cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Inputs to the ATLANTIC OCEAN RESEARCH ALLIANCE Marine Microbiome Roadmap (D6.5)
Creators: name: Hátún, Hjalmar
name: Salter, Ian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020

description: The Marine Microbiome Roadmap was published by the AORAC-SA project in February 2020: https://www.zenodo.org/record/3632526 The Roadmap is the result of an international cooperative effort between Canada, the European Union and the United States of America produced within the AORA framework and consistent with the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation. The roadmap has been put together with inputs of Principal Investigators of numerous other projects. Among these, Blue-Action has contributed to one specific section of the Roadmap, the one on “Environment and Climate”. The Roadmap is the result of an international cooperative effort between Canada, the European Union and the United States of America produced within the AORA framework and consistent with the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation. The roadmap has been put together with inputs of Principal Investigators of numerous other projects. Among these, Blue-Action has contributed to one specific section of the Roadmap, the one on “Environment and Climate”.
description: The Blue-Action project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 727852
Spatial extension of dark subhalos as seen by Fermi-LAT and implications for WIMP constraints
Creators: name: Coronado-Blazquez, J.
name: Sanchez-Conde, M.
name: Perez-Romero, J.
name: Aguirre-Santaella, A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Spatial extension has been hailed as a "smoking gun" in the gamma-ray search of dark galactic subhalos, which would appear as unidentified sources for gamma-ray telescopes. In this work, we study the sensitivity of the Fermi-LAT to extended subhalos using simulated data based on a realistic sky model. We simulate spatial templates for a set of representative subhalos, whose parameters were derived from our previous work with N-body cosmological simulation data. We find that detecting an extended subhalo and finding an unequivocal signal of angular extension requires, respectively, a flux 2 to 10 times larger than in the case of a point-like source. By studying a large grid of models, where parameters such as the WIMP mass, annihilation channel or subhalo model are varied significantly, we obtain the response of the LAT as a function of the product of annihilation cross section times the J-factor. Indeed, we show that spatial extension can be used as an additional filter to reject subhalos candidates among the pool of unidentified LAT sources, as well as a "smoking gun" for positive identification. For instance, typical angular extensions of a few tenths of degree are expected for the considered scenarios. Finally, we also study the impact of the obtained LAT sensitivity to such extended subhalos on the achievable dark matter constraints, which are a few times less constraining than comparable point-source limits.
description: 21 pages, 17 figures, 3 tables. Matches the PRD accepted version
Discovery of X-shaped Morphology of the Giant Radio Galaxy GRG 0503-286
Creators: name: Dabhade, Pratik
name: Gopal-Krishna
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The high surface-brightness sensitivity of the GLEAM survey image of the giant radio galaxy GRG 0503-28 at 70-230 MHz has revealed an inversion-symmetric bending of its two lobes, while maintaining between their bent portions a ~200 kpc wide strip-like radio emission gap. This lends the source the appearance of a mega-sized X-shaped radio galaxy. Identifying the emission gap with the presence of a gaseous layer, probably a WHIM-filled sheet in the cosmic web, we suggest that the layer is the most likely cause of the inversion-symmetric bending of the two radio lobes. Multiple observational manifestations of such gaseous layers are noted. The two lobes of this GRG, known to extend very asymmetrically from the host galaxy, are remarkably symmetric about the emission gap, confirming a curious trend noted earlier for double radio sources of normal dimensions. The anomalous radio spectral gradient reported for the northern lobe of this GRG is not substantiated.
