Inferring dark matter substructure with astrometric lensing beyond the power spectrum

Astrometry---the precise measurement of positions and motions of celestial objects---has emerged as a promising avenue for characterizing the dark matter population in our Galaxy. By leveraging recent advances in simulation-based inference and neural network architectures, we introduce a novel method to search for global dark matter-induced gravitational lensing signatures in astrometric datasets. Our method based on neural likelihood-ratio estimation shows significantly enhanced sensitivity to a cold dark matter population and more favorable scaling with measurement noise compared to existing approaches based on two-point correlation statistics, establishing machine learning as a powerful tool for characterizing dark matter using astrometric data.

Climate Change Impacts And Adaptation Barriers Among Smallholder Cassava Farmer

Climate variability/change has varied impacts on crop yields in many Sub-Saharan African countries. Enhancing the adaptive capacity of rural farmers is a major challenge as climate change becomes threatened to agricultural activities in the region. In this study, the impacts of climate change on cassava crops were examined, and farmers’ perceptions of climate, change and their experienced adaptation methods were assessed. Historical climate data and social datasets were used; the adaptation option and barriers to the use of adaptation methods were obtained through questionnaires, semistructured interviews and focus group discussions. Correlation statistics and multiple regressions were utilized to show the impacts of climate on the yield of cassava. The results showed a high variation in climatic variables together with an obvious anomaly index with severity. Minimum and maximum temperatures correlated strongly and positively with the yield of cassava, with 0.86, 0.82 and 0.87, respectively, which were significant at p>0.05. The results of multiple regression showed that climate parameters accounted for 75% of the changes in yield. The results also showed a very strong relationship between crops and rainfall in the early growing season at the p<0.05 level of significance. The majority of the farmers perceived that lack of capital and financial, physical and human capital accounted for 70% of barriers to the implementation of climate change adaptation methods. The key findings here are that the cropping system has been impacted by climate change and that the adaptive capacity of rural farmers in the study area is generally low. The study concludes that although climate change is obvious, there is generally a need to enhance the adaptation options available to farmers in the region.

Pre-School Teacher Support and Retention of Pupils in Public ECDE Centres Kenya

Pre-primary teachers need support from the government to ensure that they perform their instructional duties in the classroom effectively. With the devolving of Early Childhood Development Education from the national government to the county level, it was expected that this action would improve the standard and status of learning in these institutions. However, studies have shown that the expected reforms have been done at a slow pace affecting the achievement of ECDE objectives. This paper looks at the kind of support that teachers are provided with by the county government and its impact on the retention of pupils in public pre-primary schools in Wareng Sub County, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. This study was conducted in 83 public pre-primary schools in Wareng Sub County, Uasin Gishu County. The study applied a descriptive survey research design with the target population involving 166 pre-school teachers and five county government ECDE field officers. The research instruments involved the use of questionnaires and interview schedules. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in data analysis. Research results showed that all respondents agreed that there has been a significant change in public pre-primary centres because of the devolution support. Correlation statistics showed that there existed a significant positive relationship between pre-primary teachers’ support and retention of pupils in public ECDE centres in Wareng Sub County, Kenya. The study recommends that additional pre-primary teachers should be employed in schools with a higher learner population and terms of employment should be permanent and pensionable.

MEG Node Degree Differences in Patients with Focal Epilepsy vs. Controls—Influence of Experimental Conditions

Drug-resistant epilepsy can be most limiting for patients, and surgery represents a viable therapy option. With the growing research on the human connectome and the evidence of epilepsy being a network disorder, connectivity analysis may be able to contribute to our understanding of epilepsy and may be potentially developed into clinical applications. In this magnetoencephalographic study, we determined the whole-brain node degree of connectivity levels in patients and controls. Resting-state activity was measured at five frequency bands in 15 healthy controls and 15 patients with focal epilepsy of different etiologies. The whole-brain all-to-all imaginary part of coherence in source space was then calculated. Node degree was determined and parcellated and was used for further statistical evaluation. In comparison to controls, we found a significantly higher overall node degree in patients with lesional and non-lesional epilepsy. Furthermore, we examined the conditions of high/reduced vigilance and open/closed eyes in controls, to analyze whether patient node degree levels can be achieved. We evaluated intraclass-correlation statistics (ICC) to evaluate the reproducibility. Connectivity and specifically node degree analysis could present new tools for one of the most common neurological diseases, with potential applications in epilepsy diagnostics.

