Face Value Research Articles

Chemical freeze-out curve in heavy-ion collisions and the QCD critical point

The chemical freeze-out curve in heavy-ion collisions is investigated in the context of a quantum chromodynamics (QCD) critical point (CP) search at finite baryon densities. Taking the hadron resonance gas picture at face value, chemical freeze-out points at a given baryochemical potential provide a lower bound on the possible temperature of the QCD CP. We first verify that the freeze-out data in heavy-ion collisions are well described by a constant energy per particle curve, E/N=const, under strangeness neutrality conditions (μS≠0, μQ≠0). We then evaluate the hypothetical lower bound on the freeze-out curve based on this criterion in the absence of strangeness neutrality (μS=0, μQ=0) and confront it with recent predictions on the CP location. We find that recent estimates based on Yang-Lee edge singularities from lattice QCD data on coarse lattices (Nτ=6) place the CP significantly below the freeze-out curve, hinting at the importance of performing continuum extrapolation within this method. Predictions based on functional methods and holography place the CP slightly above the freeze-out curve, indicating that the QCD CP may be located very close to the chemical freeze-out in A+A collisions at sNN=3.5−6GeV. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

John 15:1-8 - A Re-reading through Earth, SDGs, Covid 19, and Cape Town Farms Contexts

One of the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 seeks to ensure equitable sanitation for all by 2030, with a special focus on women and vulnerable groups. However, women working on farms often do not have access to adequate toilets, facing safety, hygiene and privacy issues. These challenges become even more critical in the face of COVID-19 and concerns about new superbugs. In John 15,1-8, Jesus employs vineyard farming imagery to describe the relationship between himself and God the Father, and in turn the relationship between the disciples and himself. In this article, I employ a gender-critical hermeneutical framework, informed by ecofeminist concerns and the intersectionality of gender, race and class, to offer a reading of this biblical passage within the context of Black women working on farms in the Western Cape. I ask to what extent this expectation of submissiveness set by Jesus to his disciples, should be accepted at face value, alongside the use of Earth imagery to implore such submissiveness. Keywords: Gospel of John. Gender Criticism. Ecofeminist Interpretation. United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contextual Theology.

Can genomic analysis actually estimate past population size?

Can genomic analysis actually estimate past population size?

Reflections on Face Value: Curating Vernacular Photography After The Material Turn

Reflections on Face Value: Curating Vernacular Photography After The Material Turn

Do Variations in Institutional Characteristics Across Countries Affect ESG Reporting Ratings?

We study how the institutional environment of a country affects firms' motivations to engage in ESG reporting. Drawing from the institutional theory (North, 1990), we argue that firms that are incorporated in countries with weaker institutions (defined by transparency, legality, anti-self-dealing enforcement measures) are more likely to report higher ESG scores dueto low oversight. We also argue that greenwashing (as opposed to signaling) is an important motivation behind ESG reporting in countries with weaker institutions. We test our hypotheses using data from 2,354 companies across 38 different countries. We employ OLS models for our empirical analyses and find support for some of our hypotheses. Our study advances the literature on responsible investing by demonstrating that institutional differences across nations not only shape the quality of ESG reporting but also influence firms' underlying motivations, revealing the extent to which greenwashing may distort ESG assessments. Our study cautions managers and global investors against taking ESG ratings at face value, as high ESG scores do not necessarily indicate better ESG practices, particularly in low-transparency environments. Just as with financial reporting standards, stronger international reporting standards and oversight are needed to enhance the reliability of reported ESG data.

Restoring Public Trust in Elections: An Empirical Study of How Campaign Finance Reform Can Restore Public Trust in Elections

