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As more people rely on smartphones to store sensitive information, the need for robust security measures is all the more pressing. Because traditional one shot authentication methods like PINs and passwords are vulnerable to various attacks, we present a behavioral biometrics based smartphone authentication system using swipes. While previous research focused on a single kind of swipe, our data set features swipes using different fingers and directions collected from 36 users across three sessions. In our system, we experimented with support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) classifiers. We investigated which finger, direction, and classifier provided the best individual swipe authentication results. Then, we analyzed whether fusion of different fingers and directions improved results. The best unimodal result came from a rightward swipe with right thumb using SVM, which resulted in an area under ROC curve (AUC) of 0.936 and an equal error rate (EER) of 0.135. We found that swipes using thumbs offered better performance. Fusion improves results for the most part, and our best result was the combination of a leftward swipe with right thumb and a leftward swipe with left thumb. This combination gave an AUC of 0.969 and EER of 0.081 with the SVM classifier.

The Connecticut Comprehensive School Counseling Framework was released in November 2020?8 months into the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the progress made by principals and school counselors in implementing the new framework, and to understand the impact of the pandemic on their efforts to do so. We found significant overlap between the perceptions and priorities expressed by participating principals and school counselors. Particularly noteworthy was the fact that both groups described increased collaboration within their schools.

Although organizations are becoming more attuned to the needs of their lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans (transgender), and queer (LGB/TQ) employees, workplace policies and practices can still discriminate against someone based on their sexuality. In

Bullshit, as defined by Frankfurt (2005, p. 10), is language that is “disconnected from a concern for the truth.” Much scholarship shows that bullshit is a prominent feature in organizations that is difficult, if not impossible, to get rid of (e.g., McCarthy et al., 2020; Penny, 2010). Bullshit, by definition and by cultural practice, seems antithetical to business writing orthodoxy. As Thill and Bovée (2020) suggest in a representative textbook, communication should be clear and ethical. However, Spicer (2020) codifies bullshit as a social practice whose outcomes are not always dire. Well-crafted bullshit benefits its users, allowing them to “fit into a speech community, get things done in day-to-day interaction and bolster their image and identity” (Spicer, 2020, p. 20). Contrasting with business writing’s abstinence-only bullshit stance, this suggests that successful writers must adapt to their organization’s speech act practices. In this article, we argue that students must be taught about bullshit. After describing bullshit and its role in organizations, we show how business writing could incorporate a critically informed approach to bullshit in undergraduate courses, internship preparation courses, and other curricular instances in which students work directly with organizations. While bullshitting should not be outright encouraged, continued ignorance will do nothing to solve its associated problems. Promoting bullshit literacy, however, could both minimize bullshit’s harms and maximize its benefits. We close by describing how this approach could foster critical thinking skills, promote more seamless adaptation to organizational cultures and communication practices, and perhaps even improve mental health outcomes.

This study analyzes the wealth impact on M&A deals when the acquirers in the financial industry utilize external versus in-house advising services. A quasi-natural observatory setting is applied to investigate the costs and benefits of retaining a financial advisor. Based on agency theory, information asymmetry and conflict of interest both exist in the setting of M&A deals when acquirers use advisory services. We first find that almost 40% of financial acquirers are more likely to use in-house advising services, the frequency of which is significantly higher than that of non-financial acquisitions previously documented. Further, we find that in certain complex deals of greater information asymmetry, the frequency of retaining advisory services in-house is even higher. This finding suggests that for financial acquirers who possess expertise in the M&A market, the concern of conflict of interests (i.e., misaligned incentives) between the acquirers and their advisors are more salient than the concern of information asymmetry. More importantly, using the two-stage regressions method controlling the endogeneity of the choice between in-house versus external advisory services, this study finds that the three-day abnormal returns around the acquisition announcements are 4.5% higher for the acquirers retaining in-house advisory services, 18.7% higher for the corresponding target, and the combined merger gains are 2.2% higher. Overall, our findings provide direct evidence of the agency cost when an external advisor is hired and document the incremental values that the financial acquirers’ in-house advisory services may create.