description: Accepted for publication in A&A Letters | 5 pages and 3 figures | Comments are welcome | Dedicated to Prof Govind Swarup, FRS
A Differentially Private Framework for Deep Learning with Convexified Loss Functions
Creators: name: Lu, Zhigang
name: Asghar, Hassan Jameel
name: Kaafar, Mohamed Ali
name: Webb, Darren
name: Dickinson, Peter
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR)
subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Differential privacy (DP) has been applied in deep learning for preserving privacy of the underlying training sets. Existing DP practice falls into three categories - objective perturbation, gradient perturbation and output perturbation. They suffer from three main problems. First, conditions on objective functions limit objective perturbation in general deep learning tasks. Second, gradient perturbation does not achieve a satisfactory privacy-utility trade-off due to over-injected noise in each epoch. Third, high utility of the output perturbation method is not guaranteed because of the loose upper bound on the global sensitivity of the trained model parameters as the noise scale parameter. To address these problems, we analyse a tighter upper bound on the global sensitivity of the model parameters. Under a black-box setting, based on this global sensitivity, to control the overall noise injection, we propose a novel output perturbation framework by injecting DP noise into a randomly sampled neuron (via the exponential mechanism) at the output layer of a baseline non-private neural network trained with a convexified loss function. We empirically compare the privacy-utility trade-off, measured by accuracy loss to baseline non-private models and the privacy leakage against black-box membership inference (MI) attacks, between our framework and the open-source differentially private stochastic gradient descent (DP-SGD) approaches on six commonly used real-world datasets. The experimental evaluations show that, when the baseline models have observable privacy leakage under MI attacks, our framework achieves a better privacy-utility trade-off than existing DP-SGD implementations, given an overall privacy budget $ε\leq 1$ for a large number of queries.
description: This paper has been accepted by the IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics & Security. Early access of IEEE Explore will be available soon
Fermi-surface origin of skyrmion lattices in centrosymmetric rare-earth intermetallics
Creators: name: Bouaziz, Juba
name: Mendive-Tapia, Eduardo
name: Blügel, Stefan
name: Staunton, Julie B.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We show from first-principles that barrel-shaped structures within the Fermi surface of the centrosymmetric intermetallic compounds GdRu$_2$Si$_2$ and Gd$_2$PdSi$_3$ give rise to Fermi surface nesting, which determines the strength and sign of quasi-two-dimensional Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida pairwise exchange interactions between the Gd moments. This is the principal mechanism leading to their helical single-$q$ spin-spiral ground states, providing transition temperatures and magnetic periods in good agreement with experiment. Using atomistic spin-dynamic simulations, we draw a direct line between the subtleties of the three-dimensional Fermi surface topology and the stabilization of a square skyrmion lattice in GdRu$_2$Si$_2$ at applied magnetic fields as observed in experiment.
Chaos over Order: Mapping 3D Rotation of Triaxial Asteroids and Minor Planets
Creators: name: Makarov, Valeri V.
name: Goldin, Alexey
name: Tkachenko, Alexei V.
name: Veras, Dimitri
name: Noyelles, Benoît
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Celestial bodies approximated with rigid triaxial ellipsoids in a two-body system can rotate chaotically due to the time-varying gravitational torque from the central mass. At small orbital eccentricity values, rotation is short-term orderly and predictable within the commensurate spin-orbit resonances, while at eccentricity approaching unity, chaos completely takes over. Here, we present the full 3D rotational equations of motion around all three principle axes for triaxial minor planets and two independent methods of numerical solution based on Euler rotations and quaternion algebra. The domains of chaotic rotation are numerically investigated over the entire range of eccentricity with a combination of trial integrations of Euler's equations of motion and the GALI($k$) method. We quantify the dependence of the order--chaos boundaries on shape by changing a prolateness parameter, and find that the main 1:1 spin-orbit resonance disappears for specific moderately prolate shapes already at eccentricities as low as 0.3. The island of short-term stability around the main 1:1 resonance shrinks with increasing eccentricity at a fixed low degree of prolateness and completely vanishes at approximately 0.8. This island is also encroached by chaos on longer time scales indicating longer Lyapunov exponents. Trajectories in the close vicinity of the 3:2 spin-orbit resonance become chaotic at smaller eccentricities, but separated enclaves of orderly rotation emerge at eccentricities as high as 0.8. Initial perturbations of rotational velocity in latitude away from the exact equilibrium result in a spectrum of free libration, nutation, and polar wander, which is not well matched by the linearized analysis omitting the inertial terms.