The American public has become deeply distrustful of elections. This distrust is partly due to Supreme Court decisions curtailing campaign finance restrictions, on First Amendment grounds, to spending that creates an appearance of quid pro quo corruption. The Court’s reasoning assumes that, although the government has an interest in protecting the public’s trust in elections, campaign spending does not pose a threat to the public’s trust absent the appearance of quid pro quo corruption. However, it is unclear if campaign spending undermines the public’s trust in elections through means other than the appearance of quid pro quo corruption. If it does, the Court’s narrow focus on quid pro quo corruption as the only mechanism through which campaign spending can undermine public trust would be unfounded and paradoxically reduce public trust in elections. Rather than accepting, at face value, the Court’s assumption that quid pro quo corruption is the only mechanism through which campaign spending can reduce public trust and solely focusing on whether campaign spending decreases public trust in elections through quid pro quo corruption, this Article tests the Court’s assumption. The Article analyzes four original survey experiments involving 1,974 respondents and provides new empirical evidence that, even in the absence of quid pro quo corruption, campaign spending consistently undermines public trust in elections by creating concerns among members of the public about unequal access to voters, outsized influence over elections, dissemination of misinformation, and inefficiency. What’s more, this Article provides empirical evidence that campaign spending may reduce public willingness to vote in and contribute to elections, even in the absence of quid pro quo corruption. Given the demonstrated loss of public trust and reduced willingness to participate in elections, this Article argues that the Court should return to the original, underlying reason motivating its campaign finance jurisprudence—namely, the government’s compelling interest in protecting the public’s trust in elections—rather than focusing on the derivative goal of preventing the appearance of quid pro quo corruption. Doing so will allow campaign finance regulations to better safeguard American elections.

Gaze cues (repeatedly) fail to influence person evaluation.

Eye gaze is an important social signal that people generally cannot help but follow, leading to joint attention. Joint attention has been shown to speed basic processing of objects, enhance memory for them, and even affect immediate value-based appraisal by increasing object likability. Here, across 8 experiments, we investigate for the first time whether jointly attending to other faces positively affects their longer-term social value (liking, trust) and attentional value (attention allocation and prioritisation). Emanating the basic gaze cuing paradigm, a central cue face looked towards or away from a 'target' face, which the participant had to respond to. Unbeknownst to participants, some target faces were always looked at (jointly attended - high value) and others were never looked at ('ignored' - low value). In studies 1 to 6, we investigated how these gaze-induced value conditions positively affected subsequent liking and trust social judgements of a person. Then, in studies 7 and 8, we additionally investigated whether effects of gaze on others may occur implicitly, affecting subsequent attentional engagement with others by using the target faces as gaze cues, or attentional targets in a dot probe task. Confirmed through mini meta-analysis, we found no significant effect of being jointly attended versus ignored on either the social (N = 214) or attentional (N = 77) value of faces. We discuss whether faces are different from objects in this context.

Identity-protective reasoning: an epistemic and political defense

Abstract Identity-protective reasoning – motivated reasoning driven by defending a social identity – is often dismissed as a paradigm of epistemic vice and a key driver of democratic dysfunction. Against this view, I argue that identity-protective reasoning can play a positive epistemic role, both individually and collectively. Collectively, it facilitates an effective division of cognitive labor by enabling groups to test divergent beliefs, serving as an epistemic insurance policy against the possibility that the total evidence is misleading. Individually, it can correct for the distortions that arise from taking ideologically skewed evidence at face value. This is particularly significant for members of marginalized groups, who frequently encounter evidence that diminishes the value of their identities, beliefs, and practices. For them, identity-protective reasoning can counter dominant ideological ignorance and foster resistant standpoint development. While identity-protective reasoning is not without risks, its application from marginalized and counter-hegemonic positions carries epistemic benefits crucial in democracies threatened by elite capture. Against dominant views in contemporary political epistemology and psychology, identity-protective reasoning should be reconceived as a resource to be harnessed and not a problem to be eradicated.

Indigenous Children’s Rights and Responsibilities in the Cultural Context of Borana Oromo, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract This article seeks to analyse the Indigenous conception, rights and responsibilities of children in the cultural context of the Borana Oromo in Ethiopia. The Borana are dominantly pastoralists who practise the Indigenous political system called “Gadaa”, a unesco-registered, intangible cultural heritage of the humanities. The qualitative data used in this paper were gathered from purposively selected parents and children. The findings reveal that children have the right to life, care, protection, socialisation, love, information and expression, and the right to “Handhuraa” (the initial gift). Likewise, children’s responsibilities include learning and respecting culture, making appropriate labour contributions, and respecting elders. Finally, the study suggests that policymakers and practitioners should give better consideration to local practices and values when formulating policies and possible interventions for the successful implementation of children’s rights and duties, rather than taking the dominant ideas from the international and continental conventions at face value.

Differences and similarities in psychological characteristics between cultural groups circum Mediterranean.

