cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Authority, futility, and clinical treatment: The challenge to authority.
Creators: name: Christie, Timothy.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1999
Subjects: subject: Philosophy.

description: The doctrine of informed consent established a distinctive role for both the doctor and the patient, in the doctor-patient relationship. This doctrine, represented by the compound word "informed consent" placed a duty on the physician to "inform" and gave a specific task to the patient "consent." The physician was required to inform the patient to the extent that a reasonable person in that situation would want to be informed. Then the patient had the prerogative of whether to consent or refuse to consent. However, during the late 1980's and early 1900's different clinical situations arose which could not be accommodated by simply giving patients the right to consent or refuse to consent. Situations developed in which health care professionals wanted to refuse to provide treatment on the grounds that further treatment is medically futile and patients' (and/or their families) wanted to insist on treatment claiming that it was not futile and that it served a genuine purpose. Essentially, the informed consent doctrine provided patients with the "negative right" to refuse treatment. The idea of medical futility revealed the limitations of informed consent by demonstrating that some patients also wanted a "positive right" to demand treatment. After analysing this new phenomenon it appears that it is the most recent manifestation of the age-old debate between professional paternalism and patient autonomy. As a result, this thesis analyses the futility debate and then takes a step back in order to evaluate it from the more general perspective of establishing the legitimate domains of both patient and professional authority. Standard approaches to the futility debate generally argue for unilateral decision making authority for either the patient or professional, concerning futility issues. However, the problem with this approach is that it renders the doctor-patient relationship as a zero-sum game; in other words, if one side wins the other side loses. Alternatively, the focus of this thesis is to propose a model of professional and patient authority which allows each party substantial decision-making authority but is also mutually supportive. Therefore, this new approach to the futility debate, and indeed the doctor-patient relationship in general, is undertaken with the intention of preventing these types of disputes from arising, rather than attempting to resolve the conflict once it is fully developed.
Not In My Neighbor’s Back Yard : External Effects of Density
Creators: name: Davidoff, Tom
name: Pavlov, Andrey
name: Somerville, Tsur
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2018

description: In Vancouver, as in many "Superstar Cities," low density zoning in residential neighborhooods is both a sacred cow of amenity preservation and a scapegoat for unaffordability. In 2008, the City Council allowed homeowners to build small "laneway homes" behind the main residential structure on qualifying lots in all of the city's single family zones. We exploit this regulatory change to study the externalities that infill housing imposes on neighboring property values. Laneway homes are most commonly built when the main home is substantially rebuilt and generally reduce the size of rear garages. Neighbors who build laneway homes thus add little physical density but impose a household of renters on neighbors. Overall we find a small negative spillover that is not statistically different from zero, suggesting that the negative externalities of population density may be small. We do not find a stronger negative effect in more expensive neighborhoods or on fancier homes, but the negative spillover is statistically different from zero and larger in magnitude on properties with larger lots (-11.2%).
Molecular characterization of muscle-specific calmodulin-dependent protein kinases.
Creators: name: Leddy, John J.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1999
Subjects: subject: Biology, Molecular.

description: Activation of calmodulin-dependent protein kinase activity associated with rabbit skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) resulted in the phosphorylation of polypeptides of 450, 360, 165, 105, 89, 73, 60, 34 and 20 kDa. A membrane-bound 60 kDa, polypeptide contained both calmodulin (CaM) and ATP-binding domains and exhibited CaM-dependent autophosphorylation activity. A 73 kDa polypeptide was also found to bind CaM and undergo CaM-dependent autophosphorylation. Subcellular distribution of the 60 kDa kinase indicated the specific association of the polypeptide with the junctional face membrane of SR. The 73 kDa polypeptide tightly associated with membrane and not cytosolic fractions. We postulated that these kinases may be responsible for gating the Ca2+ release channel. The cDNAs encoding the CaM-dependent protein kinases from skeletal muscle were cloned. A clone, named SOCK was sequenced and characterized as a novel isoform of CaM-dependent protein kinases. The predicted amino acid sequence of SOCK showed that it was similar to the classical beta CaMKII isoform but contained a novel peptide sequence of 122 amino acids in the C terminus. This novel domain was enriched in proline residues and was homologous to SH3-binding domains containing the minimal consensus sequence P-X-X-P. Genomic cloning of SOCK indicated that the 122 amino acid sequence was generated via alternative splicing of three exons encoding the three proline-rich domains. GST-fusion proteins constructs revealed that SOCK, as well as the novel proline-rich region, bound to SH3 domains of the src family of tyrosine kinases. Furthermore, the SH3 domains could specifically bind the 73 and 60 kDa CaM kinases from soluble membrane extracts. The tissue distribution of SOCK indicated the presence of a 4.8 kb transcript expressed exclusively in skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle. Cell fractionation studies showed that SOCK and src can be localized to similar cellular compartments in muscle cells. Binding of SOCK kinase to src resulted in the inhibition of CaM-dependent phosphorylating activity. Embryonal carcinoma P19 cells transfected with an expression plasmid carrying SOCK cDNA failed to differentiate along the mesodermal pathway but not the neuroectodermal pathway. These results indicate that SOCK represents a novel isoform of the beta CaM kinase II family that is uniquely structured and may participate to integrate calcium and tyrosine kinase signalling pathways in muscle systems. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Iron-mediated allylic alkylation reactions.
Creators: name: Bisnaire, Michel M. J.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1990
Subjects: subject: Chemistry, Organic.

