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Large language models (LLMs) are used in software development to assist in various tasks, e.g., code generation and code completion, but empirical evaluations of the quality of the results produced by these models focus on correctness and ignore other relevant aspects, such as their performance and energy efficiency. Studying the performance of LLM-produced programs is essential to understand how well LLMs can support the construction of performance- and energy-critical software, such as operating systems, servers, and mobile applications. This paper presents the first study analyzing the energy efficiency and performance of LLM-generated code for three programming languages Python, Java, and C++, on two platforms, a Mac and a PC, leveraging three frontier LLMs, Github Copilot, GPT-4o, and the recently-released OpenAI o1-mini, and targeting ``hard'' programming problems from LeetCode. Our results show that the models are much more successful in generating Python and Java than C++ code.

This paper presents a new measure of emotional perceptiveness called PAGE: Perceiving AI Generated Emotions. The test includes a broad range of emotions, expressed by ethnically diverse faces, spanning a wide range of ages. We created stimuli with Generative AI, demonstrating the potential to build customizable assessments of emotional intelligence at relatively low cost. Study 1 describes the validation of the image set and test construction. Study 2 reports the psychometric properties of the test. Despite its brevity - 8 minutes on average - PAGE has strong convergent validity and moderately higher internal consistency than comparable measures. Study 3 explores predictive validity using a lab experiment in which we causally identify the contributions managers make to teams. PAGE scores strongly predict managers causal contributions to group success, a finding which is robust to controlling for personality and demographic characteristics. We also discussed the potential of Generative AI to automate development of non-cognitive skill assessments.

Treating images as data has become increasingly popular in political science. While existing classifiers for images reach high levels of accuracy, it is difficult to systematically assess the visual features on which they base their classification. This paper presents a two-level classification method that addresses this transparency problem. At the first stage, an image segmenter detects the objects present in the image and a feature vector is created from those objects. In the second stage, this feature vector is used as input for standard machine learning classifiers to discriminate between images. We apply this method to a new dataset of more than 140,000 images to detect which ones display political protest. This analysis demonstrates three advantages to this paper's approach. First, identifying objects in images improves transparency by providing human-understandable labels for the objects shown on an image. Second, knowing these objects enables analysis of which distinguish protest images from non-protest ones. Third, comparing the importance of objects across countries reveals how protest behavior varies. These insights are not available using conventional computer vision classifiers and provide new opportunities for comparative research.

Carrier graphs of groups representing subgroups of a given relatively hyperbolic groups are introduced and a combination theorem for relatively quasi-convex subgroups is proven. Subsequently a theory of folds for such carrier graphs is introduced and finiteness results for subgroups of locally relatively quasiconvex relatively hyperbolic groups and Kleinian groups are established., Comment: 55 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2203.02357 by other authors

Combinatorial Hantzsche-Wendt groups were introduced by W. Craig and P.A. Linnell. Every such a group $G_n$, where $n$ is a natural number, encodes the holonomy action of any $n+1$-dimensional Hantzsche-Wendt manifold. $G_2$ is the fundamental group of the classical Hantzsche-Wendt manifold -- the only one $3$-dimensional oriented flat manifold with non-cyclic holonomy group. In this article, we describe the structure of the automorphism and of the outer automorphism groups of combinatorial Hantzsche-Wendt groups.

In this paper we analyse a sample of 46 barred galaxies of MaNGA. Our goal is to investigate the stellar kinematics of these galaxies and obtain their rotation curves. Additionally, we aim to derive the total stellar and dynamical masses, as well as the maximum rotation velocity, in order to examine their distributions and scaling relations. Using the Pipe3D dataproducts publicly available we obtained the rotation curves, which were fitted considering two components of an axisymmetric Miyamoto-Nagai gravitational potential. We found a wide range of the maximum rotation velocities (117 - 340 km s -1 ), with a mean value of 200 km s -1 . In addition we found that the total stellar and dynamical masses are in the range of log(M star /M sun ) = 10.1 - 11.5, with a mean value of log(M star /M sun ) = 10.8, and log(M dyn /M sun ) = 10.4 - 12.0, with a mean value of log(M dyn /M sun ) = 11.1, respectively. We found a strong correlation between dynamical mass and maximum velocity, between maximum velocity and magnitude, and between stellar mass and maximum velocity. According to these results, barred galaxies exhibit similar behaviour to that of normal spiral galaxies with respect to these relations, as well as in terms of the distribution of their dynamical mass and maximum rotation velocity. Ho we ver, we found that the distribution of stellar masses of barred galaxies is statistically different from other samples including non-barred galaxies. Finally, analysing the galaxies that show nuclear activity, we find no difference with the rotation curves of normal galaxies.

The study uses data from five assessment points for reading and maths. It focuses on a constant sample of students, all of whom completed a Rising Stars assessment in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also administered three teacher surveys: the first focused on the initial period of lockdown, the second focused on the autumn 2020 term when students returned to face-to-face instruction, the third focused on the second period of school closures from January to March 2021. This descriptive, longitudinal study focuses on primary schools in England. It has three aims: (1) to quantify changes in attainment gaps since the onset of COVID-19: the focus is on gaps between economically disadvantaged pupils and their peers in Years 2 to 6; (2) to describe how teachers and schools responded to the challenges of COVID-19; and (3) to explore associations between school responses to COVID and changes in attainment gaps. [The report was published with FFT and Teacher Tapp.]