We examined differences and similarities between groups sampled from the Mediterranean region in social orientation, cognitive style, self-construal, and honor, face, dignity values, and concerns using a large battery of tasks and measures. We did this by conducting secondary data set analyses focusing on comparisons between nine pairs of samples recruited from the Mediterranean region (Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus [Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities], Lebanon [Muslim Lebanese and Christian Lebanese], Egypt) that have overlapping and divergent features in terms of religious, ethnic, national, and linguistic factors as well as various physical and socioecological characteristics. Across 38 different psychological characteristics, comparisons between Turkish and Turkish Cypriot samples and between Christian and Muslim samples from Lebanon revealed that they were most similar to each other. In contrast, Greek and Turkish samples were the least similar. Our analyses of intercorrelations between variables, variability, and size of differences provide additional insights into the within-region variation in social orientation, cognitive style, self-construal indicators, as well as honor, face, and dignity values and concerns. Our research contributes to the growing literature on regional variation of psychological processes while raising important pointers for the role of background and socioecological characteristics in cultural group similarities and differences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

A methodological assessment of randomization integrity in alteplase for acute ischemic stroke individual patient data meta-analyses.

Little is known about the integrity of randomization for randomized controlled trials (RCT) included in alteplase for stroke meta-analyses. If the RCTs were not properly randomized, the results could not be accepted at face value. The objective was to assess the integrity of randomization in individual patient data (IPD) meta-analyses supporting alteplase for acute ischemic stroke. We assessed randomization reporting, performed qualitative risk of bias assessments arising from the randomization process, and performed fixed effects meta-analyses of baseline variables for which zero heterogeneity is expected if all included RCTs have unbiased randomization. Fixed-effects meta-analyses of baseline age, weight, and National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score were performed. If heterogeneity was present (I2 > 0%), trials were systematically removed, starting with the RCT with the largest t-statistic until the I2 value was 0%. The NINDS rt-PA Stroke Study had a high risk of bias, the ECASS-3 RCT had some concerns, and all other trials were graded as low risk according to the Cochrane Risk of Bias (ROB-2) tool. The NINDS rt-PA Stroke Study contributed to heterogeneity in age and weight meta-analyses, and the ECASS-3 RCT contributed to heterogeneity in the NIHSS score meta-analysis. Removal of suspect trials resulted in the expected I2 value of 0%. The NINDS rt-PA Stroke Study and ECASS-3 trials contributed to heterogeneity in fixed effects meta-analyses of baseline variables while there should have been none. These RCTs are likely a source of selection bias in IPD meta-analyses due to suspect randomization.

“Provably fair” algorithms may perpetuate racial and gender bias: a study of salary dispute resolution

Prior work suggests automated dispute resolution tools using “provably fair” algorithms can address disparities between demographic groups. These methods use multi-criteria elicited preferences from all disputants and satisfy constraints to generate “fair” solutions. However, we analyze the potential for inequity to permeate proposals through the preference elicitation stage. This possibility arises if differences in dispositional attitudes differ between demographics, and those dispositions affect elicited preferences. Specifically, risk aversion plays a prominent role in predicting preferences. Risk aversion predicts a weaker relative preference for salary and a softer within-issue utility for each issue; this leads to worse compensation packages for risk-averse groups. These results raise important questions in AI-value alignment about whether an AI mediator should take explicit preferences at face value.

Mitigation needed to avoid unprecedented multi-decadal North Atlantic Oscillation magnitude

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) dominates winters in Western Europe and eastern North America. Future climate model projections of the NAO are highly uncertain due to both modelled irreducible internal variability and different model responses. Here we show that some of the model spread in multi-decadal NAO simulations is caused by climatological water vapour errors, and develop an emergent constraint that reveals a substantial response of the NAO to volcanic eruptions and greenhouse gases (GHGs). Taking account of the signal-to-noise paradox apparent in these simulations suggests that under the high-emissions scenario the multi-decadal NAO will increase to unprecedented levels that will likely cause severe impacts, including increased flooding and storm damage. This can be avoided through mitigation to reduce GHG emissions. Our results suggest that taking model projections at face value and seeking consensus could leave society unprepared for impending extremes.