description: Accepted in MNRAS
Shortened General Attitude and Belief Scale (SGABS)
Creators: name: Lindner, Helen
name: Kirkby, Robert
name: Wertheim, Eleanor
name: Birch, Penelope
Publisher: name: La Trobe
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: 170109 Personality, Abilities and Assessment
subject: FOS: Psychology

description: Copyright permission provided by authors on 29/06/2021. Permission on file with University Copyright Office.
Distant trans-Neptunian object candidates from NASA's TESS mission scrutinized: fainter than predicted or false positives?
Creators: name: Marcos, C. de la Fuente
name: Marcos, R. de la Fuente
name: Vaduvescu, O.
name: Stanescu, M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is performing a homogeneous survey of the sky from space in search of transiting exoplanets. The collected data are also being used for detecting passing Solar system objects, including 17 new outer Solar system body candidates located at geocentric distances in the range 80-200 au, that need follow-up observations with ground-based telescope resources for confirmation. Here, we present results of a proof-of-concept mini-survey aimed at recovering two of these candidates that was carried out with the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope and a QHY600L CMOS camera mounted at its prime focus. For each candidate attempted, we surveyed a patch of sky of over one square degree around its expected coordinates in Sloan r'. The same location was revisited in five consecutive or nearly consecutive nights, reaching S/N > 4 at r' < 23 mag. We focused on the areas of sky around the circumpolar TESS candidates located at equatorial coordinates (07:00:15, +86:55:19), 202.8 au from Earth, and (06:39:47, +83:43:54) at 162.1 au, but we could not recover either of them at r' < 23 mag. Based on the detailed analysis of the acquired images, we confirm that either both candidates are much fainter than predicted or that they are false positives.
description: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters. Revised to match published version
Two years of optical and NIR observations of the superluminous supernova UID 30901 discovered by the UltraVISTA SN survey
Creators: name: Hueichapán, Emilio D.
name: V., Carlos Contreras
name: Cartier, Regis
name: Lira, Paulina
name: Sanchez-Saez, Paula
name: Milvang-Jensen, Bo
name: Fynbo, Johan P. U.
name: Anderson, Joseph P.
name: Hamuy, Mario
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present deep optical and near-infrared photometry of UID 30901, a superluminous supernova (SLSN) discovered during the UltraVISTA survey. The observations were obtained with VIRCAM ($YJHK_{s}$) mounted on the VISTA telescope, DECam ($griz$) on the Blanco telescope, and SUBARU Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC; $grizy$). These multi-band observations comprise +700 days making UID 30901 one of the best photometrically followed SLSNe to date. The host galaxy of UID 30901 is detected in a deep HST F814W image with an AB magnitude of $27.3 \pm 0.2$. While no spectra exist for the SN or its host galaxy, we perform our analysis assuming $z = 0.37$, based on the photometric redshift of a possible host galaxy found at a projected distance of 7 kpc. Fitting a blackbody to the observations, the radius, temperature, and bolometric light curve are computed. We find a maximum bolometric luminosity of $5.4 \pm 0.34 \times 10^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$. A flattening in the light curve beyond 600 days is observed and several possible causes are discussed. We find the observations to clearly favour a SLSN type I, and plausible power sources such as the radioactive decay of $^{56}$Ni and the spin-down of a magnetar are compared to the data. We find that the magnetar model yields a good fit to the observations with the following parameters: a magnetic field $B = 1.4 \pm 0.3 \times 10^{14} \ G$, spin period of $P = 6.0 \pm 0.1 \ ms$ and ejecta mass $M_{ej} = 11.9^{+4.8}_{-6.4} M_{\odot}$.