L. Louder showed that any generating tuple of a surface group is Nielsen equivalent to a stabilized standard generating tuple i.e. $(a_1,\ldots ,a_k,1\ldots, 1)$ where $(a_1,\ldots ,a_k)$ is the standard generating tuple. This implies in particular that irreducible generating tuples, i.e. tuples that are not Nielsen equivalent to a tuple of the form $(g_1,\ldots ,g_k,1)$, are minimal. In a previous work the first author generalized Louder's ideas and showed that all irreducible and non-standard generating tuples of sufficiently large Fuchsian groups can be represented by so-called almost orbifold covers endowed with a rigid generating tuple. In the present paper a variation of the ideas from \cite{W2} is used to show that this almost orbifold cover with a rigid generating tuple is unique up to the appropriate equivalence. It is moreover shown that any such generating tuple is irreducible. This provides a way to exhibit many Nielsen classes of non-minimal irreducible generating tuples for Fuchsian groups. As an application we show that generating tuples of fundamental groups of Haken Seifert manifolds corresponding to irreducible horizontal Heegaard splittings are irreducible.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to school closures across the UK and many countries across the world, with the majority of pupils in these systems out of school, though supported and taught in various ways. There has been great concern that school closures will lead to slower rates of learning or learning loss, and there is a risk that the negative impact will be worse for pupils who are economically disadvantaged. This rapid evidence assessment aimed to examine the potential impact of school closures on the attainment gap, based on a systematic search of existing literature. Eleven studies were identified that provided quantitative evidence about the impact of school closures on attainment gaps. A subset of nine studies provided comparable estimates that could be synthesised.

Modeling is a key activity in conceptual design and system design. Through collaborative modeling, end-users, stakeholders, experts, and entrepreneurs are able to create a shared understanding of a system representation. While the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is one of the major conceptual modeling languages in object-oriented software engineering, more and more concerns arise from the modeling quality of UML and its tool support. Among them, the limitation of the two-dimensional presentation of its notations and lack of natural collaborative modeling tools are reported to be significant. In this paper, we explore the potential of using Virtual Reality (VR) technology for collaborative UML software design by comparing it with classical collaborative software design using conventional devices (Desktop PC, Laptop). For this purpose, we have developed a VR modeling environment that offers a natural collaborative modeling experience for UML Class Diagrams. Based on a user study with 24 participants, we have compared collaborative VR modeling with conventional modeling with regard to efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction. Results show that the use of VR has some disadvantages concerning efficiency and effectiveness, but the user's fun, the feeling of being in the same room with a remote collaborator, and the naturalness of collaboration were increased., Comment: preprint, accepted at ACM/IEEE 24th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS 2021)

Managing models in a consistent manner is an important task in the field of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE). Although restoring and maintaining consistency is desired in general, recent work has pointed out that always strictly enforcing consistency at any point of time is often not feasible in real-world scenarios, and sometimes even contrary to what a user expects from a trustworthy MDE tool. The challenge of tolerating inconsistencies has been discussed from different viewpoints within and outside the modelling community, but there exists no structured overview of existing and current work in this regard. In this paper, we provide such an overview to help join forces tackling the unresolved problems of tolerating inconsistencies in MDE. We follow the standard process of a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to point out what tolerance means, how it relates to uncertainty, which examples for tolerant software systems have already been discussed, and which benefits and drawbacks tolerating inconsistencies entails. Furthermore, we propose a tool-chain that helps conducting SLRs in computer science and also eases the reproduction of results. Relevant meta-data of the collected sources is uniformly described in a textual modelling language and exported to the graph database Neo4j to query aggregated information.

The Gaia mission will provide the scientific community with high-quality observations of asteroids of all categories. The second release of Gaia data (DR2) was published in 2018 and consisted of 22 months of observations of 14,099 known Solar System objects, mainly asteroids. The purpose of this work is to obtain a catalogue of phase function parameters (H and G) for all the asteroids that are observed by the Gaia mission, and which were published in DR2. For this purpose, we introduced an algorithm capable of building this catalogue from the magnitude and UTC epoch data present in the DR2 database. Since Gaia will never observe asteroids with a phase angle of 0{\deg} (corresponding with the opposition), but with phase angles higher than 10{\deg}, we added data from ground observations (corresponding to small phase angles) and thus improved the determination of the $H$ and $G$ parameters of the phase function. In this case, we also build a catalogue of the parameters of the H, G1, G2 phase function. We compared our results of the H, G function with those of the Astorb database and observed that the level of agreement is satisfactory., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

In the field of Model-Driven Engineering, there exist numerous tools that support various consistency management operations including model transformation, synchronisation and consistency checking. The supported operations, however, typically run completely in the background with only input and output made visible to the user. We argue that this often reduces both understandability and controllability. As a step towards improving this situation, we present VICToRy, a debugger for model generation and transformation based on Triple Graph Grammars, a well-known rule-based approach to bidirectional transformation. In addition to a fine-grained, step-by-step, interactive visualisation, VICToRy enables the user to actively explore and choose between multiple valid rule applications thus improving control and understanding., Comment: In Proceedings GCM 2020, arXiv:2012.01181

In Information-Centric Networking (ICN), consumers send interest packets to the network and receive data packets as a response to their request without taking care of the producers, which have provided the content, contrary to conventional IP networks. ICN supports the use of multiple paths; however, with multiple consumers and producers, coordination among the nodes is required to efficiently use the network resources. Network coding (NC) is a promising tool to address this issue. The challenge in the case of NC is to be able to get independent coded content in response to multiple parallel interests by one or several consumers. In this work, we propose a novel construction called MILIC (Multiple Interests for Linearly Independent Contents) that impose constraints on how the replies to interests are coded, intending to get linearly independent contents in response to multiple interests. Several protocol variants, called MICN (MILIC-ICN), built on top of NDN (Named Data Networking), are proposed to integrate these interest constraints and NC of data packets. Numerical analysis and simulations illustrate that the MILIC construction performs well and that the MICN protocols are close to optimal throughput on some scenarios. MICN protocols compare favorably to existing protocols and show significant benefits when considering the total number of transmitted packets in the network, and in the case of high link loss rate.