description: In this work it will be shown that Fe(CO)$\sb2$(NO)$\sb2$ mediated allylic alkylation reactions proceed via an intermediate which is neither an $\eta\sp3$-allyliron complex nor an $\eta\sp2$-allyliron complex. Rather, (Fe(CO)(NO)$\sb2$DMM)$\sp-$Na$\sp+$ has been identified as the catalytic intermediate. This provides the first evidence of an interaction between the nucleophile and the metallic center in reactions involving iron nitrosyl complexes. The study of the Fe(CO)$\sb3$(NO)$\sp-$Na$\sp+$, geranyl acetate, and NaDMM system was studied in order to elucidate the catalytically active species. Although it was determined that Fe(CO)$\sb3$(NO)$\sp-$Na$\sp+$ served as the precursor of a catalytic species X, the nature of X remains unknown.
Tracing the orbitals of the quantum permutation group
Creators: name: McCarthy, J. P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Quantum Algebra (math.QA)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 46L30, 46L67

description: Using a suitably noncommutative flat matrix model, it is shown that the quantum permutation group has free orbitals: that is, a monomial in the generators of the algebra of functions can be zero for trivial reasons only. It is shown that any strictly intermediate quantum subgroup between the classical and quantum permutation groups must have free three-orbitals. This is used to give explicit formulae for the Haar state on degree four monomials that hold for such intermediate quantum subgroups as well as the quantum permutation group itself.
description: 13 pages, the published version has an error in the explicit formulae (corrigendum submitted to journal); this version corrects the error
D4.1: evBOW products in vitro cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenic potential
Creators: name: Bergese, Paolo
name: Bongiovanni, Antonella
name: Di Bucchianico, Sebastiano
name: Dominici, Massimo
name: Rivas, José
name: Romano, Miriam
name: Tegliai, Simonetta
name: Trapani, Irene
name: Zendrini, Andrea
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023

description: BOW Project deliverable 4.1: evBOW products in vitro cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenic potential
Sustainable ICT
Creators: name: Hayward, Bob
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Australia has the potential to reach its carbon emissions reduction targets through the use of modern ICT solutions across both commercial industry value-chains and public sector services. But only if the ICT industry itself raises its game to be a far more efficient user of expensive energy resources, and the users of ICT put in place best practices around sustainable ICT. © 2012 Swinburne University of Technology.
Counterexamples to Minkowski's Uniqueness Conjecture and Escape of Mass in Positive Characteristic
Creators: name: Aranov, Noy Soffer
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Dynamical Systems (math.DS)
subject: Number Theory (math.NT)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: We show that there are infinitely many counterexamples to Minkowski's conjecture in positive characteristic regarding uniqueness of the upper bound of the multiplicative covering radius, $μ$, by constructing a sequence of compact $A$ orbits where $μ$ obtains its conjectured upper bound. In addition, we show that these orbits, as well as a slightly larger sequence of orbits, must exhibit complete escape of mass.
description: to appear in Combinatorics and Number Theory
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Map-Based Noise Simulations for DR6
Creators: name: Atkins, Zachary
name: Duivenvoorden, Adriaan J.
name: Coulton, William R.
name: Qu, Frank J.
name: Aiola, Simone
name: Calabrese, Erminia
name: Chesmore, Grace E.
name: Choi, Steve K.
name: Devlin, Mark J.
name: Dunkley, Jo
name: Hervías-Caimapo, Carlos
name: Guan, Yilun
name: La Posta, Adrien
name: Li, Zack
name: Louis, Thibaut
name: Madhavacheril, Mathew S.
name: Moodley, Kavilan
name: Naess, Sigurd
name: Nati, Federico
name: Niemack, Michael D.
name: Page, Lyman
name: Puddu, Roberto
name: Salatino, Maria
name: Sifón, Cristóbal
name: Staggs, Suzanne T.
name: Vargas, Cristian
name: Vavagiakis, Eve M.
name: Wollack, Edward J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The increasing statistical power of cosmic microwave background (CMB) datasets requires a commensurate effort in understanding their noise properties. The noise in maps from ground-based instruments is dominated by large-scale correlations, which poses a modeling challenge. This paper develops novel models of the complex noise covariance structure in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Data Release 6 (ACT DR6) maps. We first enumerate the noise properties that arise from the combination of the atmosphere and the ACT scan strategy. We then prescribe a class of Gaussian, map-based noise models, including a new wavelet-based approach that uses directional wavelet kernels for modeling correlated instrumental noise. The models are empirical, whose only inputs are a small number of independent realizations of the same region of sky. We evaluate the performance of these models against the ACT DR6 data by drawing ensembles of noise realizations. Applying these simulations to the ACT DR6 power spectrum pipeline reveals a $\sim 20\%$ excess in the covariance matrix diagonal when compared to an analytic expression that assumes noise properties are uniquely described by their power spectrum. Along with our public code, $\mathtt{mnms}$, this work establishes a necessary element in the science pipelines of both ACT DR6 and future ground-based CMB experiments such as the Simons Observatory (SO).
description: 41 pages (+10 appendix), 22 figures (+5 appendix), submitted to JCAP
KO'KRAK BEZI SARATONINING FARG'ONA VILOYATI HUDUDLARI KESIMIDA EPIDEMIOLOGIK TARQALISHI
Creators: name: Parpiyeva, Odinaxon
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024

