cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Cosmology with the lights off: Standard sirens in the Einstein Telescope era
Creators: name: Taylor, Stephen R.
name: Gair, Jonathan R.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We explore the prospects for constraining cosmology using gravitational-wave (GW) observations of neutron-star binaries by the proposed Einstein Telescope (ET), exploiting the narrowness of the neutron-star mass function. Double neutron-star (DNS) binaries are expected to be one of the first sources detected after "first-light" of Advanced LIGO and are expected to be detected at a rate of a few tens per year in the advanced era. However the proposed ET could catalog tens of thousands per year. Combining the measured source redshift distributions with GW-network distance determinations will permit not only the precision measurement of background cosmological parameters, but will provide an insight into the astrophysical properties of these DNS systems. Of particular interest will be to probe the distribution of delay times between DNS-binary creation and subsequent merger, as well as the evolution of the star-formation rate density within ET's detection horizon. Keeping H_0, Ω_{m,0} and Ω_{Λ,0} fixed and investigating the precision with which the dark-energy equation-of-state parameters could be recovered, we found that with 10^5 detected DNS binaries we could constrain these parameters to an accuracy similar to forecasted constraints from future CMB+BAO+SNIa measurements. Furthermore, modeling the merger delay-time distribution as a power-law, and the star-formation rate (SFR) density as a parametrized version of the Porciani and Madau SF2 model, we find that the associated astrophysical parameters are constrained to within ~ 10%. All parameter precisions scaled as 1/sqrt(N), where N is the number of cataloged detections. We also investigated how precisions varied with the intrinsic underlying properties of the Universe and with the distance reach of the network (which may be affected by the low-frequency cutoff of the detector).
description: 24 pages, 11 figures, 6 tables. Minor changes to reflect published version. References updated and corrected
The role of islet amyloid and CHOP in islet graft dysfunction and failure
Creators: name: Potter, Kathryn Jane
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2012

description: Islet transplantation has great promise as a treatment for patients with insulin-dependent diabetes but its long-term success is limited by progressive graft dysfunction. Many measures of cell dysfunction in transplantation are similar to those observed in the type 2 diabetic cell. We focused upon two particular genes underlying pathology of the latter, namely islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) and C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP). We hypothesized that CHOP and islet amyloid composed of IAPP played distinct roles in progressive dysfunction and loss of the transplanted cell. Human islets and murine islets expressing the IAPP transgene developed islet amyloid following transplantation. Amyloid deposition correlated with loss of glycemic control and was exacerbated by transplantation of a marginal islet mass. Further, pre-existing amyloid in human islets prior to transplantation correlated with graft dysfunction at one year following islet transplantation into human allograft recipients. We tested several strategies to protect against islet amyloid toxicity in a pre-clinical model of human islet culture. Human IAPP deposition and toxicity was abrogated by siRNA against IAPP and by peptide inhibitors of IAPP aggregation. As an alternate strategy, transplantation of porcine islets expressing minimally amyloidogenic forms of IAPP yields excellent long-term outcomes. Islet amyloid deposition and toxicity is particularly rapid in the transplanted islet. This phenomenon may relate to factors in the transplant environment. We demonstrated that heparin, used in clinical islet transplantation, potentiates amyloid deposition in human islets. In addition, it exacerbates IAPP toxicity to cultured cells and accelerates graft failure in marginal mass human islet grafts. CHOP is activated by prolonged endoplasmic reticulum or oxidative stress. We demonstrated that CHOP immunostaining is increased in marginal mass islet grafts. Transplantation of islets in which CHOP has been deleted or silenced by RNA significantly improves glycemic normalization in marginal mass grafts and reduces apoptosis. These data suggest that CHOP plays a detrimental role in islet graft dysfunction. These studies demonstrate a role for two independent non-immune factors in mediating islet graft dysfunction and for which therapeutic modulation may improve cell function and survival in both islet transplantation and type 2 diabetes.
Revealing a Ring-like Cluster Complex in a Tidal Tail of the Starburst Galaxy NGC 2146
Creators: name: Adamo, A.
name: Smith, L. J.
name: Gallagher, J. S.
name: Bastian, N.
name: Ryon, J.
name: Westmoquette, M. S.
name: Konstantopoulos, I. S.
name: Zackrisson, E.
name: Larsen, S. S.
name: Silva-Villa, E.
name: Charlton, J. C.
name: Weisz, D. R.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report the discovery of a ring-like cluster complex in the starburst galaxy NGC 2146. The Ruby Ring, so named due to its appearance, shows a clear ring-like distribution of star clusters around a central object. It is located in one of the tidal streams which surround the galaxy. NGC 2146 is part of the Snapshot Hubble U-band Cluster Survey (SHUCS). The WFC3/F336W data has added critical information to the available archival Hubble Space Telescope imaging set of NGC 2146, allowing us to determine ages, masses, and extinctions of the clusters in the Ruby Ring. These properties have then been used to investigate the formation of this extraordinary system. We find evidence of a spatial and temporal correlation between the central cluster and the clusters in the ring. The latter are about 4 Myr younger than the central cluster, which has an age of 7 Myr. This result is supported by the H alpha emission which is strongly coincident with the ring, and weaker at the position of the central cluster. From the derived total H alpha luminosity of the system we constrain the star formation rate density to be quite high, e.g. ~ 0.47 Msun/yr/kpc^2. The Ruby Ring is the product of an intense and localised burst of star formation, similar to the extended cluster complexes observed in M51 and the Antennae, but more impressive because is quite isolated. The central cluster contains only 5 % of the total stellar mass in the clusters that are determined within the complex. The ring-like morphology, the age spread, and the mass ratio support a triggering formation scenario for this complex. We discuss the formation of the Ruby Ring in a "collect & collapse" framework. The predictions made by this model agree quite well with the estimated bubble radius and expansion velocity produced by the feedback from the central cluster, making the Ruby Ring an interesting case of triggered star formation.
description: 11 pages, 7 figures, 1 table; Accepted for publication in MNRAS
From the Boom in Capital Inflows to Financial Traps
Creators: name: Frenkel, Roberto
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2004
Subjects: Managerial economics
Economics