In order to keep trace of information and grow up, the infant brain has to resolve the problem about where old information is located and how to index new ones. We propose that the immature prefrontal cortex (PFC) use its primary functionality of detecting hierarchical patterns in temporal signals as a second purpose to organize the spatial ordering of the cortical networks in the developing brain itself. Our hypothesis is that the PFC detects the hierarchical structure in temporal sequences in the form of ordinal patterns and use them to index information hierarchically in different parts of the brain. Henceforth, we propose that this mechanism for detecting patterns participates in the ordinal organization development of the brain itself; i.e., the bootstrapping of the connectome. By doing so, it gives the tools to the language-ready brain for manipulating abstract knowledge and planning temporally ordered information; i.e., the emergence of symbolic thinking and language. We will review neural models that can support such mechanisms and propose new ones. We will confront then our ideas with evidence from developmental, behavioral and brain results and make some hypotheses, for instance, on the construction of the mirror neuron system, on embodied cognition, and on the capacity of learning-to-learn.

Planetary nebulae represent a potential late stage of stellar evolution, however the central stars (CSPNe) are relatively faint and therefore pertinent information is merely available for <20% of the Galactic sample. Consequently, the literature was surveyed to construct a new catalogue of 620 CSPNe featuring important spectral classifications and information. The catalogue supersedes the existing iteration by 25%, and includes physical parameters such as luminosity, surface gravity, temperature, magnitude estimates, and references for published spectra. The marked statistical improvement enabled the following pertinent conclusions to be determined: the H-rich/H-poor ratio is 2:1, there is a deficiency of CSPNe with types [WC 5-6], and nearly 80% of binary central stars belong to the H-rich group. The last finding suggests that evolutionary scenarios leading to the formation of binary central stars interfere with the conditions required for the formation of H-poor CSPN. Approximately 50% of the sample with derived values of log L, log Teff, and log g, exhibit masses and ages consistent with single stellar evolutionary models. The implication is that single stars are indeed able to form planetary nebulae. Moreover, it is shown that H-poor CSPNe are formed by higher mass progenitors. The catalogue is available through the Vizier database., Comment: Accepted to be published in the A&A

This study examines whether unobserved factors substantially bias education evaluations that rely on the Conditional Independence Assumption. We add 14 new within-study comparisons to the literature, all from primary schools in England. Across these 14 studies, we generate 42 estimates of selection bias using a simple matching approach. A meta-analysis of the estimates suggests that the distribution of underlying bias is centered around zero. The mean absolute value of estimated bias is 0.03{\sigma}, and none of the 42 estimates are larger than 0.11{\sigma}. Results are similar for math, reading and writing outcomes. Overall, we find no evidence of substantial selection bias due to unobserved characteristics. These findings may not generalise easily to other settings or to more radical educational interventions, but they do suggest that non-experimental approaches could play a greater role than they currently do in generating reliable causal evidence for school education.

We present Gemini-South observations of nine faint and extended planetary nebulae. Using direct images taken with the spectrograph GMOS, we built the $(u' - g')$ vs. $(g' - r')$ diagrams of the stars in the observed areas which allowed us, also considering their geometrical positions, to identify the probable central stars of the nebulae. Our stellar spectra of seven stars, also taken with GMOS, indicate that four (and probably two more) objects are white dwarfs of the DAO subtype. Moreover, the white dwarf status of the four stars is confirmed by the parameters $ T_{\mathrm{eff}}$ and $ \log g$ derived with the help of theoretical stellar spectra. Given this evidence, we propose that these hot stars are the central ionizing sources of the nebulae. With this work we hope to help improve the current scarce statistics on central white dwarfs in planetary nebulae.

We observe that Whitehead's lemma is an immediate consequence of Stallings folds.

Context. There are more than 3000 known Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe), but only 492 central stars of Galactic planetary nebulae (CSPN) have known spectral types. It is vital to increase this number in order to have reliable statistics, which will lead to an increase of our understanding of these amazing objects. Aims. We aim to contribute to the knowledge of central stars of planetary nebulae and stellar evolution. Methods. This observational study is based on Gemini Multi-Object Spectrographs (GMOS) and with the Intermediate Dispersion Spectrograph (IDS) at the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) spectra of 78 CSPN. The objects were selected because they did not have any previous classification, or the present classification is ambiguous. These new high quality spectra allowed us to identify the key stellar lines for determining spectral classification in the Morgan-Keenan (MK) system. Results. We have acquired optical spectra of a large sample of CSPN. From the observed targets, 50 are classified here for the first time while for 28 the existing classifications have been improved. In seven objects we have identified a P-Cygni profile at the He i lines. Six of these CSPN are late O-type. The vast majority of the stars in the sample exhibit an absorption-type spectrum, and in one case we have found wide emission lines typical of [WR] stars. We give a complementary, and preliminary, classification criterion to obtain the sub-type of the O(H)-type CSPN. Finally, we give a more realistic value of the proportion of CSPN that are rich or poor in hydrogen., Comment: Accepted to be published in the A&A