description: Ko‘krak bezi saratoni O‘zbekistonda saraton kasalliklari orasida o‘lim ko‘rsatkichlari bo‘yicha yetakchi o‘rinlardan birini egallaydi, biroq uni erta bosqichlarda aniqlanganda to‘liq davolash mumkin. Ushbu maqolada Farg‘ona viloyatida 2020 yilda ko‘krak bezi saratoni bilan kasallanish, uning hududlar kesimida tarqalishi bo‘yicha o‘tkazilgan tadqiqot va uning natijalari, kasallanishning epidemiologik xususiyatlari va ko‘krak bezi saratonini oldini olish bo‘yicha tavsiyalar keltirilgan.
Urban disruption of the land-sea connection : understanding stormwater and river inputs from Metro Vancouver and particulate organic matter composition in Burrard Inlet British Columbia
Creators: name: Lye, Sadie L. R.
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2025

description: Urbanization has disrupted the movement of freshwater and the materials it transports, altering the primary biogeochemical link between land and sea. Coastal ecosystems are subsidized by terrestrial organic matter and nutrient inputs; however, inputs have increased or been altered due to land-use change. Urbanization has increased impervious surfaces, changed vegetation abundance and composition, and introduced novel inputs via wastewater and stormwater. To investigate freshwater and stormwater organic matter and macronutrients (silicate, phosphate, and nitrate), I compared these constituents in Metro Vancouver river water and stormwater to literature values. I estimated the flux of these biogeochemical parameters transported to Burrard Inlet via stormwater annually and identified tracers of stormwater using stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen) and fatty acids. The concentrations of these biogeochemical parameters were high and generally significantly different between river and stormwater samples. There were higher concentrations of nitrate and silicate in river samples and higher concentrations of phosphate, dissolved organic carbon, particulate organic carbon, and particulate nitrogen in stormwater samples. To investigate the composition of particulate organic matter (POM) in the surface water of Burrard Inlet, I used a Bayesian mixing model approach (MixSIAR) to quantify the relative contributions of phytoplankton, macrophyte, freshwater, and wastewater across 5 basins and 3 seasons. POM is a basal resource for marine food webs and a key component of zooplankton diet, which transfers energy to higher trophic level organisms. Thus, understanding how urbanization changes the composition of POM is important for understanding the productivity and functioning of marine ecosystems. Across all basins and seasons, phytoplankton contributed the most (average = 80 %), followed by macrophytes (average = 7.9 %), wastewater (average = 6.1 %), and freshwater (average = 5.8 %). There were seasonal and spatial differences in POM composition. As cities expand, so will their impact on coastal marine environments, and therefore, there is a need to understand how urbanization changes freshwater and the materials it transports, disrupting marine productivity and ecosystem functioning.
The behavior of prices under changing monetary regimes: The United States and Great Britain.
Creators: name: Kuchciak, Christopher.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1997
Subjects: subject: Economics, General.

description: This paper is an empirical investigation of the behaviour of prices in the United States (U.S.) and Great Britain (U.K.) over the last two and a half centuries. The objective is to determine if price stability was attained during the classical gold standard regime, Bretton Woods system and a flexible exchange rate regime using unit root testing procedures. This paper explores some of the theory and techniques involved in unit root testing. These tests are then utilized to determine if the price level was stationary during and after the gold standard period.
title: Die Bachiana der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin
title: Konservierung und Restaurierung
titleType: Subtitle
Creators: name: Schönbohm, Dirk
name: Fischer, Axel
name: Kornemann, Matthias
name: Teuffert, Cordula
Publisher: name: Sing-Akademie zu Berlin e.V.
Year: 2012
Subjects: Conservation