Adapting the Past: Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Collaboration

This article reproduces the lecture delivered at the Brontë Society’s Annual General Meeting in 2024. Examining established views of Elizabeth Gaskell’s The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857), it makes two research-based propositions: 1) Gaskell derived the bulk of its content from exchanges with Charlotte Brontë, and 2) the pejorative nature of its reputation originates in unchallenged condemnations made on publication in 1857. It shows that criticisms of The Life often rest on the following assumptions: that complaints of slander from then-living individuals are accepted at face value, that Gaskell fictionalised events, and that the book’s assumed unreliability is confirmed by Gaskell’s public apologies and redactions. By interrogating these with reference to the written record, the lecture argues that the original complaints of slander cannot be upheld, that Gaskell’s research was comprehensive, and that her public admissions were performative concessions to prevent defamation actions and cannot be considered incontrovertible.

The Prior Probability of Jesus Mythicism Re-Evaluated in Light of the Gospels’ Dramatic Date

This article re-examines the prior probability of Jesus mythicism recently put forward by Richard Carrier. Carrier argues that this probability is relatively high because Jesus is among the so-called “Rank-Raglan heroes” from Mediterranean antiquity who are all fictional. If Jesus was the only historical example, he would be exceptional, which is inherently improbable. We make use of a recent survey of primary sources which has identified a large number of additional historical ancient Mediterranean Rank-Raglan heroes and draw attention to a peculiar feature of these figures which appears, at face value, highly relevant to the question of their historicity. This is the dramatic date, or the date when the person in question is depicted as living. We show that all ancient Mediterranean Rank-Raglan heroes depicted as living in the very distant past are fictional while almost all living in a relatively recent past, much closer to the dramatic date of Jesus, are historical. We anticipate several potential objections to this finding, fully reproduce Carrier’s formal Bayesian analysis, and show that when the dramatic date of these newly identified heroes is taken into account, the prior probability of Jesus mythicism becomes very small.

The nuclear jet and core of TXS 0506+056 could be gravitationally lensed

Aims. TXS 0506+056 was the first active galactic nucleus to be identified as a convincing counterpart of an extremely high-energy neutrino, IceCube-170922A. Prior to this, IceCube data revealed evidence of enhanced neutrino activity in 2014–2015 from the direction of the same source. Renewed neutrino activity from TXS 0506+056 was confirmed by Baikal-GVD on April 18, 2021, and another IceCube detection on September 18, 2022. We revisited this blazar to study its evolution in light of the new high-energy data. Methods. We reanalyzed VLBA data observed at 8 GHz between 2010 and 2019, as well as 15 GHz data observed between 2019 and 2023. We combined these new data with 15 GHz data obtained earlier and performed a detailed study of the temporal evolution of the parsec-scale radio structure to search for a possible correlation with the neutrino events. We complemented our study of the morphology with an investigation of the radio, optical (Abastumani Observatory), and Fermi-LAT light curves. Results. The parsec-scale jet continues to reveal unexpected and puzzling properties that are not comparable with those of any known typical blazar jet. The total of all the jet component positions, obtained from this and earlier work, reveals a very wide-spread distribution in xy-coordinates. This could indicate an interaction of jet components with surrounding clouds, most likely material from the broad line region. However, a more detailed investigation reveals that the arrangement of jet component positions changes drastically with time. While the jet morphology resembles a crossing of two jets around 2010, a sudden ordering into a ring-like structure sets in around 2016 with the start of the major radio flare. In addition to this ring-like accumulation of jet components, we find arc-like gatherings of jet features in the jet before (2011–2016) and during the major radio peak, which occurred from 2016 to 2023. We discuss the possibility that the radio core flaring and the ring-like arrangement of jet components with time is explained by gravitational lensing. Conclusions. If we interpret the observed distribution of the jet components as being related to a potential neutrino generation mechanism, our calculations show that the neutrino production site could be either co-spatial with or within a distance of about 1018 cm of the core, which corresponds to the broad line region. If instead we take the data at face value and examine them in a more rigorous way, we find that strong gravitational lensing might alter the very long-baseline interferometry morphology of TXS 0506+056. As no intervening galaxy is found in the optical data, we assume the lens is an isolated non-accreting supermassive black hole. At an intermediate distance, a mass of 105 − 106 solar masses would be required. Assuming instead that TXS 0506+056 is a binary or dual system with a second non-emitting black hole acting as the lens, then gravitational lensing by a supermassive black hole of 1010 solar masses located some kiloparsecs away significantly changes the morphology of the jet of TXS 0506+056 and magnifies the jet and core flux density.