Many active galactic nuclei (AGN) and particularly narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies, usually exhibit blueshifts and blue wings in several emission lines, which are mainly associated with outflows and strong winds. In order to study the radial velocity difference between the narrow component of H$\beta$ and the core component of [OIII]$\lambda$5007 and the asymmetric emission of this forbidden line, we investigate a sample of NLS1 galaxies . One of the aims of this paper is to analyze the blue wings of the [OIII]$\lambda$5007 profiles and their relation with the central engine. We have obtained and studied medium-resolution spectra (190 km s$^{-1}$ FWHM at H$\beta$) of a sample of 28 NLS1 galaxies in the optical range 4300 - 5200\AA. We performed Gaussian decomposition to the H$\beta$ and [OIII]$\lambda\lambda$4959,5007 emission profiles in order to study the distinct components of these lines. A new blue outlier galaxy is found, in which the center of the core component of [OIII] is blueshifted by 405 km s$^{-1}$ relative to the center of the narrow component of H$\beta$ line. We confirmed a previously known correlation between the blueshift and the full width half maximum (FWHM) of the core component of [OIII]$\lambda$5007 line. We also corroborated the correlation between the latter and the velocity of the centroid of the blue wing. On the other hand, by studying the radial velocity difference between the blue end of the asymmetric emission and the centroid of the core component of [OIII], we found a correlation between it and the central black hole mass and, therefore, with the luminosity of the broad component of H$\beta$. Finally, we found a moderate correlation between the luminosity of the [OIII] blue wing and the black hole mass., Comment: Accepted to be published in the A&A. 18 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables

We prove for a large class of knots that the meridional rank coincides with the bridge number. This class contains all knots whose exterior is a graph manifold. This gives a partial answer to a question of S. Cappell and J. Shaneson, see problem 1.11 on Kirby's list., Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures

We present an atlas of more than one hundred original images of planetary nebulae (PNe). These images were taken in a narrow-band filter centred on the nebular emission of the [N II] during several observing campaigns using two moderate-aperture telescopes, at the Complejo Astron\'omico El Leoncito (CASLEO), and the Estaci\'on Astrof\'isica de Bosque Alegre (EABA), both in Argentina. The data provided by this atlas represent one of the most extensive image surveys of PNe in [N II]. We compare the new images with those available in the literature, and briefly describe all cases in which our [N II] images reveal new and interesting structures., Comment: Accepted to be published in the A&A

We prove that links with meridional rank 3 whose 2-fold branched covers are graph manifolds are 3-bridge links. This gives a partial answer to a question by S. Cappell and J. Shaneson on the relation between the bridge numbers and meridional ranks of links. To prove this, we also show that the meridional rank of any satellite knot is at least 4., Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures

Context. At least 492 central stars of Galactic planetary nebulae (CSPNs) have been assigned spectral types. Since many CSPNs are faint, these classification efforts are frequently made at low spectral resolution. However, the stellar Balmer absorption lines are contaminated with nebular emission; therefore in many cases a low-resolution spectrum does not enable the determination of the H abundance in the CSPN photosphere. Whether or not the photosphere is H deficient is arguably the most important fact we should expect to extract from the CSPN spectrum, and should be the basis for an adequate spectral classification system. Aims. Our purpose is to provide accurate spectral classifications and contribute to the knowledge of central stars of planetary nebulae and stellar evolution. Methods. We have obtained and studied higher quality spectra of CSPNs described in the literature as weak emission-line star (WELS). We provide descriptions of 19 CSPN spectra. These stars had been previously classified at low spectral resolution. We used medium-resolution spectra taken with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS). We provide spectral types in the Morgan-Keenan (MK) system whenever possible. Results. Twelve stars in our sample appear to have normal H rich photospheric abundances, and five stars remain unclassified. The rest (two) are most probably H deficient. Of all central stars described by other authors as WELS, we find that at least 26% of them are, in fact, H rich O stars, and at least 3% are H deficient. This supports the suggestion that the denomination WELS should not be taken as a spectral type, because, as a WELS based on low-resolution spectra, it cannot provide enough information about the photospheric H abundance., Comment: Accepted to be published in the A&A