description: The paper examines the performance of highly indebted countries from the point of view of their links with the international financial market. Although the more analytical parts of the paper do not refer specifically to Latin America (LA) it consider the regional emergent markets experiences as examples and historical background. Two reasons explain the focus: LA countries participated in the financial globalization process from the beginning, in the late sixties-early seventies and the most important cases of high indebtedness took place in the region. The paths followed by some countries in the globalization process led them to situations of segmented integration. Persistently high country risk premiums place the country in a sort of financial trap, with high interest rate and low growth, highly vulnerable to contagion and other sources of volatility and imposing narrow limits to the degrees of freedom of economic policy. The paper suggests that domestic policy implemented during the process of financial integration, account for most of the variation in the present situation of the different emergent markets.
Analytically solvable driven time-dependent two-level quantum systems
Creators: name: Barnes, Edwin
name: Sarma, S. Das
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Analytical solutions to the time-dependent Schrodinger equation describing a driven two-level system are invaluable to many areas of physics, but they are also extremely rare. Here, we present a simple algorithm that generates an unlimited number of exact analytical solutions. We show that a general single-axis driving term and its corresponding evolution operator are determined by a single real function which is constrained only by a certain inequality and initial conditions. Any function satisfying these constraints yields an exact analytical solution. We demonstrate this method by presenting several new exact solutions to the time-dependent Schrodinger equation. Our general method and many of the new solutions we present are particularly relevant to qubit control in quantum computing applications.
description: 4.5 pages, 4 figures, PRL version
Political Competition and Policy Adoption: Market Reforms in Latin American Public Utilities
Creators: name: Murillo, Maria V.
name: Martínez-Gallardo, Cecilia
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2005
Subjects: subject: Economics
subject: Political science
subject: FOS: Political science

description: This paper shows that political competition generates incentives that affect the pace of adoption of market reforms in the context of policy convergence. Previous work shows the effect of financial and technological pressures in promoting policy convergence and the impact of institutional constraints on shaping the pace of policymaking. Controlling for these effects, this paper demonstrates the policy effects of political competition and ideological polarization between the incumbent and its contenders even at a time when ideological policy differences seem to be fading due to policy convergence. In studying policy adoption, the authors use duration analysis for the 18 countries of Latin America during the 1985-2000 period when most of the market reforms in public utilities were adopted.
The Choice of Index Number: Part I, Valuation and Evaluation
Creators: name: Reddy, Sanjay G.
name: Plener, Benjamin
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2006
Subjects: Economics