description: Die Arbeit des KUR-Projekts „Die Bachiana der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin – Konservierung und Restaurierung“, die sich über eine Laufzeit von vier Jahren erstreckte, verdichtete sich in vier aufeinander bezogenen thematisch-methodischen Komplexen. Den Rahmen bildeten die dokumentierenden Maßnahmen, beginnend mit der Digitalisierung (2008), gefolgt von detaillierten Bestandaufnahmen (2008/2009).
Die für die zentralen restauratorischen Arbeiten (2009–2012) entwickelte Dokumentationsform fand schließlich Eingang in das eigens für den Bestand aufgebaute Datenbanksystem. Aus der Bestandsaufnahme ergaben sich eindeutige Prioritäten zu restaurierender Objekte. Im Zentrum des Projektes stand die methodische Entwicklung aller Restaurierungsleistungen, die in zwei umfangreichen Auftragsvergaben an externe Restauratoren vermittelt und umgesetzt wurden. Die für diese Vergaben konzipierten und im Verlauf der Arbeiten spezifizierten Restaurierungsleistungen wurden im Hinblick auf ihre Gültigkeit für den Gesamtbestand des Archivs der Sing-Akademie weiterentwickelt. Forschungsschwerpunkte bildeten die Entwicklung wasserarmer Sicherungsverklebungen in Eisengallustintenbereichen sowie die Anwendung eines bestehenden Arbeitsstandards zur Tintenfraßbehandlung und dessen Erweiterung durch Möglichkeiten der physischen Stabilisierung nach der Behandlung. In einer Ausstellung, am Ende des Projektes, in der „Villa Griesebach“ (2011/12), wurden die Ergebnisse des Projekts einer interessierten Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht.
Fast offset corrected in-memory training
Creators: name: Rasch, Malte J.
name: Carta, Fabio
name: Fagbohungbe, Omebayode
name: Gokmen, Tayfun
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: Hardware Architecture (cs.AR)
subject: Emerging Technologies (cs.ET)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: In-memory computing with resistive crossbar arrays has been suggested to accelerate deep-learning workloads in highly efficient manner. To unleash the full potential of in-memory computing, it is desirable to accelerate the training as well as inference for large deep neural networks (DNNs). In the past, specialized in-memory training algorithms have been proposed that not only accelerate the forward and backward passes, but also establish tricks to update the weight in-memory and in parallel. However, the state-of-the-art algorithm (Tiki-Taka version 2 (TTv2)) still requires near perfect offset correction and suffers from potential biases that might occur due to programming and estimation inaccuracies, as well as longer-term instabilities of the device materials. Here we propose and describe two new and improved algorithms for in-memory computing (Chopped-TTv2 (c-TTv2) and Analog Gradient Accumulation with Dynamic reference (AGAD)), that retain the same runtime complexity but correct for any remaining offsets using choppers. These algorithms greatly relax the device requirements and thus expanding the scope of possible materials potentially employed for such fast in-memory DNN training.
description: 14 pages, 10 figures
EXPLORING MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH: SELF-CARE PRACTICES AMONG KOREAN MOTHERS
Creators: name: Emily Park Kim, Ph.D, Park Kim, Ph.D
name: Ji-Yoon Lee, RN, MSN, RN, MSN
Publisher: name: continental journal
Year: 2024
Subjects: postpartum care, traditional practices, maternal health, infant care, healthcare professionals.

description: In South Korea, traditional postpartum care and support are provided by the mother or mother-in-law for at least three weeks following childbirth, aiding the new mother in her physical and psychological recovery and infant care (Song, Chang, & Kim, 2008). This early postpartum period serves as a crucial transition time during which mothers acquire the skills and understanding needed to fulfill their roles and responsibilities as parents (Epifanio, Genna, DeLuca, Rocella, & La Grutta, 2015). Knowledge about newborn care, infant development, and parental roles and responsibilities is gained during this period. Therefore, healthcare professionals play a vital role in assisting women in the postpartum phase (Razurel, Kaiser, Antonietti, Epiney, & Sellenet, 2017).
Part I. The chemistry of alpha-oxathiolane ketal radicals. Part II. The synthesis of cross-conjugated trienes using indium chemistry, their Diels-Alder reactions, and a tandem diene-transmissive and conventional Diels-Alder reaction.
Creators: name: Squires, Neil H.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1998
Subjects: subject: Chemistry, Organic.

description: Part I. The $\alpha$-thionocarbonates of spiro tetrahydrofuran 42 and oxathiolanes 41 were prepared from the corresponding alcohols. Reflux in the presence of AIBN, allyltributyltin and benzene afforded no reaction with thionocarbonate 42, however under the same conditions thionocarbonate 41 formed cyclopentenyl ether 44. Barton ester 48 was prepared and photolysed in the presence of allyltributyltin at room temperature, also affording cyclopentenyl ether 44. Part II. A series of alcohols 189, obtained by the indium mediated coupling of 5-bromo-1,3-pentadiene and the corresponding aldehydes, were dehydrated with $\rm PPh\sb3/DEAD$ in benzene at $50{-}60\sp\circ\rm C.$ The novel 3-methylene substituted cross-conjugated triene 165 was reacted with a series of dienophiles in a diene-transmissive Diels-Alder study. The use of DMAD afforded adduct 171 as an inseparable mixture of diastereomers at a ratio of 2:1 (trans:cis) and dehydrogenated adduct 172. In the case of cyclic dienophiles (NPTAD, 1,4-benzoquinone and N-phenylmaleimide) the resulting adducts (168, 166, 167) were obtained in very high diastereoselectivities; 91:9 in the case of NPTAD, and $>$95:5 in the cases of 1,4-benzoquinone and N-phenylmaleimide, (trans:cis). A tandem diene-transmissive Diels-Alder and conventional Diels-Alder reaction was developed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
title: Toxoplasma gondii infection in interstate truck drivers
title: a case–control seroprevalence study
titleType: Subtitle
Creators: name: Alvarado-Esquivel, Cosme
name: Pacheco-Vega, Sandy Janet
name: Hernández-Tinoco, Jesús
name: Salcedo-Jáquez, Misael
name: Sánchez-Anguiano, Luis Francisco
name: Berumen-Segovia, Luis Omar
name: Rábago-Sánchez, Elizabeth
name: Liesenfeld, Oliver
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie

description: Background Infection with Toxoplasma gondii can be acquired via the ingestion of undercooked or raw meat containing tissue cysts, or via ingestion of water contaminated with oocysts. Professional long distance truck driving may have epidemiological importance for food-borne infections since drivers eat out of home and in places where hygiene and cooking practices are uncertain. We aimed to determine whether interstate truck drivers in Durango, Mexico have an increased risk of infection with T. gondii as indicated by seropositivity; and to determine the socio-demographic, work, clinical, and behavioral characteristics associated with T. gondii seropositivity in interstate truck drivers. Methods Through a case–control study design, 192 truck drivers and 192 controls from the general population of the same region matched by gender and age were examined with enzyme-linked immunoassays for the presence of anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies. Socio-demographic, work, clinical and behavioral characteristics from the truck drivers were obtained. Results Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were found in 23 (12.0%) of 192 truck drivers and in 13 (6.8%) of 192 controls (OR = 21.0; 95% CI: 1.23-358.38; P = 0.002). Anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies were found in 7 (3.6%) cases and in 7 (3.6%) controls (P = 1.00). The seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was higher in drivers with reflex impairment than in those without this impairment (4/13, 30.8% vs 19/179, 10.6%, respectively; P = 0.05), and in drivers with hearing impairment than in those without this impairment (3/7, 42.9% vs 20/185, 10.8%, respectively; P = 0.03). Multivariate analysis of work and behavioral characteristics of truck drives showed positive associations of T. gondii exposure with trips to the south of Mexico (OR = 3.11; 95% CI: 1.02-9.44; P = 0.04) and consumption of horse meat (OR = 5.18; 95% CI: 1.62-16.55; P = 0.005). Conclusions Results suggest that interstate truck drivers may have an increased risk for T. gondii infection, and that T. gondii exposure may be impacting neurological functions in truck drivers. Contributing factors for T. gondii exposure should be taken into account for the design of optimal prevention measures against T. gondii infection.
Doubly resonant photonic crystal cavity based on a bound state in the continuum for efficient χ-2 nonlinear frequency conversion: supplementary material - 4051953.pdf
Creators: name: Minkov, Momchil
name: Gerace, Dario
name: Fan, Shanhui
Publisher: name: Optica Publishing Group
Year: 2025
Subjects: Photonics, Optoelectronics and Optical Communications

description: Supplemental document
Challenges of a sustainable information age
Creators: name: Hinton, Kerry
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: The Internet and the ICT (information and communication technologies) are now accepted as building blocks for economics, technological and social advancement worldwide. The Information Age and the evolution towards an e-society promise substantial benefits as the availability of broadband access continues to spread around the globe. However, the infrastructure on which our e-society relies is consuming ever-increasing amounts of power. The generation of this power is producing a rapidly increasing carbon footprint. Today ICT contributes approximately 2% of humankind's carbon footprint and this contribution is growing exponentially. This raises the question of whether or not our ongoing move into the Information Age is environmentally sustainable. The Centre for Energy Efficient Telecommunications (CEET), located at the University of Melbourne, is a new research centre with a sole focus on the energy efficiency and sustainability of telecommunications networks. This article describes the areas of CEET's research and their outcomes to date. © 2012 Swinburne University of Technology.
Spectra Stream Tutorial - an online application for Raman calibration
Creators: name: Marinov, Evgeniy
name: ILIEV, Luchesar
name: Georgi, Georgiev
name: Kochev, Nikolay
name: Raquel, Portela
name: Jeliazkova, Nina
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Raman spectroscopy
Calibration

description: SpectraStream tutorial

https://spectra.adma.ai/stream

The SpectraStream application for harmonizing Raman spectroscopy data is a user interface to perform wavenumber calibration and relative intensity calibration according to the CWA 18133:2024 developed by CHARISMA project. SpectraStream uses the open source   ramanchada2  https://github.com/h2020charisma/ramanchada2 Python library, implementing Raman spectra pre-processing, peak finding and fitting, and calibration.  The x-axis calibration requires the measurement of a neon emission spectrum and a silicon Raman spectrum as references, whereas the spectrum of a NIST standard reference material (SRM) or a calibrated broad-band emission lamp are the references for the y-axis.
Agent-based management of a task-level multi-robot assembly cell.
Creators: name: Basran, Jagdeep S.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1998
Subjects: subject: Engineering, Electronics and Electrical.