Background/Context: Attrition has been described as "the Achilles Heel of the randomized experiment" (Shadish et al., 1998 p.3). Attrition looms as a threat because it can undermine group equivalence, eroding the methodological strength at the heart of a randomized evaluation. In particular, attrition could result in unobserved differences between treatment arms, leading to biased estimates of treatment impact. But how large are these biases in practice? Purpose/Objective/Research Question: Our paper makes four contributions: (1) Estimate attrition bias for 10 education RCTs, spanning 22 outcomes. We are able to do this by accessing census data that include attainment information from those pupils who attrited from the 10 RCTs. Using techniques from meta-analysis, we then estimate the typical magnitude of attrition bias across our studies and outcomes; (2) Present a framework for decomposing attrition bias. We illustrate that attrition bias is a function of four components: the rate of attrition and association between attrition and outcome in each treatment arm. We quantify the magnitude of these components; (3) Examine the "Missing At Random" (MAR) assumption in our context; and (4) Provide two practical recommendations for researchers: i) incorporate uncertainty from attrition bias and ii) check whether conclusions are sensitive to 'worst-observed case' attrition mechanisms. Setting and Data: Our analysis relies on a unique set of linked databases in England. The key data source is an archive of RCTs that can be linked to the National Pupil Database (NPD). The NPD is a census of publicly funded schools and pupils that provides testing outcomes for all students, even those who attrited from the initial studies. We examine 10 interventions (see table 1 for description). The interventions were diverse in their approaches to raise academic achievement in literacy, numeracy and science, for pupils aged 6 to 15. Attrition ranged from less than 10% to more than 40%, with a mean of around 19%. Differential attrition was as high as 20%. We aligned each outcome in the original trial to a corresponding state-wide test; given the requirements for RCTs in our archive, we argue this correspondence is reasonable. Research Design: Consider Model 1 in which Y[subscript ijkw] is the outcome that student i in school j achieves in intervention k for outcome w, and T[subscript ij] is a binary treatment indicator: Y[subscript ijkw] = a[subscript j] + [tau]T[subscript ij] + e[subscript ij], a[subscript j] ~ N( a[subscript 0], [delta superscript 2 subscript a] ), e[subscript ij] ~ N( 0, [delta superscript 2 subscript e] ). Using this model, we estimate attrition bias for a given study and observation with three steps: (i) Fit Model 1 only using units from the "responder sample" (those students who provided data for the initial evaluation). This gives [tau]-hat[subscript R], the estimate of the ATE for the responder sample. (ii) Refit Model 1 using the "full sample," (all units, with valid pupil identifiers recorded as being randomized) obtaining [tau]-hat[subscript FULL], the estimated ATE for the full sample. (iii) Take the difference: [beta]-hat = [tau]-hat[subscript FULL]- [tau]-hat[subscript R]. This is an estimate of attrition bias, including additional uncertainty due to factors such as sampling variation, imbalance in random assignment, and measurement error. Covariate adjustment to repair attrition bias. We also estimate attrition bias after covariate adjustment by extending the above model to include baseline covariates. We denote estimates of bias "after" adjustment by [beta superscript X]-hat. There are two reasons for adjustment: first, we are interested in the magnitude of attrition bias "in practice" (all the RCTs in our sample used covariates in their analyses). Second, we can examine the extent to which adjustment repairs attrition bias. We find adjustment substantially reduces bias, i.e. |[beta]-hat| is typically larger than |[beta superscript X]-hat|. The distribution of attrition bias. Our primary interest is to look across trials and understand the "distribution" of attrition bias. Our empirical estimates will be over-dispersed as they are estimates of the bias; to take over-dispersion into account we first estimate standard errors for the bias estimates using a resampling approach, and then use tools from meta-analysis to adjust our bias estimates and estimate characteristics of the distribution of true bias. This analysis allows us to achieve two major goals: (1) Estimate the typical magnitude of attrition bias for our setting; and (2) Present estimated distributions for [beta superscript X]-hat and [beta superscript X]-hat that are not over-dispersed. Results: Our final estimates are on Figure 1. The estimated average attrition bias is -0.013ES units (effect size units), with mean absolute value of 0.026ES units. Once we control for covariates, including a pre-test, the estimated distribution of bias, post adjustment, has a mean of [nu] = -0.005ES units, and a mean absolute value of 0.014ES units. No values of attrition bias have a magnitude greater than 0.034ES units. To put the magnitude of these estimates into context, consider that the What Works Clearinghouse set a threshold for problematic bias at 0.05 ES units (WWC, 2014). Even the estimates that do "not" condition on covariates are below this threshold. We discuss connections to US contexts further in our complete work. We also model attrition as the differential relationship of mean outcome for the responder and full sample for each treatment arm to assess differential attrition in our studies. We find overall impact to be minimal, in line with our primary results. Conclusion: Overall, our analyses suggest that the threat of attrition bias is limited in our context. This is despite the fact that, in 7 out of the 10 RCTs we analyzed, the researchers themselves reported serious concerns about attrition as a risk. We argue our set of experiments is representative of school-level interventions, and also call for further research to see if these trends replicate in other contexts. This is not to say that attrition mechanisms can safely be treated as "missing at random." In our full results, we find evidence that students who leave studies tend to perform worse than those who remain. That said, these associations do not appear to be strong enough to induce large-scale bias. We suggest that researchers respond to this evidence by completing sensitivity analyses using empirically-grounded estimates of attrition mechanisms (such as the ones we present). We provide simple methods for doing this in our paper.

The report of an IUPAC Task Group, formed in 2011 on "Intensities and line shapes in high-resolution spectra of water isotopologues from experiment and theory" (Project No. 2011-022-2-100), on line profiles of isolated high-resolution rotational-vibrational transitions perturbed by neutral gas-phase molecules is presented. The well-documented inadequacies of the Voigt profile (VP), used almost universally by databases and radiative-transfer codes, to represent pressure effects and Doppler broadening in isolated vibrational-rotational and pure rotational transitions of the water molecule have resulted in the development of a variety of alternative line-profile models. These models capture more of the physics of the influence of pressure on line shapes but, in general, at the price of greater complexity. The Task Group recommends that the partially Correlated quadratic-Speed-Dependent Hard-Collision profile should be adopted as the appropriate model for high-resolution spectroscopy. For simplicity this should be called the Hartmann--Tran profile (HTP). The HTP is sophisticated enough to capture the various collisional contributions to the isolated line shape, can be computed in a straightforward and rapid manner, and reduces to simpler profiles, including the Voigt profile, under certain simplifying assumptions., Comment: Accepted for publication in Pure and Applied Chemistry

The VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea (VVV) survey is one of six public ESO surveys, and is now in its 4th year of observing. Although far from being complete, the VVV survey has already delivered many results, some directly connected to the intended science goals (detection of variables stars, microlensing events, new star clusters), others concerning more exotic objects, e.g. novae. Now, at the end of the fourth observing period, and comprising roughly 50% of the proposed observations, the actual status of the survey, as well some of the results based on the VVV data, are presented., Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures

We show that for every $n\ge 2$ there exists a torsion-free one-ended word-hyperbolic group $G$ of rank $n$ admitting generating $n$-tuples $(a_1,\ldots ,a_n)$ and $(b_1,\ldots ,b_n)$ such that the $(2n-1)$-tuples $$(a_1,\ldots ,a_n, \underbrace{1,\ldots ,1}_{n-1 \text{times}})\hbox{ and }(b_1,\ldots, b_n, \underbrace{1,\ldots ,1}_{n-1 \text{times}})$$ are not Nielsen-equivalent in $G$. The group $G$ is produced via a probabilistic construction., Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures; a revised final version, to appear in the Journal of Topology

Be objects are stars of B spectral type showing lines of the Balmer series in emission. The presence of these lines is attributed to the existence of an extended envelope, disk type, around them. Some stars are observed in both the Be and normal B-type spectroscopic states and they are known as transient Be stars. In this paper we show the analysis carried out on a new possible transient Be star, labelled HD 112999, using spectroscopic optical observations and photometric data., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in IBVS

We perform a multiwavelength study toward the SNR G18.1-0.1 and nearby several HII regions (infrared dust bubbles N21 and N22, and the HII regions G018.149-00.283 and G18.197-00.181). Our goal is to provide observational evidence supporting that massive stars usually born in clusters from the same molecular cloud, which then produce, along their evolution, different neighboring objects such as HII regions, interstellar bubbles and supernova remnants. We suggest that the objects analysed in this work belong to a same complex located at the distance of about 4 kpc. Using molecular data we inspected the interstellar medium toward this complex and from optical and X-ray observations we looked for OB-type stars in the region. Analysing public 13CO J=1--0 data we found several molecular structures very likely related to the HII region/SNR complex. We suggest that the molecular gas is very likely being swept and shaped by the expansion of the HII regions. From spectroscopic optical observations obtained with the 2.15 m telescope at CASLEO, Argentina, we discovered three O-type stars very likely exciting the bubbles N21 and N22, and an uncatalogued HII region northward bubble N22, respectively. Also we found four B0-5 stars, one toward the bubble N22 and the others within the HII region G18.149-0.283. By inspecting the Chandra Source Catalog we found two point X-ray sources and we suggest that one of them is an early O-type star. Finally we inspected the large scale interstellar medium around this region. We discovered a big molecular shell of about 70 pc x 28 pc in which the analysed complex appears to be located in its southern border., Comment: To be published in MNRAS: Accepted 2013 May 9. Received 2013 May 9; in original form 2012 December 27

Planetary nebulae (PNe) are powerful tracers of evolved stellar populations. Among the 3000 known PNe in the Galaxy, about 600 are located within the 520 square-degree area covered by the VVV survey. The VVV photometric catalogue provides an important new dataset for the study of PNe, with high-resolution imaging in five near-infrared bands. Aperture photometry of known PNe in the VVV area was retrieved from source catalogues. Care was taken to minimise any confusion with field stars. The colours of the PNe we are determined for H-Ks, J-H, Z-Y, and Y-J, and compared to stars and to other types of emission line objects. Cloudy photo-ionisation models were used to predict colours for typical PNe. We present near-infrared photometry for 353 known PNe. The best separation from other objects is obtained in the H-Ks vs. J-H diagram. We calculated the emission-line contribution to the in-band flux based on a model for NGC 6720: we find that this is highest in the Z and Y bands at over 50%, lower in the J band at 40%, and lowest in the H and Ks bands at 20%. A new view of PNe in the wavelength domain of the Z and Y bands is shown. Photo-ionisation models are used to explore the observed colours in these bands. The Y band is shown to be dominated by HeI 1.083 mu and HeII 1.012 mu, and colours involving this band are very sensitive to the temperature of the ionizing star. The VVV survey represents a unique dataset for studing crowded and obscured regions in the Galactic plane. The diagnostic diagrams presented here allow one to study the properties of known PNe and to uncover objects not previously classified., Comment: published in Astronomy and Astrophysics: 2013, A&A, 552, A74

The ESO Public Survey VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) started in 2010. VVV targets 562 sq. deg in the Galactic bulge and an adjacent plane region and is expected to run for ~5 years. In this paper we describe the progress of the survey observations in the first observing season, the observing strategy and quality of the data obtained. The observations are carried out on the 4-m VISTA telescope in the ZYJHKs filters. In addition to the multi-band imaging the variability monitoring campaign in the Ks filter has started. Data reduction is carried out using the pipeline at the Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit. The photometric and astrometric calibration is performed via the numerous 2MASS sources observed in each pointing. The first data release contains the aperture photometry and astrometric catalogues for 348 individual pointings in the ZYJHKs filters taken in the 2010 observing season. The typical image quality is ~0.9-1.0". The stringent photometric and image quality requirements of the survey are satisfied in 100% of the JHKs images in the disk area and 90% of the JHKs images in the bulge area. The completeness in the Z and Y images is 84% in the disk, and 40% in the bulge. The first season catalogues contain 1.28x10^8 stellar sources in the bulge and 1.68x10^8 in the disk area detected in at least one of the photometric bands. The combined, multi-band catalogues contain more than 1.63x10^8 stellar sources. About 10% of these are double detections due to overlapping adjacent pointings. These overlapping multiple detections are used to characterise the quality of the data. The images in the JHKs bands extend typically ~4 mag deeper than 2MASS. The magnitude limit and photometric quality depend strongly on crowding in the inner Galactic regions. The astrometry for Ks=15-18 mag has rms ~35-175 mas., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics (Section 14: Catalogs and data)