description: This paper defines and discusses the choices that are implicit in alternative approaches to constructing index numbers. The central theoretical result is the exogeneity theorem, which states that an index number system possesses certain generally desirable properties, associated with meaningfulness, relevance and consistency if and only if it admits of a welfare interpretation that is invariant to the data to which it is applied. An index number system that does not permit a fixed welfare interpretation of this kind will fail to possess these properties. Moreover, it will not be possible to undertake meaningful multilateral comparisons between all possible units of comparison to which the index number system may be applied without adopting a metaevaluative criterion that expresses welfare judgments concerning the relation between distinct evaluative standards. Therefore, explicit or implicit normative judgments are inescapable in the construction and use of index numbers intended to permit meaningful comparisons over an unrestricted domain. We identify a set of bounds on the index numbers that an index number system produces (the "generalized within bounds" requirement) which define necessary and sufficient conditions for them to be rationalizable (i.e. to possess a welfare interpretation). However, multilateral index number systems that are widely in use violate this and other requirements of the exogeneity theorem. As a result, the index numbers they produce do not admit of a welfare interpretation which is invariant to the data to which they are applied, and indeed may not admit of any welfare interpretation at all. The exogeneity theorem establishes that the rationale for "exact" index number systems is much less compelling than widely believed. A fixed welfare interpretation is also a necessary and sufficient condition for the path independence of the Divisia index. The theorem therefore establishes a three-way equivalence between desirable properties of continuous index number systems, desirable properties of discrete index number systems and the existence of a fixed welfare interpretation.
The (Japan-Born) "Flying-Geese" Theory of Economic Development Revisited--and Reformulated from a Structuralist Perspective
Creators: name: Ozawa, Terutomo
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2010
Subjects: Commerce

description: The Japan-born "flying-geese (FG)" theory of growth has recently gained recognition in academia and popularity in the media. Since Kaname Akamatsu introduced his ideas in a very broad fashion in the 1930s, opportunities abound for further elaboration and application to contemporary development issues. This paper reviews some of his key ideas and presents a reformulation from a new evolutionary structuralist perspective. The oft-used, yet vague, concept of "the ladder of economic development" is defined in terms of a "leading-sector" stages model, a la Schumpeter--and what comes next as a new rung is considered. The enabling mechanisms of structural upgrading are explored, and the dynamics and benefits of an FG formation of aligned countries are stressed. Also, a new stages (FG-theoretic) model of balance-of-payments is introduced to discuss the financial issues of "borrowed growth" and "global (G2) imbalances." The dynamics of structural upgrading and interactive growth via trade and investment within a hierarchy of countries is the essence of these reformulated FG models, which make up what is now increasingly shaped and recognized as "new structural economics."
A Large Area LaBr3/NaI Phoswich for Hard X-ray Astronomy
Creators: name: Li, Hong
name: Ji, Jianfeng
name: Feng, Hua
name: Zhang, Zhi
name: Han, Dong
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In terms of energy resolution, temporal response to burst events, and thermal stability, lanthanum bromide doped with Ce is a much better choice than the traditional NaI(Tl) scintillator for hard X-ray astronomy. We present the test results of a phoswich detector with a diameter of 101.6 mm consisting of 6 mm thick LaBr3:Ce and 40 mm thick NaI(Tl), which is the largest one of this type reported so far. The measured energy resolution is 10.6% at 60 keV, varying inversely proportional to the square root of the energy, and the energy nonlinearity is found to be less than 1%, as good as those of smaller phoswiches. The coupled scintillators and phototube also show excellent uniformity across the detecting surface, with a deviation of 0.7% on the pulse amplitude produced by 60 keV gamma-rays. Thanks to the large ratio of light decay times of NaI(Tl) and LaBr3:Ce, 250 ns vs. 16 ns, pulse shape discrimination is much easier for this combination than for NaI(Tl)/CsI(Na). As the light decay time of LaBr3:Ce is about 15 times faster than that of NaI(Tl), this phoswich is more suitable for detection of bright, transient sources such as gamma-ray bursts and soft gamma-ray repeaters. The internal activity of lanthanum produces a count rate of about 6 counts/s at 37.5 keV in the detector. This peak could be used for in-flight spectral calibration and gain correction.
description: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in NIM A
Continuous dielectric permittivity II: An Iterative Method for Calculating the Polar Component of the Molecular Solvation Gibbs Energy Under a Smooth Change in the Dielectric Permittivity of a Solution
Creators: name: Grigoriev, F. V.
name: Kupervasser, Oleg
name: Kikot', I. P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: An iterative method for calculating the polar component of the solvation Gibbs energy under a smooth change in dielectric permittivity, both between a substrate and a solvent and in a solvent is formulated on the basis of a previously developed model. The method is developed in the approximation of the local relationship D = \eps (r) E between the displacement vectors D and the electric field intensity E.
description: 36 pages,3 Figures, in English and in Russian
In pursuit of gamma-ray burst progenitors: the identification of a sub-population of rotating Wolf-Rayet stars
Creators: name: Vink, Jorick S.
name: Graefener, G.
name: Harries, T. J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Long gamma-ray bursts involve the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang. Whilst it has been established that GRBs are related to the death throes of massive stars, the identification of their progenitors has proved challenging. Theory suggests that rotating Wolf-Rayet stars are the best candidates, but their strong stellar winds shroud their surfaces, preventing a direct measurement of their rotation. Fortunately, linear spectropolarimetry may be used to probe the flattening of their winds due to stellar spin. Spectropolarimetry surveys show that an 80% majority of WR stars have spherically symmetric winds and are thus rotating slowly, yet a small 20% minority display a spectropolarimetric signature indicative of rotation. Here we find a highly significant correlation between WR objects that carry the signature of stellar rotation and the subset of WR stars with ejecta nebulae that have only recently transitioned from a red sugergiant or luminous blue variable phase. As these youthful WR stars have yet to spin-down due to mass loss, they are the best candidate GRB progenitors identified to date. When we take recently published WR ejecta nebula numbers we find that five out of the six line-effect WR stars are surrounded by ejecta nebulae. The statistics imply that the null hypothesis of no correlation between line-effect WR stars and ejecta nebulae can be rejected at the 0.0004% level. Given that four line-effect and WR ejecta nebula have spectroscopically been confirmed to contain nucleosynthetic products, we argue that the correlation is both statistically significant and physically convincing. The implication is that we have identified a WR sub-population that fulfills the necessary criteria for making GRBs. Finally, we discuss the potential of identifying GRB progenitors via spectropolarimetry with extremely large telescopes.
description: 5 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters (small textual changes)
title: Certamen pastorale, corydonis et tyrfidis, seu carmen gratulatorium
Creators: name: Combach, Ludwig Hermann
Publisher: name: Philipps-Universität Marburg
Year: 2025
Subjects: Festschrift
Generalities, Science
Allgemeines, Wissenschaft

