of the viewed and hidden hand. In Experiment 2, we manipulated the orientation, shape, and length of the illusory sixth finger, presenting more extreme versions of the illusion. The illusion was significantly diminished only when the sixth finger was far from the hand, or in a very implausible posture. This evidence suggests that body representations are extremely flexible and allow for embodiment of empty space in conditions not seen in other body illusions. We suggest that bottom-up information from concurrent visuotactile input, combined with reduced constraints provided by the "blank canvas" of empty space, results in a particularly robust illusion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Cyber-Security in UPI Payments

Abstract: Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an innovative online banking system. Made inIndia has reached the peak of popularity ina short time wingspan. Growth in UPI alsoleads to higher data frequencies violate. Social engineering attacks are India's biggest security risk encountered duringconfinement (lockdown). Users of the Unified Payment Interface are Cyber criminals are easily enticed. These fraudsare not due to default in the UPI systems or interfaces, but are tactics to deceive customers. By the way of phishing, vishing, or smishing. Social engineering attack techniques are planned to exploit users by utilizing significant UPI features such as "Collect Request", " Virtual Private Address, " or" QR Code. " Reverse-engineering the UPI protocol through seven well-known UPI apps, this paper employs a principled methodology toconduct a thorough security analysis of theprotocol. We find previously unreported design-levelflaws in the UPI 1.0 specification's multi- factor authentication that, when coupled with an installed attacker-controlled application, can result in serious attacks. Even if a victim had never used a UPI app, the flaws in the attack's extreme version might have allowed a victim's bank account to be linked and emptied. Scalable and remotely executable attacks were possible. Most users blindly follow the instructions received through SMS or phone call and become a victim of cyber fraud. Analysis data collected from respondents reveals the grim fact that age or occupation has no impact on user behavior in response to technical attack techniques.

A right to research?

A right to research?

Resurrection of Type IIL Supernova 2018ivc: Implications for a Binary Evolution Sequence Connecting Hydrogen-rich and Hydrogen-poor Progenitors

Long-term observations of synchrotron emission from supernovae (SNe), covering more than a year after the explosion, provide a unique opportunity to study the poorly understood evolution of massive stars in the final millennium of their lives via changes in the mass-loss rate. Here we present a result of our long-term monitoring of the peculiar Type IIL SN 2018ivc using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Following the initial decay, it showed unprecedented rebrightening starting ∼1 yr after the explosion. This is one of the rare examples showing such rebrightening in the synchrotron emission and the first case at millimeter wavelengths. We find it to be in the optically thin regime, unlike the optically thick centimeter emission. As such, we can robustly reconstruct the distribution of the circumstellar matter and thus the mass-loss history in the final ≳1000 yr. We find that the progenitor of SN 2018ivc had experienced a very high mass-loss rate (≳10−3 M ⊙ yr−1) ∼1500 yr before the explosion, which was followed by a moderately high mass-loss rate (≳10−4 M ⊙ yr−1) up until the explosion. From this behavior, we suggest that SN 2018ivc represents an extreme version of a binary evolution toward SNe IIb, which bridges the hydrogen-poor SNe (toward SNe Ib/c, without a hydrogen envelope) and hydrogen-rich SNe (SNe IIP, with a massive envelope).

The Ecology of Fear and Climate Change: A Pragmatist Point of View

The ecology of fear has become a common rhetoric in efforts to support climate mitigation. The thesis of the collapse is an extreme version, asserting the inevitable collapse of the world. Fear, then, becomes the ultimate emotion for spurring action. In this article, drawing on the work of the pragmatist John Dewey, we show that fear is an ambiguous emotion. Dewey stressed the quality of an emotion. Following his reasoning, this article draws a distinction between intense and moderate fear. Intense fear annihilates action, while moderate fear fulfils the conditions for an emotion of quality (in the Deweyan sense), which enables action. For this reason, the thesis of the collapse must be rejected, while an ecology of fear, drawing on moderate fear, may be maintained.

Unfulfilled Promise: Pollinator Declines, Crop Deficits, and Diet-Associated Disease.

Unfulfilled Promise: Pollinator Declines, Crop Deficits, and Diet-Associated Disease.