The linear and mode-coupled contributions to higher-order anisotropic flow are presented for Au+Au collisions at sNN = 27, 39, 54.4, and 200 GeV and compared to similar measurements for Pb+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The coefficients and the flow harmonics' correlations, which characterize the linear and mode-coupled response to the lower-order anisotropies, indicate a beam energy dependence consistent with an influence from the specific shear viscosity (η/s). In contrast, the dimensionless coefficients, mode-coupled response coefficients, and normalized symmetric cumulants are approximately beam-energy independent, consistent with a significant role from initial-state effects. These measurements could provide unique supplemental constraints to (i) distinguish between different initial-state models and (ii) delineate the temperature (T) and baryon chemical potential (μB) dependence of the specific shear viscosity ηs(T,μB).

The primary goals of this study are to determine if the datasets of positive COVID-19 test cases and CO2 emissions from Connecticut over the span of March 24th, 2020-October 31, 2021 are in any ways correlated. With climate change a prominent issue facing the entire world today, it is important to explore methods of providing records of past patterns of greenhouse gas emissions in order to inform decision making that could reduce future ones. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modeling is also implemented in this paper to provide forecasting based on CO2 emissions in CT starting from 2019. The most significant results from this paper are as follows: the CO2 emission data of transportation sectors including ground transportation, domestics aviation, and international aviation and weekly COVID-19 positive test cases data has a strong relationship during the first 28 weeks of the pandemic with a correlation of -86.34%. The CO2 emissions experienced on average a -22.96% change of pre-pandemic vs during initial quarantine conditions and at most a - 44.48% change when comparing the pre-pandemic mean to the during initial quarantine minimum value. Lastly, the ARIMA model found to have the lowest Akaike information criterion (AIC) was ARIMA (4,0,4). In conclusion, in the event of a collective global pandemic and lockdown conditions, less traveling resulting in a correlated decrease of CO2 emissions. This means that perhaps concentrated efforts on reducing unnecessary travel could help mitigate the levels of carbon dioxide emissions as a more long-term solution to climate change opposed to the pandemic’s short-term example.

Black women in the United States (U.S.) disproportionately experience adverse pregnancy outcomes, including maternal mortality, compared to women of other racial and ethnic groups. Historical legacies of institutionalized racism and bias in medicine compound this problem. The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color may further worsen existing racial disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality. This paper discusses structural and social determinants of racial disparities with a focus on the Black maternal mortality crisis in the United States. We explore how structural racism contributes to a greater risk of adverse obstetric outcomes among Black women in the U.S. We also propose public health, healthcare systems, and community-engaged approaches to decrease racial disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality.

The Stokes shift spectra (S3) of human cancerous and normal prostate tissues were collected label free at a selected wavelength interval of 40 nm to investigate the efficacy of the approach based on three key molecules—tryptophan, collagen, and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH)—as cancer biomarkers. S3 combines both fluorescence and absorption spectra in one scan. The S3 spectra were analyzed using machine learning (ML) algorithms, including principal component analysis (PCA), nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF), and support vector machines (SVMs). The components retrieved from the S3 spectra were considered principal biomarkers. The differences in the weights of the components between the two types of tissues were found to be significant. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were calculated to evaluate the performance of SVM classification. This research demonstrates that S3 spectroscopy is effective for detecting the changes in the relative concentrations of the endogenous fluorophores in tissues due to the development of cancer label free. © 2023 Optica Publishing Group.

Moderate-intensity physical activity is recommended for inactive adults with overweight/obesity (OW/OB). The objective of this study is to determine if differences exist in the selection of moderate intensity between inactive adults with juvenile-onset (JO) and adult-onset (AO) OW/OB. Participants (JO = 18, AO = 20) were stratified by onset and completed two separate 20-minute moderate-intensity exercise sessions on a treadmill and cycle ergometer (randomized order). Multiple linear regression was used to determine whether exercise intensity (average METS, % age-predicted HRmax), self-reported pleasure or exertion differed by onset, controlling for age and gender. On the treadmill, JO and AO participants selected an average intensity of (mean [SD]) 3.5 (0.9) and 3.7 (0.9) METS, and 64.0 (7.7) and 64.9 (7.5) % of age-predicted HRmax, respectively. On the cycle, JO and AO participants selected an average intensity of 3.3 (0.9) and 3.3 (1.0) METS, and 65.2 (8.8) and 60.7 (7.2) % of age-predicted HRmax. After adjustment, participant intensity selection did not significantly differ by obesity onset when walking or cycling. There were no significant differences in pleasure or perceived exertion by onset, however, perception of exertion was on the high-end of moderate for both the cycle (13.0, 12.5) and treadmill (12.0, 12.1), in JO and AO participants, respectively. Perception of moderate intensity did not differ by obesity onset. Self-selected intensity was at the low end of moderate for walking and cycling.