description: Elektronische Reproduktion von: Certamen Pastorale, Corydonis et Tyrfidis, seu Carmen Gratvlatorivm : In Diem sponsaliorum ... Domini Johannis Martini Seyd, Illustrissimi Principis Wilhelmi cubicularii ... Sponsi Et Annæ Barbaræ Combachianæ D. Ludovici Combachii ... Serenissimi Hassiæ Landgravii & Principis Wilhelmi Sexti quondam Archiatri ... filiæ, Sponsæ. Summâ cum latitiâ die nono Octobris anni 1660. celebratorum ... / à Ludovico Hermanno Combachio, Cassellano-Hasso. - Cassellis : Typis Salomonis Schadewitzii, M.DC.LX. - 8 Seiten ; 4°. - 
Standort: Universität Marburg, Universitätsbibliothek. - 
Signatur: VIII B 331 db, 22. - 
Bemerkungen: Text überwiegend lateinisch, teilweise deutsch. - Werktitel: Certamen pastorale, corydonis et tyrfidis, seu carmen gratulatorium. - 
(Hassiaca)

Digitalisiert 2025
Japan's small-scale family enterprises
Creators: name: Patrick, Hugh T.
name: Rohlen, Thomas
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 1986
Subjects: Economics
Commerce

description: Large firms are deemed to have powered Japan's growth through their real successes in generating output, raising productivity, absorbing and creating innovations through large-scale R&D, and creating and developing "the Japanese management system" of industrial relations, internal decisionmaking and close intragroup affiliations. Big business plays a highly visible, broad political and social role, financing political leaders and their factions, influencing national economic and other policy, serving as a role model, and preaching its business ideology. It is a system of male managerial elites dealing on equal footing in carefully developed formal and informal networks with counterpart elites -- central government bureaucrats, elite politicians, and others holding power at the top of the pyramid of Japan's hierarchical society. Some characterize big business as the brain of Japan's economy. If that is the case, then small enterprise is the heart and the backbone of the economic, political, and social realms in Japan. In particular small-scale family enterprises have long been and continue to be a large and dynamic element in the political economy of Japan -- in entrepreneurship, job creation, output and political clout. Small business makes up the bottom two-thirds (or more) of Japan's social and economic pyramid.
title: Did Arroyo Formation Impact the Occupation of Snake Rock Village, a Fremont Dryland Agricultural Community in Central Utah, ca. AD 1000–1200?
Creators: name: Wolberg, Alexandra
Publisher: name: Utah State University
Year: 2023

description: Fremont farmers of the northern Colorado Plateau grew maize at the limits for cultivation in western North America between AD 300–1300. Like other Indigenous farmers throughout the American Southwest, Fremont farmers used bundled agricultural niches where alluvial floodplains were the largest available site for cultivation. But dryland floodplains are a risk to the persistence of farming communities because the development of steep-sided arroyos lowers floodplain surfaces and water tables, rendering them unusable for growing maize. This study tests the relationship between the occupational timing of Snake Rock Village between AD 970–1240 and the formation of a 4.5m deep arroyo on Ivie Creek adjacent to the site. I present a high-precision AMS radiocarbon chronology of the village occupation paired with an AMS radiocarbon reconstruction of the Ivie Creek floodplain 400m upstream from the site. The results of this study provide a direct test of arroyo formation as a cause for the abandonment of Fremont agriculture by AD 1300. The results indicated that the abandonment of Snake Rock Village does not correspond with an incision of the adjacent floodplain. Instead, the floodplain was still aggrading when Snake Rock Village was abandoned, and the incision did not happen until AD 1570 or AD 1725. Thus, while some evidence implicates arroyo formation as one factor contributing to the abandonment of early agricultural villages in other parts of the northern Colorado Plateau, arroyo formation did not appear to constrain the persistence of floodplain farming on Ivie Creek.
The Assessment of Poverty and Inequality through Parametric Estimation of Lorenz Curves: An Evaluation
Creators: name: Minoiu, Camelia
name: Reddy, Sanjay G.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2007
Subjects: Economics

