George Mason University
  • Fairfax, United States
Recent publications
With China's global ascendancy, Chinese foreign policy has become a popular area of studies for scholars around the world. Rather than simply contributing to this subject, this book sets out to reflect on the field itself, using as samples some of the author's previous work, both published and unpublished, covering different areas of Chinese foreign policy and adopting different approaches. In doing so, it examines how knowledge about Chinese foreign policy has evolved, focusing on areas such as traditions, values, perspectives and regionalism.The field of Chinese foreign policy has evolved along with international relations and foreign policy analysis. The quality of the studies of specific topics has generally been high thanks to the competitive and extensive nature of academic research and exchange, despite a perceived failure to predict Beijing's current assertive foreign policy orientation. Looking forward, this book reflects on how changing trends in a number of key areas -- a shift in thinking about opposition research, an excessive focus on national security, narrowing of academic exchange, and increasingly limited access between China and the West -- threaten to lower the quality in future Chinese foreign policy studies in Western countries.
While the workspace of traditional ground vehicles is usually assumed to be in a 2D plane, i.e., SE(2)\mathbb {SE}(2) , such an assumption may not hold when they drive at high speeds on unstructured off-road terrain: High-speed sharp turns on high-friction surfaces may lead to vehicle rollover; Turning aggressively on loose gravel or grass may violate the non-holonomic constraint and cause significant lateral sliding; Driving quickly on rugged terrain will produce extensive vibration along the vertical axis. Therefore, most offroad vehicles are currently limited to driving only at low speeds to assure vehicle stability and safety. In this work, we aim at empowering high-speed off-road vehicles with competence awareness in SE(3)\mathbb {SE}(3) so that they can reason about the consequences of taking aggressive maneuvers on different terrain with a 6-DoF forward kinodynamic model. The kinodynamic model is learned from visual, speed, and inertial Terrain Representation for Off-road Navigation ( tron ) using multimodal, self-supervised vehicle-terrain interactions. We demonstrate the efficacy of our Competence-Aware High-Speed Off-Road ( cahsor ) navigation approach on a physical ground robot in both autonomous navigation and a human shared-control setup and show that cahsor can efficiently reduce vehicle instability by 62% while only compromising 8.6% average speed with the help of tron .
  • Brittany Johnson
    Brittany Johnson
  • Tim Menzies
    Tim Menzies
An ethical approach to AI need not be revolutionary or exceptional. We argue that it is the ethical duty of software professionals to rally against AI over-hype. As shown here, this is not hard to do. If we apply just simple empirical methods, we can better monitor the true progress in AI for software engineering.
Young learners in this interconnected and technology-driven world need skills to both interpret and create media messages. These skills will allow them to use English in global contexts through authentic, multimodal communication. This chapter explores ways to develop English language teaching (ELT) materials that cultivate media literacy in young learners of English. It presents practical and creative ideas for utilizing media literacy activities as content for English language learning in diverse contexts around the world. Teachers will be inspired to bring new kinds of media into the classroom that reflect their students’ lives and interests and motivate them to learn English. The chapter provides strategies for creating and curating media for teaching English to young learners (TEYL) while supporting teachers’ ability to design lessons around those multimedia materials. These strategies are based on frameworks from the fields of media literacy education and ELT. They include Content and Language Integrated Instruction and media analysis tools that promote the thoughtful and ethical use and creation of media. Educators will learn how to foster real multimodal communication in English while building students’ critical thinking and analysis skills. This will put young learners on a path to becoming engaged global citizens through their use of English as an international language in our media saturated world.
Purpose Guided by the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication model (CERC, Reynolds and Seeger 2005. Crisis and emergency risk communication as an integrative model. Journal of Health Communication 10(1). 43–55.), the present study aimed to study how X (formerly Twitter) users sensemaking and efficacy based message. Additionally, the study also aimed to understand how the World Health Organization (WHO) responded to the emerging conversation. Methods Unsupervised machine learning was conducted on 6.1 million tweets between January and March 2020 to understand sensemaking about COVID-19 among X users. Additionally, content analysis was used to examine if the World Health Organization (WHO) responded to popular emerging conversations via content on their own X handle. Findings The majority of dominant topics in COVID-19 tweets from January to March 2020 related to understanding the virus and the crisis it caused. X users tried to make sense of their surroundings and re-create their familiar world by framing events. Content analysis revealed that WHO engaged in effective social listening and responded quickly to dominant X conversations to help people make sense of the situation. Practical Implications The initial stage of COVID-19 pandemic was marked with uncertainty. However, WHO had a robust communication strategy and addressed the dominant conversation during the time frame including debunking misinformation. Originality/Value The present study fills the research gap by situating the themes in the context of the health crisis and extending the CERC model to user-generated content via the lens of sensemaking and efficacy messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the study segmented the timelines into smaller time intervals to understand how sensemaking evolved over time.
Measurement-Based Care (MBC) is the systematic use of patient-reported data to inform care decisions and monitor treatment progress. MBC has been shown to improve patient outcomes across medical and mental health treatment settings for adults and youth. While many studies have examined the use of MBC in specific care settings, few have focused on the implementation of MBC among youth populations or across care settings. While a review has shown that use of MBC benefits youth, no published reviews exist that summarize the successful strategies and barriers to implementation models across studies in youth service settings. To address these gaps, the present systematic review (N = 25 studies) focuses on the implementation of MBC across four youth service settings, including outpatient mental health centers, medical centers/pediatric clinics, schools, and clinical psychology training clinics. Results suggest that few studies employ consistent implementation models or strategies to guide efforts. Further, there is significant overlap in the successful strategies employed as well as the barriers to implementation of MBC across youth service settings, at the client, clinician, and organizational levels. Broadly, the authors recommend on the basis of findings that future implementation work in youth service settings: incorporate comprehensive training in the use of MBC for clinicians; incorporate stakeholder feedback into the implementation process for initial and sustained use; employ digital measurement feedback systems to deliver MBC that allow for real-time feedback and continuous technical support; and employ a health equity lens in implementation efforts to help address disparities in access to and use of MBC so that all youth and families may benefit from this evidence-based practice.