This work explores using Probabilistic Context Free Grammars and Artificial Neural Networks as possible machine learning models for classifying introns into major and minor introns. It presents an intron classification framework that combines probabilistic context free grammars and support vector machines. It also assesses the computational prediction power of these two models in comparison to the Position Weight Matrices technique, which is currently the exclusively used model for intron classification. The comparison is done through experimental analysis, and it shows promising results for Probabilistic Context Free Grammars and Artificial Neural Networks. © 2022 IEEE.

Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange1, a full understanding of the strong interaction remains a considerable challenge in modern science. One remaining difficulty arises from the non-perturbative nature of the strong force, which leads to the phenomenon of quark confinement at distances on the order of the size of the proton. Here we show that, in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, in which quarks and gluons are set free over an extended volume, two species of produced vector (spin-1) mesons, namely ϕ and K*0, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for ϕ is unexpectedly large, whereas that for K*0 is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for ϕ cannot be explained by conventional mechanisms, whereas a model with a connection to strong force fields2–6, that is, an effective proxy description within the standard model and quantum chromodynamics, accommodates the current data. This connection, if fully established, will open a potential new avenue for studying the behaviour of strong force fields. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Purpose: As mobile device use in the events industry increases worldwide, an essential component for successful events is creating a unique experience. One way to enhance entertainer and attendee experience is by offering a phone-free space to enjoy an event. This study aims to examine mobile device habits and attendee willingness to adopt a mobile locking mechanism product at events and festivals. Design/methodology/approach: Analysis of variance and regression analyses were used to test the research questions using data collected from 299 attendees recruited through an online research company. Findings: Results reveal that mobile device habits are significantly related to the adoption of the phone locking product at events. Practical implications: This study provides contributions to event planners to offer distraction-free settings that provide an overall escapist experience for attendees. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to empirically examine the role of mobile device habits and willingness to adopt a phone-locking device with event attendees. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the ways in which physical education teacher education (PETE) prepares preservice physical education teachers (PPETs) to select and implement appropriate assessments.Methods: PPETs (N = 14) enrolled in the secondary teaching methods course at two US universities participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were completed to collect data concerning how assessment knowledge and skills were taught and learned. Constant content comparison method was used to analyze the data.Results: Two major themes with varying sub-themes emerged from the data: ‘Scratching the surface of assessment with unclear learning objectives’, and ‘Perceiving the importance of assessment, but still not integrate it into instruction’ Overall, assessment was not found to conjunctionally taught with instruction. School-based field experiences pertaining to assessment content and pedagogical knowledge were also weak.Conclusions: Minimum assessment knowledge and skills were taught in secondary methods courses with little field experience pertaining to assessment. Future research is needed on examining PETE program content and pedagogy courses to highlight the need for assessment instruction and transform our approaches to preparing PPETs.

We show that overconfident individuals are likely to be arrested for public intoxication by using arrest records from a university town police log. This relationship is robust to various control variables such as risk aversion, time discounting, present bias, self-control, selfishness, loss aversion, and socializing with peers arrested for public intoxication. However, this relationship is no longer significant using only self-reported arrest data. We hypothesize that overconfident individuals are likely to underreport their arrests. This result has important implications for the use of self-reported data on public intoxication arrests rather than actual arrest records.

Research suggests that English learners (ELs) with learning disabilities (LD) may benefit from culturally responsive evidence-based instructional approaches. ELs with LD often present with learning challenges that influence language acquisition and literacy development. One way to address the distinctive proclivities of these students is to consider the importance of culturally responsive evidence-based instruction that can elevate student understanding and academic achievement. This article explores the integration of two theoretical frameworks: culturally responsive practices and high-leverage practices. It then outlines the importance of teacher introspection as an instructional foundation and identifies several strategies for ELs with LD by centering instruction around linguistic assets and cultural values in combination with effective instructional practices. The article concludes with a call to action for teachers to tailor instruction based on students' cultural and language assets, in combination with effective instructional practices to enhance student learning.