description: The estimation of poverty and inequality often requires the use of grouped data as complete household surveys are neither always available to researchers nor easy to analyze. This study assesses the performance of two functional forms for the Lorenz curve proposed by Kakwani (1980) and Villasenor and Arnold (1989). The methods are implemented using the computational tool POVCAL, developed and distributed by the World Bank. To identify biases associated with this method of estimating the two Lorenz curve functional forms, the authors analyze unit data from several household surveys and a wide range of theoretical distributions. They find that poverty and inequality is better estimated when the data is generated from unimodal distributions than when it is drawn from multimodal distributions. For unimodal distributions, the biases in the estimation of poverty measures are rarely larger than one percentage point. Inequality (measured by the Gini coefficient) is well estimated in most cases considered. Neither of the two Lorenz curve estimation methods provides consistently superior performance, and performance does not always improve with the number of data points analyzed.
intro_parallel_quantum_CUDAQ.pdf
Creators: name: VanDieren, Monica
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 461307
subject: Quantum computation
classificationCode: 460804
subject: Computing education

description: One of the challenges in practical quantum computing is the limited number of qubits. Most problems of interest require far more qubits than currently are available -- whether through execution on an existing physical quantum device or through simulation on multiple graphical processing units (GPUs). Circuit cutting (sometimes referred to as circuit knitting) is a divide-and-conquer approach to break down a quantum circuit into smaller pieces, each of which may require fewer qubits than the original circuit. Often these smaller circuits can be executed in parallel before their output is stitched back together for an approximation of the original circuit execution. To our knowledge, no educational materials have been disseminated broadly that provide students the opportunity to actively learn this technique and experiment with running quantum algorithms in parallel.

This self-contained educational module walks students through a visual example of circuit cutting through the Max-Cut problem, using the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA). Students will experiment with many of the design decisions that researchers face when implementing circuit cutting. In addition to quantum computing learning objectives, students will gain transferable skills in high performance computing as they simulate large scale quantum algorithms on a GPU using Message Processing Interface (MPI).
Maternal stress and the neonate's response to hypoxia
Creators: name: Young, Sandra
Publisher: name: University of Calgary
Year: 2009