description: 22 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAs
(K)ein Ausweg für Hedda? Eine Analyse von Henrik Ibsens Hedda Gabler (1890) aus der feministischen Perspektive von Helene Stöcker und Rosa Mayreder
Creators: name: Strasser, Nikoletta
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2023

My research identifies the existing parallels between the repressive societal structures portrayed in the play Hedda Gabler (1890) and central political issues addressed by representatives of the German and Austrian women’s movement at the turn of the 19th century. Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen shows how oppressive social conditions negatively affect his female characters, but he does not offer satisfactory alternatives to their suffering. I selected the theoretical writings of Helene Stöcker and Rosa Mayreder as more “radical” opinions of the first German and Austrian women’s movement because they present solutions to the repressive societal structures Ibsen addresses. Since many voices of the women’s movement describe literature as a political tool that has the power to influence society’s worldview, my research demonstrates that the political effectiveness of fictional texts like Hedda Gabler is increased once these texts are linked to theoretical feminist writings. In my literary analysis, I focus on the following categories discussed by Ibsen, Stöcker, and Mayreder: (1) The “old maid” question, (2) Devotion and sacrifice as parts of female education, (3) Unhappy marriages, (4) Unfulfilling motherhood and (5) The repressed female sexuality. My research centers on the perspective of selected feminists in the German-speaking world by emphasizing women’s voices and shifting the spotlight from the male-dominated theater at the time, thus leading to new insights and interpretations. In my analysis, I show that Hedda Gabler’s desperate cry for freedom is reflected in the reality of many middle-class German and Austrian women at the end of the 19th century and remains relevant for women’s rights debates in the present.
The genetic diversity of transposable elements that interact with IncP plasmids
Creators: name: Petrovski, Steve
Publisher: name: La Trobe
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 3107
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.
Association Among Neurophysiology, Cognition And Mobility In Older Adults
Creators: name: Nikoumanesh, Nikou
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2023

Age-related structural and molecular changes in older adults have been shown to significantly affect their cognitive and motor functions (Trollor and Valenzuela, 2001). Given the growing population of older adults, it is imperative to bridge the gaps in scientific understanding of cognition and motor capabilities in healthy older adults’ population. This study investigates five major neurochemicals and their potential correlations with gait, balance, executive function, and attention in healthy older adults. Additionally, we explore the interplay between cognition and motor performance in our participants. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the neurochemical values of interest may serve as predictive indicators for motor performance and cognition in healthy older adults.
RNA imaging in living cells – methods and applications
Creators: name: Urbanek, Martyna O
name: Galka-Marciniak, Paulina
name: Olejniczak, Marta
name: Wlodzimierz J Krzyzosiak
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: 60506 Virology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Hematology
subject: Developmental Biology
subject: Information and Computing Sciences
subject: Biological Sciences
subject: Molecular Biology
subject: Genetics
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Physics
subject: Biochemistry
subject: Biophysics

description: Numerous types of transcripts perform multiple functions in cells, and these functions are mainly facilitated by the interactions of the RNA with various proteins and other RNAs. Insight into the dynamics of RNA biosynthesis, processing and cellular activities is highly desirable because this knowledge will deepen our understanding of cell physiology and help explain the mechanisms of RNA-mediated pathologies. In this review, we discuss the live RNA imaging systems that have been developed to date. We highlight information on the design of these systems, briefly discuss their advantages and limitations and provide examples of their numerous applications in various organisms and cell types. We present a detailed examination of one application of RNA imaging systems: this application aims to explain the role of mutant transcripts in human disease pathogenesis caused by triplet repeat expansions. Thus, this review introduces live RNA imaging systems and provides a glimpse into their various applications.
Zal and Simorgh from Shahnameh (Book of Kings) a Design and Fabrication Film Project in Stop Motion Puppetry
Creators: name: Taghizadeh Hemayati, Maryam
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2023

This thesis is a reflection of the design, fabrication, and production of the Zal and Simorgh story in Shahnameh in puppet and stop motion. It is an original performance piece of my concept, design, and fabrication and it was presented to the public in August 2023.