Context. There are more than 3000 confirmed and probable known Galactic planetary nebulae, but central star spectroscopic information is available for only 13% of them. Aims. We undertook a spectroscopic survey of central stars of PNe to identify their spectral types. Methods. We performed spectroscopic observations, at low resolution, with the 2-m telescope at CASLEO, Argentina. Results. We present the spectra of 46 central stars of PNe, most of them are OB-type and emission-line stars., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, accepted to be published in A&A (May 30, 2011)

Let $G$ be a group given by the presentation [,] where $k\ge 2$ and where the $u_i\in F(b_1,..., b_k)$ and $w_i\in F(a_1,..., a_k)$ are random words. Generically such a group is a small cancellation group and it is clear that $(a_1,...,a_k)$ and $(b_1,...,b_k)$ are generating $n$-tuples for $G$. We prove that for generic choices of $u_1,..., u_k$ and $v_1,..., v_k$ the "once-stabilized" tuples $(a_1,..., a_k,1)$ and $(b_1,...,b_k,1)$ are not Nielsen equivalent in $G$. This provides a counter-example for a Wiegold-type conjecture in the setting of word-hyperbolic groups. We conjecture that in the above construction at least $k$ stabilizations are needed to make the tuples $(a_1,..., a_k)$ and $(b_1,...,b_k)$ Nielsen equivalent., Comment: revised version; 31 pages, 16 figures

Context. There are more than 3000 true and probable known Galactic Planetary Nebulae (PNe), but only for 13% of them there is central star spectroscopic information available. Aims. To contribute to the knowledge of central stars of planetary nebulae and star evolution. Methods. We undertook a spectroscopic survey of central stars of PNe in low resolution and compiled a large list of central stars for which information was dispersed in the literature. Results. We complete a catalogue of 492 true and probable CSPN and we provide a preliminary spectral classification for 45 central star of PNe, This made it possible to update the proportion of CSPN with atmosphere poor in hydrogen with regard to the whole in at least 30% and contribute with statistical information that allow to infer the origin of H-poor stars., Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure, accepted to be published in A&A (October 24, 2010)

Using data from large-scale surveys: 2MASS, GLIMPSE, MIPSGAL, VGPS, GRS, and IPHAS, we performed a multiwavelength study of the ISM in a region of about 20' x 20' towards the molecular cloud G35.2-0.74. Additionally, the Ap 2-1 nebula, that is seen in projection over the molecular cloud, was studied using optical data obtained with the 2.15 m telescope at CASLEO, Argentina. From the HI absorption study we estimate a distance of ~2 kpc for Ap 2-1 confirming that the nebula is embedded in the south portion of the molecular cloud G35.2-0.74. Performing a photometric study and analysing the spectral energy distributions of the sources likely embedded in the cloud, we confirm that this region is very active in star formation, mainly towards the north, where we discover a cluster of young stellar objects. From the H_alpha and [NII] lines we obtain a radial velocity of v_LSR ~ 31 km/s for the Ap 2-1 nebula, in coincidence with the velocity of the molecular cloud. Finally, we conclude that Ap 2-1 is an HII region probably excited by an early B-type star., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, accepted to be published in MNRAS (July 5, 2010)

We show that the standard generating set of a Coxeter group is of minimal cardinality provided that the non-diagonal entries of the Coxeter matrix are sufficiently large., Comment: 36 pages, 26 figures

This paper studies coding schemes for the $q$-ary symmetric channel based on binary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes that work for any alphabet size $q=2^m$, $m\in\mathbb{N}$, thus complementing some recently proposed packet-based schemes requiring large $q$. First, theoretical optimality of a simple layered scheme is shown, then a practical coding scheme based on a simple modification of standard binary LDPC decoding is proposed. The decoder is derived from first principles and using a factor-graph representation of a front-end that maps $q$-ary symbols to groups of $m$ bits connected to a binary code. The front-end can be processed with a complexity that is linear in $m=\log_2 q$. An extrinsic information transfer chart analysis is carried out and used for code optimization. Finally, it is shown how the same decoder structure can also be applied to a larger class of $q$-ary channels., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; revision submitted to IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory

We study invertible generating pairs of fundamental groups of graph manifolds, that is, pairs of elements (g,h) for which the map g --> g^{-1}, h --> h^{-1} extends to an automorphism. We show in particular that a graph manifold is of Heegaard genus 2 if and only if its fundamental group has an invertible generating pair., Comment: This is the version published by Geometry & Topology Monographs on 29 April 2008

We study Nielsen equivalence classes of generating pairs of Kleinian groups and HNN-extensions. We establish the following facts: - Hyperbolic 2-bridge knot groups have infinitely many Nielsen classes of generating pairs. - For any natural number N there is a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold whose fundamental group has N distinct Nielsen classes of generating pairs. - Two pairs of elements of a fundamental group of an HNN-extension are Nielsen equivalent iff they are so for the obvious reasons., Comment: Final version to appear in Geometriae Dedicata