description: Bibliography: p. 108-167
description: Glucocorticoids promote cellular differentiation over proliferation. This physiological principle inspired the antenatal exogenous glucocorticoid administration in threatened preterm labor to be a standard in practice, as it significantly reduces the incidence of respiratory distress syndrome, intraventricular hemorrhage, and neonatal mortality. The specific aim of this study was to investigate the neonate's response to hypoxia following exposure to a maternal endogenous glucocorticoid release in response to a psychological stressor, as opposed to exogenous glucocorticoid administration. Hence we postulated there may be differences in corticosterone levels measured in rat dams exposed to a psychological stressor versus controls. We then hypothesized that when exposed to hypoxia, rat pups antentally exposed to a maternal endogenous glucocorticoid release, may respond differently, as compared to controls. We measured the effects on corticosterone levels, in pregnant rat dams on gestational days 17, 18 and 19, following a 30 minute exposure to a simulated open field, and compared these levels to levels obtained from control dams on the same gestational days. Exposure to the open field resulted in significantly increased, non-attenuated, and reproducible corticosterone levels, sustained 120 minutes after exposure to the open field. Thereafter, spontaneously breathing rat pups on day of life 1, 5, and 10, were placed in a temperature controlled metabolic chamber, and were exposed to either sustained or intermittent hypoxia, during which heart rates and respiratory rates were recorded via 12 channel Polygraph and then analyzed. We found no significant differences between rat pups exposed to a maternal psychological stressor versus control rat pups on day of life 1, 5, or 10, to withstand hypoxia; as measured by time to last gasp, or number of successful autoresuscitations. However, the total number of gasps in day of life 1 pups exposed to a maternal psychological stressor was significantly less than controls. These findings provide new information regarding factors that influence the neonate's ability to withstand hypoxia: specifically pertaining to intrauterine exposure to an endogenous neuroendocrine stress response in late pregnancy.
Identification of effectors with avirulence functions in the pathogenic barley smut fungus, using marker-based approaches and comparison among genomes of related species
Creators: name: Ali, Shawkat
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: In plant pathology, the molecular genetic analysis of the interaction between pathogen and host yields knowledge applicable to combat crop disease. During infection, pathogens secrete effector proteins to reprogram the host for its benefit. In special cases, recognition of certain effectors by resistance genes, essential components of the host surveillance system, induces resistance to infection. No effectors with such avirulence function have been described for basidiomycete fungi infecting cereals. Ustilago hordei is a biotrophic basidiomycete fungus that infects barley. One of its effectors functions as an avirulence protein, UhAVR1, rendering it avirulent on barley cultivar Hannchen, having corresponding resistance gene Ruh1. I have located UhAvr1 within the genome using a deletion approach and confirmed its resistance-triggering function. I provide evidence that transposable element (TE) activity in the UhAvr1 promoter region and translocation of the coding region are likely responsible for enabling virulence on Hannchen. This region of the genome harbours a cluster of predicted secreted proteins and is syntenic to a cluster in closely-related corn pathogens, U. maydis and Sporisorium reilianum. In U. maydis, deletion of this region results in dramatic reduction in virulence on corn. This region is under selection pressure in both U. maydis and U. hordei likely to avoid recognition by the host. Evolution of the region in U. maydis seems to involve gene duplication and diversification, while in U. hordei this region is saturated with TEs and repeats which can play a role in genome rearrangements. Computational analysis of the U. hordei genome sequence identified 372 candidate secreted effector proteins (CSEPs), many of which are expected to contribute to virulence and some to trigger resistance in analogy to UhAVR1. Most CSEPs are Ustilago-specific proteins of unknown function and without similarities to sequences in public databases. Evidence for accelerated evolution was observed when comparing CSEPs among smut species. More than half of these CSEPs have four or more cysteine residues in characteristic patterns, possibly involved in disulphide bridge formation and protein folding. The study of effectors with avirulence function can reveal resistance genes which can be used for crop breeding programs to obtain disease-resistant cultivars.
Vortex knots in a Bose-Einstein condensate
Creators: name: Proment, Davide
name: Onorato, Miguel
name: Barenghi, Carlo F.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn)
subject: Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas)
subject: Pattern Formation and Solitons (nlin.PS)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a method for numerically building a vortex knot state in the superfluid wave-function of a Bose-Einstein condensate. We integrate in time the governing Gross-Pitaevskii equation to determine evolution and stability of the two (topologically) simplest vortex knots which can be wrapped over a torus. We find that the velocity of a vortex knot depends on the ratio of poloidal and toroidal radius: for smaller ratio, the knot travels faster. Finally, we show how unstable vortex knots break up into vortex rings.
description: 18 pages, 15 figures, 1 table
Hawking radiation as perceived by different observers: An analytic expression for the effective-temperature function
Creators: name: Barbado, Luis C.
name: Barceló, Carlos
name: Garay, Luis J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Given a field vacuum state in a black hole spacetime, this state can be analysed in terms of how it is perceived (in terms of particle content) by different observers. This can be done by means of the effective-temperature function introduced by Barceló et al. in [1]. In Barbado et al. [2], this function was analysed in a case by case basis for a number of interesting situations. In this work, we find a general analytic expression for the effective-temperature function which, apart from the vacuum state choice, depends on the position, the local velocity and the acceleration of the specific observer. We give a clear physical interpretation of the quantities appearing in the expression, and illustrate its potentiality with a few examples.
description: 10 pages, 1 figure
Inflation targeting discussions in Japan - unconventional monetary policy under deflation: How people have argued; Why the BOJ opposes adoption
Creators: name: Fujiki, Minako
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2003
Subjects: Economics
Commerce

description: Inflation targeting has been adopted by many central banks all over the world, and has brought about the successful result of reducing inflation rates and enhancing the central bank's independence, transparency and accountability. Could this regime also effectively work in Japan, whose economy has been suffering from deflation, by creating inflationary expectations? Krugman's suggestion in 1998 that Japan introduce an unconventional monetary measure to get out of a liquidity trap by fueling inflation triggered the debate about inflation targeting. A number of economists, policymakers, journalists and central bankers both inside and outside of Japan have hotly argued the policy and their opinions range from the mundane to the esoteric. This paper seeks to examine both sides of the inflation targeting argument and tries to sort through the confusing discussions.
title: Understanding the Effects of a Mobile Flow Visualization Learning Tool on Engineering Undergraduate Interest in Fluid Mechanics
Creators: name: Openshaw, Lori M.
Publisher: name: Utah State University
Year: 2023