Slow Star Formation in the Milky Way: Theory Meets Observations
Creators: name: Evans, Neal J.
name: Kim, Jeong-Gyu
name: Ostriker, Eve C.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The observed star formation rate of the Milky Way can be explained by applying a metallicity-dependent factor to convert CO luminosity to molecular gas mass and a star formation efficiency per free-fall time that depends on the virial parameter of a molecular cloud. These procedures also predict the trend of star formation rate surface density with Galactocentric radius. The efficiency per free-fall time variation with virial parameter plays the major role in bringing theory into agreement with observations for the total star formation rate, while the metallicity dependence of the CO luminosity to mass conversion is most notable in the variation with Galactocentric radius. Application of these changes resolves a factor of over 100 discrepancy between observed and theoretical star formation rates that has been known for nearly 50 years.
description: In press, Astrophysical Journal Letters 11 pages, 6 figures
Comparing Likelihood of Tree Failure Assessments Using Different Assessment Techniques
Creators: name: Okun, Ari
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2023

Tree risk assessment is an important arboricultural practice used to determine a tree’s risk of failing and causing damage to property or injury to people. Risk assessment includes three assessments: the likelihood of failure, the likelihood of striking a target, and the severity of consequences. To assess the likelihood of tree failure, arborists consider factors that affect the loads a tree experiences (for example, whether it is sheltered or exposed to strong winds, whether the crown is porous or dense, and how tall and wide is the crown) and factors that affect its load-bearing capacity (for example, what is the strength of wood in the tree and how large are the cross-sectional areas of branches, trunk and roots). They also visually inspect a tree for defects that reduce the tree’s load-bearing capacity. Symptoms of decay include cavities, dead/sloughing bark, depressions, cracks, resin/sap flow, excessive basal tapering and canopy dieback. Signs of pathogens may also indicate the presence of decay, including fruiting bodies (mushrooms/conks), fungal mycelia, bacterial ooze, and nematodes. But the presence of symptoms or signs alone does not necessarily correlate with the full extent of decay. When visual inspections are inconclusive, additional tools (such as mallets to sound a decayed area) or advanced diagnostic technologies (such as resistance drilling and sonic tomography) may be needed. The industry consensus is that tools and advanced technologies provide more accurate information regarding the internal condition of a tree, however there are comparatively few 3 | P a g e rigorous data to confirm whether the tools provide meaningful information for arborists assessing tree risk. The goal of this study was to understand better whether the additional information provided by advanced assessment techniques altered an experienced risk assessor’s rating of the likelihood of failure compared to their visual assessment. To investigate this question, I compared likelihood of failure ratings for 30 trees assessed by 18 arborists who used visual and advanced decay detection techniques. Mean likelihood of failure ratings for assessments derived using sonic tomography were higher compared to the other assessment techniques. However, when assessors consulted with a peer about their likelihood of failure ratings after performing each of the assessment techniques, mean likelihood of stem failure ratings were lower. Additionally, no assessment technique consistently reduced variability in ratings among arborists. Tree risk management programs can use the findings of this study to enhance the systematic procedures they use to assess tree risk in the urban landscape.