Ethyl cyanide is an abundant molecule in hot molecular clouds. Lines from 13C isotopically substituted ethyl cyanide were identified in Orion. To enable the search and the possible detection of other isotopologues of ethyl cyanide in interstellar objects, we have studied the rotational spectrum of deuterated ethyl cyanide: CH2DCH2CN (in-plane and out-of-plane) and CH3CHDCN and the spectrum of15N substituted ethyl cyanide CH3CH2C15N. The rotational spectrum of each species in the ground state was measured in the microwave and millimeter-submillimeter wavelength range using a waveguide Fourier transform spectrometer (8 - 17 GHz) and a source-modulated spectrometer employing backward-wave oscillators (BWOs) (150 - 260 and 580 - 660 GHz). From the fitting procedure, accurate spectroscopic constants were derived for each of the species. These new sets of spectroscopic constants enable us to predict reliably the rotational spectrum (lines frequencies and intensities) in the 4-1000 GHz frequency range and for J and Ka up to 80 and 31, respectively. Combined with IRAM 30 m antenna observations of Orion, this experimental study allowed us to detect 15N substituted ethyl cyanide for the first time in Orion. The derived column density and rotational temperature are 10^13 cm-2 and 150 K for the plateau and 3 10^14 cm-2 and 300 K for the hot core. The deuterated species were searched for but were not detected. The upper limit to the column density of each deuterated isotopologues was 10^14 cm-2.

context About 2500 planetary nebulae are known in our Galaxy but only 224 have central stars with reported spectral types in the Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae (Acker et al. 1992; Acker et al. 1996) % aims We have started an observational program aiming to increase the number of PN central stars with spectral classification. % methods By means of spectroscopy and high resolution imaging, we identify the position and true nature of the central star. We carried out low resolution spectroscopic observations at CASLEO telescope, complemented with medium resolution spectroscopy performed at Gemini South and Magellan telescopes. % results As a first outcome of this survey, we present for the first time the spectra of the central star of the PN Th 2-A. These spectra show emission lines of ionized C and O, typical in Wolf-Rayet stars. % conclusions We identify the position of that central star, which is not the brightest one of the visual central pair. We classify it as of type [WO 3]pec, which is consistent with the high excitation and dynamical age of the nebula., Comment: 3 pages and 2 figures. Paper recommended for publication in A&A

We prove an accessibility result for finitely generated groups that combines Sela's acylindrical accessibility with Linell accessibility., Comment: 15 pages

We construct a sequence of pairs of 3-manifolds each with torus boundary and with the following two properties: 1) For the result of a carefully chosen glueing of the nth pair of 3-manifolds along their boundary tori, the ratio of the genus of the resulting 3-manifold to the sum of the genera of the pair of 3-manifolds is less than 1/2. 2) The result of amalgamating certain unstabilized Heegaard splittings of the pair of 3-manifolds to form a Heegaard splitting of the resulting 3-manifold produces a stabilized Heegaard splitting that can be destabilized successively n times., Comment: This is the version published by Geometry & Topology Monographs on 3 December 2007

We analyze the spatial orientation of a homogenous sample of 440 elongated Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in order to determine the orientation of their apparent major axis respect to the Milky Way plane. We present some important geometrical and statistical considerations that have been overlooked by the previous works on the subject. The global distribution of galactic position angles (GPA) of PNe is quantitatively not very different from a random distribution of orientations in the Galaxy. Nevertheless we find that there is at least one region on the sky, toward the galactic center, where a weak correlation may exist between the orientation of the major axis of some PNe and the Galactic equator, with an excess of axes with GPA$\sim 100^{\circ}$. Therefore, we confirm that ``extrinsic'' phenomena (i.e., global galactic magnetic fields, shell compression from motion relative to the Interstellar Medium) do not determine the morphology of PNe on most of the sky, with a possible exception towards the galactic center., Comment: 37 pages and 8 figures. Accepted for publication in PASP

We prove that the rank problem is decidable in the class of torsion-free word-hyperbolic Kleinian groups. We also show that every group in this class has only finitely many Nielsen equivalence classes of generating sets of a given cardinality., Comment: Published by Geometry and Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTVol9/paper12.abs.html

We introduce a combinatorial version of Stallings-Bestvina-Feighn-Dunwoody folding sequences. We then show how they are useful in analyzing the solvability of the uniform subgroup membership problem for fundamental groups of graphs of groups. Applications include coherent right-angled Artin groups and coherent solvable groups., Comment: Final updated version, to appear in the International Journal of Algebra and Computation

We prove an acylindrical accessibility theorem for finitely generated groups acting on $\mathbf R$-trees. Namely, we show that if $G$ is a freely indecomposable non-cyclic $k$-generated group acting minimally and $M$-acylindrically on an $\mathbf R$-tree $X$ then for any $\epsilon>0$ there is a finite subtree $Y_{\epsilon}\subseteq X$ of measure at most $2M(k-1)+\epsilon$ such that $GY_{\epsilon}=X$. This generalizes theorems of Z.Sela and T.Delzant about actions on simplicial trees., Comment: Final revised version, to appear in Math. Z

We obtain a number of finiteness results for groups acting on Gromov-hyperbolic spaces. In particular we show that a torsion-free locally quasiconvex hyperbolic group has only finitely many conjugacy classes of $n$-generated one-ended subgroups. We also show that the rank problem is solvable for the class of torsion-free locally quasiconvex hyperbolic groups (even though it is unsolvable for the class of all torsion-free hyperbolic groups). We apply our results to 3-manifold groups. Namely, suppose $G$ is the fundamental group of a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold fibering over a circle and suppose that all finitely generated subgroups of $G$ are topologically tame. We prove that for any $k\ge 2$ the group $G$ has only finitely many conjugacy classes of non-elementary freely indecomposable $k$-generated subgroups of infinite index in $G$., Comment: to appear in Intern. J. Algebra and Comput