description: This dissertation presents a flexible coherent framework for managing the on-line, high-level operation of an assembly cell that has multiple robotic manipulators. This framework, which uses the concept of an agent as understood by the research subfield of multi-agent systems, supports the task-level scheduling and programming of assembly operations. The execution of an assembly operation was decomposed into the two distinct phases of part assembling and part fetching. Part assembling is concerned with how a robotic manipulator manoeuvres a part into its proper place within the overall assembly of a product. Part fetching has to do with suitably delivering a part to a robotic manipulator for part assembling. In this framework, the operation of a multi-robot assembly cell was distributed among four different types of agents: agent(s) responsible for part assembling, agent(s) responsible for part fetching, an agent to properly schedule the assembly operations, and an agent to control access to the shared physical space of the cell. Each of these agents was implemented in software using the object-oriented programming language C$\sp{++}$. The physical-level of this framework was evaluated by physically implementing a proof of concept, assembling agent. The system-level of this framework was evaluated by integrating the software agents into a discrete event simulation and then simulating a tractable and prototypical example for different operating circumstances.
A new method to prevent carry-over contaminations in two-step PCR NGS library preparations
Creators: name: Seitz, Volkhard
name: Schaper, Sigrid
name: Dröge, Anja
name: Lenze, Dido
name: Hummel, Michael
name: Hennig, Steffen
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Two-step PCR procedures are an efficient and well established way to generate amplicon libraries for NGS sequencing. However, there is a high risk of cross- contamination by carry-over of amplicons from first to second amplification rounds, potentially leading to severe misinterpretation of results. Here we describe a new method able to prevent and/or to identify carry-over contaminations by introducing the K-box, a series of three synergistically acting short sequence elements. Our K-boxes are composed of (i) K1 sequences for suppression of contaminations, (ii) K2 sequences for detection of possible residual contaminations and (iii) S sequences acting as separators to avoid amplification bias. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method we analyzed two-step PCR NGS libraries derived from a multiplex PCR system for detection of T-cell receptor beta gene rearrangements. We used this system since it is of high clinical relevance and may be affected by very low amounts of contaminations. Spike-in contaminations are effectively blocked by the K-box even at high rates as demonstrated by ultra-deep sequencing of the amplicons. Thus, we recommend implementation of the K-box in two-step PCR- based NGS systems for research and diagnostic applications demanding high sensitivity and accuracy.
Doubly resonant photonic crystal cavity based on a bound state in the continuum for efficient χ-2 nonlinear frequency conversion: supplementary material - 4051953.pdf
Creators: name: Minkov, Momchil
name: Gerace, Dario
name: Fan, Shanhui
Publisher: name: Optica Publishing Group
Year: 2019
Subjects: Photonics, Optoelectronics and Optical Communications

description: Supplemental document
Supplementary document for Interaction of light carrying orbital angular momentum with a chiral dipolar scatterer - 4057554.pdf
Creators: name: Wozniak, Pawel
name: Banzer, Peter
name: De Leon, Israel
name: Hoeflich, Katja
name: Leuchs, Gerd
Publisher: name: Optica Publishing Group
Year: 2025
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: Supplemental document
Structure, physical properties, and magnetically tunable topological phases in topological semimetal EuCuBi
Creators: name: Wang, Xuhui
name: Li, Boxuan
name: Zhou, Liqin
name: Chen, Long
name: Wang, Yulong
name: Yang, Yaling
name: Zhou, Ying
name: Liao, Ke
name: Weng, Hongming
name: Wang, Gang
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A single material achieving multiple topological phases can provide potential application for topological spintronics, whereas the candidate materials are very limited. Here, we report the structure, physical properties, and possible emergence of multiple topological phases in the newly discovered, air-stable EuCuBi single crystal. EuCuBi crystallizes in a hexagonal space group P63/mmc (No. 194) in ZrBeSi-type structure with an antiferromagnetic (AFM) ground state below TN = 11.2 K. There is a competition between AFM and ferromagnetic (FM) interactions below TN revealed by electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements. With the increasing magnetic field, EuCuBi evolves from the AFM ground state with a small amount of FM component, going through two possible metamagnetic phases, finally reaches the field-induced FM phase. Based on the first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that the Dirac, Weyl, and possible mirror Chern insulator can be achieved in EuCuBi by tuning the temperature and applying magnetic field, making EuCuBi a promising candidate for exploring multiple topological phases.
description: 16 pages,8 figures
Prognosis of people experiencing homelessness who are diagnosed with covid-19
Creators: name: Li, Siying (Shari)
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2025