Deep VLT photometry of the faint stellar system in the Large Magellanic Cloud periphery YMCA-1
Creators: name: Gatto, M.
name: Ripepi, V.
name: Bellazzini, M.
name: Dall'Ora, M.
name: Tosi, M.
name: Tortora, C.
name: Cignoni, M.
name: Cioni, M. -R. L.
name: Cusano, F.
name: Longo, G.
name: Marconi, M.
name: Musella, I.
name: Schipani, P.
name: Spavone, M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present FORS2@VLT follow-up photometry of YMCA-1, a recently discovered stellar system located 13\degr~from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) center. The deep color-magnitude diagram (CMD) reveals a well-defined main sequence (MS) and a handful of stars in the post-MS evolutionary phases. We analyse the YMCA-1 CMD by means of the automated isochrone matching package {\tt ASteCA} and model its radial density profile with a Plummer function. We find that YMCA-1 is an old ($11.7^{+1.7}_{-1.3}$~Gyr), metal-intermediate ([Fe/H] $\simeq -1.12^{+0.21}_{-0.13}$~dex), compact (r$_{\rm h} = 3.5 \pm 0.5$ pc), low-mass (M $= 10^{2.45 \pm 0.02} M_{\odot}$) and low-luminosity (M$_V = -0.47 \pm 0.57$~mag) stellar system. The estimated distance modulus ($μ_0 = 18.72^{+0.15}_{-0.17}$~mag), corresponding to about 55~kpc, suggests that YMCA-1 is associated to the LMC, but we cannot discard the scenario in which it is a Milky Way satellite. The structural parameters of YMCA-1 are remarkably different compared with those of the 15 known old LMC globular clusters. In particular, it resides in a transition region of the M$_V$-r$_h$ plane, in between the ultra-faint dwarf galaxies and the classical old clusters, and close to SMASH-1, another faint stellar system recently discovered in the LMC surroundings.
description: 8 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Glacial geomorphology of the Altai and Western Sayan Mountains, Central Asia
Creators: name: Blomdin, Robin
name: Heyman, Jakob
name: Stroeven, Arjen P.
name: Hättestrand, Clas
name: Harbor, Jonathan M.
name: Gribenski, Natacha
name: Jansson, Krister N.
name: Petrakov, Dmitry A.
name: Ivanov, Mikhail N.
name: Orkhonselenge Alexander
name: Rudoy, Alexei N.
name: Walther, Michael
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Computational Biology
subject: Cancer
subject: Biological Sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Science
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Earth and Environmental Sciences

description: In this article, we present a map of the glacial geomorphology of the Altai and Western Sayan Mountains, covering an area of almost 600,000 km2. Although numerous studies provide evidence for restricted Pleistocene glaciations in this area, others have hypothesized the past existence of an extensive ice sheet. To provide a framework for accurate glacial reconstructions of the Altai and Western Sayan Mountains, we present a map at a scale of 1:1,000,000 based on a mapping from 30 m resolution ASTER DEM and 15 m/30 m resolution Landsat ETM+ satellite imagery. Four landform classes have been mapped: marginal moraines, glacial lineations, hummocky terrain, and glacial valleys. Our mapping reveals an abundance of glacial erosional and depositional landforms. The distribution of these glacial landforms indicates that the Altai and Western Sayan Mountains have experienced predominantly alpine-style glaciations, with some small ice caps centred on the higher mountain peaks. Large marginal moraine complexes mark glacial advances in intermontane basins. By tracing the outer limits of present-day glaciers, glacial valleys, and moraines, we estimate that the past glacier coverage have totalled to 65,000 km2 (10.9% of the mapped area), whereas present-day glacier coverage totals only 1300 km2 (0.2% of the mapped area). This demonstrates the usefulness of remote sensing techniques for mapping the glacial geomorphology in remote mountain areas and for quantifying the past glacier dimensions. The glacial geomorphological map presented here will be used for further detailed reconstructions of the paleoglaciology and paleoclimate of the region.
Digital Pictures Made Directly From the Big Bang Radio Signal by Rick Doble
Creators: name: Doble, Rick
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: 200104 Media Studies
subject: FOS: Media and communications
subject: Art
subject: Digital Humanities
subject: Cosmology
subject: Extragalactic Astronomy

description: In 2003, Rick Doble photographed a series of images made directly from the radio signals from the Big Bang explosion that created the universe. These signals, known as "cosmic microwave background radiation" or CMB or CMBR, can be received by amateur ground based equipment, photographed on a screen and then processed with computer graphics. The resulting imagery is quite unusual -- repeating patterns, that never quite repeat. These patterns are not unlike biomorphic art that was made by a number of artists in the 20th century. This project seeks to compare and combine art and science and at the same time create a connection with our origins.