The Cross-Correlations between Foreign Flows in Chinese A-Share Markets and Uncertainties in Home Markets

This paper investigates the cross-correlations between the foreign flows in A-share market and the uncertainties of market, economy, and policy in home markets, namely, the VIX index and the US EPU index. By employing the cross-correlation statistics and MF-DCCA method, we find the existence of the cross-correlations between the foreign flows and the VIX index, the foreign flows, and the US EPU index from qualitative and quantitative perspectives, respectively. For the cross-correlation between the foreign flows and VIX, small fluctuations are persistent, while large fluctuations are antipersistent. In contrast, the cross-correlation between the foreign flows and US EPU is antipersistent and steady. These results are robust by dividing the foreign flows into two parts in Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges, respectively, and by shortening the periods to after the implementation of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.

Stakeholder Consultation and Implementation Water Projects: A Case of Machakos County, Kenya.

For projects to be successfully implemented, consultation between the implementing agencies should be factored in as a project planning and management process. This paper looks at the influence of stakeholder consultation on the implementation of water projects in Machakos County, Kenya. The study targeted 172 water projects under implementation in the County of Machakos with respondents being seven members of project management committees. A simple random sampling technique was used in selecting 17 water projects. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 120 respondents managing 17 water projects. Quantitative collected data was analysed using descriptive (means, standard deviation, frequencies, and percentages) inferential statistics (correlation statistics). The study established a strong positive correlation (r = 0.652) between the strategy of consulting stakeholders and the implementation of water projects. The study concluded that increased stakeholders’ consultation would result in effective water projects implementation in the county. The study recommends that there is a need for the identification of link persons or officials who will always represent them during the implementation process.

Compositional Restricted Boltzmann Machines Unveil the Brain-Wide Organization of Neural Assemblies

Patterns of endogenous activity in the brain reflect a stochastic exploration of the neuronal state space that is constrained by the underlying assembly organization of neurons. Yet it remains to be shown that this interplay between neurons and their assembly dynamics indeed suffices to generate whole-brain data statistics. Here we recorded the activity from ~40,000 neurons simultaneously in zebrafish larvae, and show that a data-driven network model of neuron-assembly interactions can accurately reproduce the mean activity and pairwise correlation statistics of their spontaneous activity. This model, the compositional Restricted Boltzmann Machine, unveils ~200 neural assemblies, which compose neurophysiological circuits and whose various combinations form successive brain states. From this, we mathematically derived an interregional functional connectivity matrix, which is conserved across individual animals and correlates well with structural connectivity. This novel, assembly-based generative model of brain-wide neural dynamics enables physiology-bound perturbation experiments in silico.

Technologies in the education of children and teenagers with autism: evaluation and classification of apps by work areas

Mobile apps represent a resource with great potential for encouraging the development of many skills, given the high number of apps available and the quick access to them. Many professionals and families include these resources in the education and therapy of children with autism. For a group with such particular needs, a review of the apps is great importance, since, due to their characteristics, the apps must provide content, design and pedagogical aspects that fit those needs. Through a previously validated system of indicators, 155 free apps on Google Play were evaluated, using “autism” in English and in Spanish. We determined which work area each app developed, as well as which were the most multifaceted. Having evaluated the recorded data, we calculated frequencies, percentages and reliability, as well as parametric contrast and correlation statistics. We found that the focus of most apps was on executive functions, language and entertainment, with a minority devoted to the emotional sphere or time management. However, 98.06% of the apps worked on several areas, which makes them more functional but with the downside of not being specialized. Most apps were placed in the “recommendable” level but with margin for improvement in increasing their functionality.

Competency management and the financial results of the foreign subsidiaries of Polish MNCs: The empirical research findings

BACKGROUND: Competency management (CM) is one of the basic subfunctions of HRM, which can significantly affect the results achieved by organizations. This is because the competencies of employees have become the key capital of enterprises and a factor of their success. Research on the relationships between CM and organizational performance results in Polish MNCs creates a research gap due to the object and subject of research. OBJECTIVE: The main goal of the article is to identify the potential regularities that may exist between the advancement level of CM and its composing activities and the company financial performance results. Of particular interest are the relationships that may appear between the studied variables in the context of their relationships with other subfunctions of HRM and the significance of human capital as a competitive factor. METHODS: The research sample includes 200 non-financial business entities with Polish capital, whose headquarters are in Poland, and local subsidiaries are located outside the country. The research was conducted using CATI and CAWI methods. Descriptive and correlation statistics were used to analyze the collected empirical data. RESULTS: Two fundamental regularities are observable. It turns out that the higher the advancement level of activities within CM, and in particular its links with other HRM subfunctions, the better the financial results of enterprises. CONCLUSIONS: The empirical research results lead to the conclusion that human capital is treated as a company’s competitive factor, and CM is of significant meaning to the financial results of the organization.