description: Background: People experiencing homelessness (PEH) are at higher risk for many negative health outcomes. It is unclear whether, or to what extent, this is the case for outcomes for PEH from COVID-19 compared with housed individuals. Specifically, there remains equipoise whether PEH with COVID-19 have different risk for in-hospital mortality, hospital admission, critical care admission, and intubation. Methods: A scoping review identified existing literature on PEH and COVID-19 outcomes. After a search of EMBASE and MEDLINE, eligible studies were tabulated and summarized in narrative form. A propensity score matched cohort study utilizing data from the CCEDRRN registry compared PEH with housed individuals presenting to emergency departments (EDs) for acute symptomatic COVID-19. Covariates in the propensity score model include age, sex, comorbidities, substance use, vaccination status, prior do not resuscitate documentation, hospital type, province and calendar quarter of ED presentation, symptom duration, and severity of illness on presentation. Logistic regression compared risk for our outcomes across the propensity matched cohorts, adjusting for the same covariates as in the propensity score model. Results: The scoping review found sparse research on PEH outcomes from COVID-19, with contradictory findings and significant methodological limitations across studies. In propensity sore matched analyses, there was no difference in mortality for PEH (3%) compared with housed patients (3%) (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.43 to 1.74, p=0.69). There was no difference in admission rates for PEH (44%) versus housed patients (45%). There was a reduced rate of critical care admission for PEH versus housed patients (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.00, p<0.05), and a trend towards decreased intubation for PEH versus housed patients which was not significant (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.35 to 1.02, p=0.06). Conclusion: Prior research on COVID-19 outcomes in PEH has been limited. In our propensity score matched analysis, there was no difference in mortality for PEH with COVID-19; however, findings of reduced critical care admission among PEH suggest differential treatment unrelated to clinical characteristics which were matched for. Future research on resource allocation during pandemics could shed light on potential inequities for vulnerable populations including PEH and the most effective ways to address them.
Does NGAL reduce costs? A cost analysis of urine NGAL (uNGAL) & serum creatinine (sCr) for acute kidney injury (AKI) diagnosis
Creators: name: Parikh, Amay
name: Rizzo, John A.
name: Canetta, Pietro
name: Forster, Catherine
name: Sise, Meghan
name: Maarouf, Omar
name: Singer, Eugenia
name: Elger, Antje
name: Elitok, Saban
name: Schmidt-Ott, Kai
name: Barasch, Jonathon
name: Nickolas, Thomas L.
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Introduction Urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) is a sensitive and specific diagnostic test for acute kidney injury (AKI) in the Emergency Department (ED), but its economic impact has not been investigated. We hypothesized that uNGAL used in combination with serum creatinine (sCr) would reduce costs in the management of AKI in patients presenting to the ED in comparison to using sCr alone. Materials and methods A cost simulation model was developed for clinical algorithms to diagnose AKI based on sCr alone vs. uNGAL plus sCr (uNGAL+sCr). A cost minimization analysis was performed to determine total expected costs for patients with AKI. uNGAL test characteristics were validated with eight-hundred forty-nine patients with sCr ≥1.5 from a completed study of 1635 patients recruited from EDs at two U.S. hospitals from 2007–8. Biomarker test, AKI work-up, and diagnostic imaging costs were incorporated. Results For a hypothetical cohort of 10,000 patients, the model predicted that the expected costs were $900 per patient (pp) in the sCr arm and $950 in the uNGAL+sCr arm. uNGAL+sCr resulted in 1,578 fewer patients with delayed diagnosis and treatment than sCr alone (2,013 vs. 436 pts) at center 1 and 1,973 fewer patients with delayed diagnosis and treatment than sCr alone at center 2 (2,227 vs. 254 patients). Although initial evaluation costs at each center were $50 pp higher in with uNGAL+sCr, total costs declined by $408 pp at Center 1 and by $522 pp at Center 2 due to expected reduced delays in diagnosis and treatment. Sensitivity analyses confirmed savings with uNGAL + sCr for a range of cost inputs. Discussion Using uNGAL with sCr as a clinical diagnostic test for AKI may improve patient management and reduce expected costs. Any cost savings would likely result from avoiding delays in diagnosis and treatment and from avoidance of unnecessary testing in patients given a false positive AKI diagnosis by use of sCr alone.
A QoS content adaptation framework for nomadic users
Creators: name: El-Khatib, Khalil Mehdi
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2005
Subjects: subject: Computer Science.