Is isochoric vitrification feasible? Cycling between modeling, experimental observations, and first principles.

Is isochoric vitrification feasible? Cycling between modeling, experimental observations, and first principles.

A COMPREHENSIVE LITERATURE REVIEW ON TIME VALUE OF MONEY AND ECONOMIC VALUE OF TIME FOR FINANCIAL DECISION-MAKING

This study aims to analyze the concept of economic value of time as an answer to the distractions concept of time value of money by conventional views. The significance of comprehending the distinction between the temporal value of money and the economic value of time for the Muslim community to prevent entrapment in usurious transactions. Money in the conventional impacted to the continuous passage of time which requires an increase in face value to increase. This concept is referred to as the time value of money. As a result, this concept is related to the concept of discounting which in reality indirectly associates itself with the term "interest" that forbident for each muslim. Library analysis method used for this research through the data from literacy from book and previous article journal. According to the research's findings, the traditional understanding of money as having a time value (the "time value of money") holds that money today is worth more than money tomorrow and that the advantages of acquiring money now will outweigh those of acquiring benefits later. That's why this concept is not the best way out if applied in the economic process. Because this concept can give rise to a habit of people who will only save their money if the interest rate on the bank is at a high level, which is close to the act expected in Islam, namely usury. Therefore, Islam in this case holds that what is actually not money that has time value but time that has economic value of time.

Dynamic ethical capabilities in place and in time

Abstract Extant theory proposes that stakeholders reward organizations that behave ethically and punish those that don’t. Taken at face value, this dynamic implies that organizations prioritizing ethical concerns should have competitive advantages augmenting performance. Unfortunately, hoped-for advantages often fail to materialize. Examining this difficult reality, we explore how pluralistic ethical standards manifest in ways that are not obvious because they are often locally and temporally attached to stakeholder groups. Further, we adopt a resource-based view of organizations and draw on literature related to dynamic capabilities and stakeholder theories to argue that ethics-related organization-level behavior can only lead to sustainable competitive advantages when there is continued competence across present and future-oriented systems. As a whole, our work provides a useful theoretical framework for addressing the pragmatic difficulties associated with enacting universal ethical principles in unique situations.

Laser Cleaning of Silver Coin Surfaces

An analysis has been made of the reasons for the formation of internal and external corrosion of silver coins, which are based on copper (23–70 %) and iron (11 %) impurities of varying concentrations depending on the rank and denomination. Existing chemical cleaning methods using acids and salts are mainly effective in removing thin oxide films and can lead to destruction of the internal structure of coins. Experimental studies were conducted on two silvrt coins with a face value of 20 kopecks; their metal alloy: 50 % silver and 50 % copper in the original VF (Very Fine) rating condition with films of 0.1 to 0.5 mm thickness made of silver carbonate Ag2CO3, argentite Ag2S, and silver oxide Ag2O. A Wattsan FL TT laser marker with an IPG ytterbium fiber emitter (operating wavelength 1064 nm, output power 15.5 W) was used for cleaning. The EzCAD 2.14 software was used to control the parameters for moving the laser marker beam. The optimal parameters for processing silver coins are: speed of 5000 mm/s; the pulse repetition frequency of 200 kHz and the step between the processing lines of 0.01 mm, which ensures a two-fold overlap of the processing radiation along the x-axis and a five-fold overlap along the y-axis. In this case, for greater uniformity of the effect of laser radiation on the surface, it is advisable to carry out processing in several passes with alternating directions. The best surface quality was obtained with a total of 6 passes: 3 of which were parallel to the base axis х, 3 were at an angle of 45°. A visual assessment of the coin surface quality during cleaning process was carried out using a portable digital USB microscope GUANMOU AN104/F210 at 50x magnification. The quality of the formed mirror surface was assessed by measuring the reflection coefficient on the obverse side in the visible spectral range on a Photon RT Essentoptics spectrophotometer. The use of a laser cleaning method for silver coins has improved their condition from the original VF (Very Fine) to XF or EF (Extremely fine), and in combination with final polishing (Fluoropol M with a grain size of 0.6÷0.8 μm in a solution of Glycerin C3H8O3) to the UNC (Uncirculated) condition, which is confirmed by a significant increase of 4–6 times in the reflection coefficient of the mirror surface.