description: Fluid mechanics is a difficult engineering course that tends to act as a weed-out course for undergraduate students. Despite this, fluid mechanics is critical, with related careers in disciplines such as Mechanical, Aerospace, Civil, Environmental, Biological, Ocean, and Naval engineering. Within these fields, there is a lack of graduates with sufficient fluid mechanics knowledge to fill the available positions. One solution to this career pipeline is to increase student interest and understanding of fluid mechanics.
Efforts to make fluid mechanics more interesting and easily understood include curricular changes such as emphasizing historical aspects of fluids, computer simulations that model complex phenomena, and hands-on laboratories. Particle image velocimetry is a powerful, hands-on, flow visualization and measurement technique that has not been traditionally available to undergraduate students due to safety and cost limitations. This technique utilizes high-powered lasers and high-speed digital imaging to map fluid flow fields.
This study implemented a particle image velocimetry based mobile learning tool that minimizes safety and cost concerns by using low-powered lasers and a smartphone for imaging. Two groups of undergraduate engineering students with different fluid mechanics backgrounds took part in this study: (1) those who were currently enrolled in an advanced fluid mechanics laboratory course and (2) those who have never taken a fluid mechanics course. This study worked to understand a) how the mobile tool impacts student interest in fluid mechanics, b) the mobile tool's utility for learning, and c) the mobile tool's usability.
Student interest in fluid mechanics increased after using the mobile tool to visualize and analyze a flow field using vector output. Students who reported higher skill levels in engineering were more interested in fluid mechanics. Student perceptions of mobile tool utility were positively impacted by the aesthetic nature of flow visualization, vector output that was easy to interpret, and engineering skill. Improvements to utility include curriculum within the tool so that users of all fluid mechanics backgrounds can successfully collect and interpret flow field data. Suggestions to improve mobile tool usability included linear pathways for data collection, analysis, and interpretation within the mobile tool and a tutorial for first-time users.
Hermaphroditism in Greek and Roman antiquity
Creators: name: Van Der Gracht, Stefanie Lauren
Publisher: name: University of Calgary
Year: 2009

description: Bibliography: p. 181-196
description: Some pages are in colour.
description: Hermaphroditism has largely been considered a subject of mythology and art in ancient Greece and Rome. The reality of this condition and the existence of these individuals has not been examined to the fullest extent. The mythology and artistic representations of hermaphrodites are a reflection of the reality of their existence, substantiated through the various narratives, medical sources, and legal texts. The following compilation of evidence stems from a variety of media including oratory, mythological and religious texts, narratives and histories, legal texts, medical sources, and visual evidence from Greek and Roman antiquity. It is only in examining the evidence together that we can start to understand the condition of hermaphroditism and its existence in antiquity. This evidence demonstrates the diverse connections between hermaphroditism and other aspects of life in antiquity.
Health Needs Assessment for Mekelle City, Ethiopia
Creators: name: Giorgi, Genessa
name: Krishnan, Kripa
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2009
Subjects: Managerial economics
Public health
Africans
Public policy (Law)

description: In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in Ethiopia and in Tigray towards attaining the health-related United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With a united focus, the health professionals, governmental workers, non-governmental actors and community members can work together to make Mekelle a healthier city. HIV/AIDS, TB, upper respiratory infections and malnutrition are the city's major health challenges; the prime causes of child morbidity and mortality are pneumonia, diarrhea and malnutrition. To accelerate the reduction in maternal mortality, improved access to antenatal care and health facilities staffed with skilled birth attendants are essential. Indeed, through the research undertaken for this needs assessment, MCI has found that MDGs 4, 5 and 6 can be accomplished in Mekelle, at relatively low cost--particularly when compared to the heavy financial burden of treating those suffering from the grave and debilitating diseases mentioned above.
Multivariate Bayesian semiparametric models for authentication of food and beverages
Creators: name: Gutiérrez, Luis
name: Quintana, Fernando A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Applications (stat.AP)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Food and beverage authentication is the process by which foods or beverages are verified as complying with its label description, for example, verifying if the denomination of origin of an olive oil bottle is correct or if the variety of a certain bottle of wine matches its label description. The common way to deal with an authentication process is to measure a number of attributes on samples of food and then use these as input for a classification problem. Our motivation stems from data consisting of measurements of nine chemical compounds denominated Anthocyanins, obtained from samples of Chilean red wines of grape varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carménère. We consider a model-based approach to authentication through a semiparametric multivariate hierarchical linear mixed model for the mean responses, and covariance matrices that are specific to the classification categories. Specifically, we propose a model of the ANOVA-DDP type, which takes advantage of the fact that the available covariates are discrete in nature. The results suggest that the model performs well compared to other parametric alternatives. This is also corroborated by application to simulated data.
description: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-AOAS492 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)
title: Consensus Modeling as a Cultural Practice: A Case Study From a Seventh-Grade Science Classroom
Creators: name: Miconi Gailey, Sara Louise
Publisher: name: Utah State University
Year: 2023