description: The tremendous growth of the Internet has introduced a number of interoperability problems for distributed multimedia applications. These problems are related to the heterogeneity of client devices, network connectivity, content formats, and user's preferences. The diversity of client devices posed some challenges in aligning and customizing the exchanged data between different users using different devices and with different preferences. Another trend in the telecommunication world that is starting to surface is ubiquitous computing environment where there is a shift of computing technology from the desktop to the background. One of its most notable attributes is its potential to extend the scope of the user's reachability. The purpose of this thesis is to present a framework for multimedia content adaptation that addresses diversity, heterogeneity, and ubiquity. The framework takes into consideration the profile of communicating users, devices, network connectivity, exchanged content format, context description, and available adaptation services to find a chain of adaptation services that could be applied to the content. Major part of the framework is a QoS-based selection algorithm that finds the best sequence of adaptation services and their QoS configuration that can maximize the user's satisfaction with the delivered content. A restricted version of the framework is used to find the best combination for the number of media streams and their corresponding configuration for presentational multimedia applications. The framework also forms the core of an architecture for supporting personal mobility. In an environment where a user has access to many communication devices, it is more convenient that the system makes the choice between all these devices depending on previously defined user preferences. The system will also select the values for the QoS parameters that give the user the best satisfaction with the session. We will also describe an extension of the architecture to support service and personal mobility in an ubiquitous computing environment. Protecting the user's privacy is also addressed in this thesis, with a focus on protecting the confidentiality of the user's preferences during session negotiation.
Universal Properties of the Spectral Form Factor in Open Quantum Systems
Creators: name: Zhou, Yi-Neng
name: Zhou, Tian-Gang
name: Zhang, Pengfei
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn)
subject: Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The spectral form factor (SFF) can probe the eigenvalue statistic at different energy scales as its time variable varies. In closed quantum chaotic systems, the SFF exhibits a universal dip-ramp-plateau behavior, which reflects the spectrum rigidity of the Hamiltonian. In this work, we explore the universal properties of SFF in open quantum systems. We find that in open systems the SFF first decays exponentially, followed by a linear increase at some intermediate time scale, and finally decreases to a saturated plateau value. We derive universal relations between (1) the early-time decay exponent and Lindblad operators; (2) the long-time plateau value and the number of steady states. We also explain the effective field theory perspective of universal behaviors. We verify our theoretical predictions by numerically simulating the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, random matrix theory (RMT), and the Bose-Hubbard model.
description: 7 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary 7 pages, 4 figures
Utility of Electronic Medical Records in Community Rheumatology Practice for Assessing Quality of Care Indicators for Gout : A Feasibility Study
Creators: name: Estrada, Augusto
name: Tsao, Nicole W.
name: Howren, Alyssa
name: Esdaile, John
name: Shojania, Kam
name: De Vera, Mary
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2019

description: Objectives: With comprehensive capture of information on patient encounters, electronic medical records (EMRs) may have utility for assessing adherence to quality indicators (QI) in gout. Our objectives were to translate 10 previously established gout QIs into relevant EMR data and evaluate and describe the feasibility of using EMRs to assess gout QIs. Methods: Using EMRs from three community rheumatology practices in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, we identified gout patients seen between January 01, 2012 and December 31, 2013. We translated each gout QI into potential EMR variables that would allow identification of patients the QI pertains to and whether the QI could be assessed. We extracted deidentified EMR data on gout diagnosis, medications, laboratory tests, radiologic tests, and clinical notes and calculated the percent availability of data for each QI. Results: We included 125 patients with gout, with mean age 64 ± 17 years and with males comprising 78%. Overall, there were sufficient EMR data to allow translation of seven QIs and assessment of six QIs including therapy-related gout QIs (69% to 83% data availability) and one counselling-related QI (8% data availability). The highest percent data availability was observed in the single QI translated into EMR data and assessed based on diagnostic codes and prescription medications and not laboratory tests. Conclusions: EMRs are promising tools for assessing QIs for gout. With increased use of EMRs by physicians, our study has implications for informing processes for their enhanced use to improve patient care and outcomes in gout.
No Overt Effects of a 6-Week Exergame Training on Sensorimotor and Cognitive Function in Older Adults. A Preliminary Investigation
Creators: name: Ordnung, Madeleine
name: Hoff, Maike
name: Kaminski, Elisabeth
name: Villringer, Arno
name: Ragert, Patrick
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: exergames
subject: healthy aging
subject: sensorimotor
subject: cognition
subject: video games
subject: aerobic fitness
subject: motor skills
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Several studies investigating the relationship between physical activity and cognition showed that exercise interventions might have beneficial effects on working memory, executive functions as well as motor fitness in old adults. Recently, movement based video games (exergames) have been introduced to have the capability to improve cognitive function in older adults. Healthy aging is associated with a loss of cognitive, as well as sensorimotor functions. During exergaming, participants are required to perform physical activities while being simultaneously surrounded by a cognitively challenging environment. However, only little is known about the impact of exergame training interventions on a broad range of motor, sensory, and cognitive skills. Therefore, the present study aims at investigating the effects of an exergame training over 6 weeks on cognitive, motor, and sensory functions in healthy old participants. For this purpose, 30 neurologically healthy older adults were randomly assigned to either an experimental (ETG, n = 15, 1 h training, twice a week) or a control group (NTG, n = 15, no training). Several cognitive tests were performed before and after exergaming in order to capture potential training-induced effects on processing speed as well as on executive functions. To measure the impact of exergaming on sensorimotor performance, a test battery consisting of pinch and grip force of the hand, tactile acuity, eye-hand coordination, flexibility, reaction time, coordination, and static balance were additionally performed. While we observed significant improvements in the trained exergame (mainly in tasks that required a high load of coordinative abilities), these gains did not result in differential performance improvements when comparing ETG and NTG. The only exergaming- induced difference was a superior behavioral gain in fine motor skills of the left hand in ETG compared to NTG. In an exploratory analysis, within-group comparison revealed improvements in sensorimotor and cognitive tasks (ETG) while NTG only showed an improvement in a static balance test. Taken together, the present study indicates that even though exergames might improve gaming performance, our behavioral assessment was probably not sensitive enough to capture exergaming-induced improvements. Hence, we suggest to use more tailored outcome measures in future studies to assess potential exergaming- induced changes.