To achieve long term success of orthopedic implants, it is critical to have a successful integration of bone and implant material. To accomplish this, various surface modifications have been investigated in research. Even though titania nanotubes and copper have individually demonstrated successful stem cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation, these modifications have not yet been investigated together. In this study, we fabricated copper-modified titania nanotubes and evaluated the adhesion, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of adipose derived stem cells on these surfaces. Implant surfaces also have to interact with blood after insertion in the body. Several studies have shown the importance of blood clots on material surfaces and their influence in differentiation of cells. Hence, blood clotting properties of modified surfaces were also investigated through whole blood clotting, and platelet adhesion and activation. The copper-modified titania nanotube surfaces demonstrated increased differentiation of adipose derived stem cells towards osteogenic lineage as well as enhanced blood clotting properties, thus they can be used as a potential surface for orthopedic implants.
Data integration of multiple studies can provide enhanced exposure contrast and statistical power to examine associations between environmental exposure mixtures and health outcomes. Extant research has combined populations and identified an overall mixture–outcome association, without accounting for differences across studies. We extended the Bayesian Weighted Quantile Sum (BWQS) regression to a hierarchical framework to analyze mixtures across cohorts. The hierarchical BWQS (HBWQS) approach aggregates sample size of multiple cohorts to calculate an overall mixture index, thereby identifying the most harmful exposure(s) across cohorts; and provides cohort‐specific associations between the overall mixture index and the outcome. We showed results from 10 simulated scenarios including four mixture components in three, eight, and ten populations, and two real‐case examples on the association between prenatal metal mixture exposure—comprising arsenic, cadmium, and lead—and both gestational age and epigenetic‐derived gestational age acceleration metrics. Simulated scenarios showed good empirical coverage and little bias for all HBWQS‐estimated parameters. The Watanabe–Akaike information criterion showed a better average performance for the HBWQS regression than the BWQS across scenarios. HBWQS results incorporating cohorts within the national Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program from three different sites showed that the environmental mixture was negatively associated with gestational age in a single site. The HBWQS approach facilitates the combination of multiple cohorts and accounts for individual cohort differences in mixture analyses. HBWQS findings can be used to develop regulations, policies, and interventions regarding multiple co‐occurring environmental exposures and it will maximize the use of extant publicly available data.
Exchange, division of labor, technology, capital accumulation, and entrepreneurship all contribute to economic growth. In The Economics of Prosperity, Ritenour explains how each of these concepts allow countries to develop and flourish. This book attempts to provide an extensive survey of Austrian literature surrounding development, while still preserving the author’s opinions around debated issues such as the person and function of the entrepreneur. Ritenour also takes the institution of secure private property rights as a given. This paper argues that strong private property rights must precede any discussion of exchange and specialization, particularly because exchange presupposes ownership. The ruler or ruling elites have to concede some power and uphold a strict rule of law to protect private property rights. Additionally, this paper also extends the discussion to cultural and institutional factors behind innovation and economic development, instead of relying on the Weberian work ethic to explain the Industrial Revolution. In short, economic growth requires good economic principles.
During large geomagnetic storms, red auroras are typically observed from low-latitude countries such as Japan. The color arises from a specific emission line of oxygen atoms at high altitudes. However, during the May 10-11th 2024 superstorm, magenta auroras were observed above Japan instead of the typical red. In this study, we demonstrate that the magenta hue is created by a mixture of red (O) and a blue (N2⁺) aurora at extremely high altitudes. The blue color originates from the N2⁺ first negative emission band caused by both resonant scattering of the upwelling molecular ions and heavy particle precipitation during the storm. This study is primarily driven by observations from citizen scientists, and confirmed and quantified with observations from spacecraft and modeling techniques. Additionally, we show that high solar activity, terrestrial season, and the preheating of the atmosphere all contribute to the occurrence of magenta aurora. This study showcases the value and richness of citizen science, and we anticipate that such approaches will become increasingly important in the future.
The StrongerMemory program aims to improve cognitive health in older adults through three daily brain exercises stimulating the prefrontal cortex: reading aloud, writing, and math activities. The brain’s prefrontal cortex governs memory retrieval, decision-making, concentration, planning, insight, and judgment. This paper reports on focus groups conducted to understand participants’ perspectives of the StrongerMemory program and their continuation of the exercises post-study. Thirty older adults, mostly female, white, married, and holding advanced degrees, participated. Rigorous data analysis involving coding, memoing, and constant comparative analysis generated 132 codes leading to the emergence of five themes: motivating, appreciating, taxing, committing, and enhancing. Social work practitioners can gain valuable insights from this study to enhance the creation and implementation of accessible and meaningful brain health interventions for older adults.
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14,571 members
Donald Seto
  • Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program, School of Systems Biology
Gary Kreps
  • Department of Communication
Dale Scott Rothman
  • Department of Computational and Data Sciences
Michelle Harris-Love
  • Department of Rehabilitation Science
Viviana Maggioni
  • Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering
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