description: Recent reforms in science education aim to involve K-12 students in practices similar to those of professional scientists. These reforms promote student collaboration and science practices including developing models and engaging in scientific argumentation with evidence. Small group work in science classrooms has increased following the reforms. However, while small group collaboration has gained popularity, research suggests that it does not always lead to equitable participation. This qualitative case study uses discourse analysis to examine how two small groups of students in a seventh-grade science class develop consensus models of a phenomenon and how students are socialized to participate in those small groups.
The results indicate that the groups used four different communicative pathways to include entities in the group consensus model. Each of the four pathways had varying amounts of participation for group members and influenced the consensus process. Analysis of how these pathways unfold during small group work suggests that students formed social hierarchies in the group that influenced participation for each group member. The results demonstrate that while small groups are assigned to create “consensus models,” the final models may not demonstrate true group consensus. There may still be benefits to consensus modeling instruction, however, more research is needed to understand the benefits and to develop instruction that promotes equitable opportunities to participate for all group members.
On the Spin of the X(3872)
Creators: name: Faccini, R.
name: Piccinini, F.
name: Pilloni, A.
name: Polosa, A. D.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Whether the much studied X(3872) is an axial or tensor resonance makes an important difference to its interpretation. A recent paper by the BaBar collaboration raised the viable hypothesis that it might be a 2-+ state based on the 3 pions spectrum in the X -> J/psi omega decays. Furthermore, the Belle collaboration published the 2 pions invariant mass and spin-sensitive angular distributions in X -> J/psi rho decays. Starting from a general parametrization of the decay amplitudes for the axial and tensor quantum numbers of the X, we re-analyze the whole set of available data. The level of agreement of the two spin hypotheses with data is interpreted with a rigorous statistical approach based on Monte Carlo simulations in order to be able to combine all the distributions regardless of their different levels of sensitivity to the spin of the X. Our analysis returns a probability of 5.5% and 0.1% for the agreement with data of the 1++ and 2-+ hypotheses, respectively, once we combine the whole information (angular and mass distributions) from both channels. On the other hand, the separate analysis of J/psi rho (angular and mass distributions) and J/psi omega (mass distribution) indicates that the 2-+ assignment is excluded at the 99.9% C.L. by the former case, while the latter excludes at the same level the 1++ hypothesis. There are therefore indications that the two decay modes behave in a different way.
description: 12 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. Added angular distributions, which lead to different conclusions
The difference in taxation on financial transactions between Japan and the United States: Can the U.S. system and theory be the model?
Creators: name: Kawakami, Naotaka
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2002
Subjects: Economics
Commerce

description: The income taxation systems on financial transactions in Japan are much different from those in the U.S.; they adopt withholding and separated taxation systems on interest and capital gains from security transactions. These current systems reflect two characteristics of the Japanese society -- an excess savings economy and the restriction of tax implementation. The U.S. comprehensive income taxation system has long been a model since Japan had an overall tax reform based on the recommendations by Columbia Professor Shoup in 1950, but recently, many proposals of overall tax reform in the U.S. seem to deviate from the conventional idea of comprehensive income taxation and prefer a consumption tax or a broad-based income tax like the Comprehensive Business Income Tax (CBIT). Also in Japan, deviating from the idea of comprehensive taxation, the Dual Income Taxation (DIT) in the Nordic countries, which taxes all capital income at the proportional corporate tax rate lower than that on labor income, seem to attract more interest from tax specialists. Japan had major reforms of taxation on capital gains from security transactions in 2001. Focusing on the argument over the capital gains taxation and the overall taxation on capital income, this paper surveys the arguments of U.S. economists over them and their implications, evaluates the recent reforms of capital gains taxation in Japan, and argues about the desirable future taxation system in Japan.
Does Gaming the System Affect Students' Academic Achievement?
Creators: name: Booher-Jennings, Jennifer
name: Beveridge, Andrew A.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2007
Subjects: Social sciences--Research

description: A growing body of evidence suggests that schools use test exemption to game educational accountability systems. However, it is not known whether test exemption affects students' academic progress. Analyzing data from an urban school district in Texas, the authors find that special education students make larger achievement gains when they are tested. Using their most conservative estimates, the effect of being tested is approximately .40 standard deviations in reading and .28 standard deviations in math for grades 3-8. Because special education students are more likely to be minority and poor students and these students are more likely to be exempted than their white and non-poor special education counterparts, the exemption of special education students contributes to the growth of black-white, Hispanic-white, and high-low socioeconomic status achievement gaps.