$\mathcal{R}^2$ Quantum Corrected Scalar Field Inflation
Creators: name: Oikonomou, V. K.
name: Giannakoudi, Ifigeneia
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: String theory enjoys an elevated role among quantum gravity theories, since it seems to be the most consistent UV completion of general relativity and the Standard Model. However, it is hard to verify the existence of this underlying theory on terrestrial accelerators. One way to probe string theory is to study its imprints on the low-energy effective inflationary Lagrangian, which are quantified in terms of high energy correction terms. It is highly likely, thus, to find higher order curvature terms combined with string moduli, that is scalar fields, since both these types of interactions and matter fields appear in string theory. In this work we aim to stress the probability that the inflationary dynamics are controlled by the synergy of scalar fields and higher order curvature terms. Specifically, we shall consider a well motivated quantum corrected canonical scalar field theory, with the quantum corrections being of the $\mathcal{R}^2$ type. The reason for choosing minimally coupled scalar theory is basically because if scalar fields are evaluated in their vacuum configuration, they will either be minimally coupled or conformally coupled. Here we choose the former case, and the whole study shall be performed in the string frame (Jordan frame), in contrast to similar studies in the literature where the Einstein frame two scalar theory is considered. We derive the field equations of the quantum-corrected theory at leading order and we present the form the slow-roll indices obtain for the quantum corrected theory. We exemplify our theoretical framework by using the quadratic inflation model, and as we show, the $\mathcal{R}^2$ quantum corrected quadratic inflation model produces a viable inflationary phenomenology, in contrast with the simple quadratic inflation model.
description: NPB Accepted
The Impact of a Non-ionic Adjuvant to the Persistence of Pesticides on Produce Surfaces
Creators: name: Barnes, Daniel
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2024

Adjuvants can enhance the performance of the pesticide active ingredients in many ways including decreasing surface tension and reducing evaporation. Understanding how adjuvants effect pesticide behavior (e.g., surface persistence) is crucial for developing effective pesticide formulations, as well as facilitating the development of effective approaches to reduce pesticide residues from the surface of fresh produce post-harvest. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of a non-ionic surfactant, Surf-Ac 910, on the persistence of two model pesticides, thiabendazole and phosmet on apple surfaces. The result shows that the addition of Surf-Ac 910 increased both the maximum wetted area and evaporation rate of thiabendazole, a systemic pesticide, and phosmet, a non-systemic pesticide. Utilizing surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to explore the surface and penetrative behaviors of thiabendazole and phosmet revealed that the addition of Surf-Ac 910 influenced the Raman signal of pesticides as well. The addition of Surf-Ac 910 decreased the Raman signal intensity when added to phosmet but did not affect the Raman signal intensity when added to thiabendazole. In terms of penetration, the addition of Surf-Ac 910 did not affect the penetration depth of phosmet but slightly increased the penetration depth of thiabendazole. These findings were true for both short-term, 40 minutes, and long-term, 3 days, exposure. Next, the effects of adjuvants on the removal of pesticide residues were investigated. Common household materials, such as baking soda, were effective at removing surface pesticide residues. After testing a variety of baking soda concentrations and starch granules, 2% baking soda and 2% corn starch were found to be the most effective baking soda concentration and starch granule respectively. 2% corn starch was the most effective removal method overall, with 99% of pesticide with/without adjuvant removed in just 5 minutes of wash time. Overall, this study demonstrated that although adjuvant Surf-Ac 910 could affect the surface persistence of pesticides, washing with common household materials such as 2% corn starch can be used as an effective, safe, and economic way to reduce pesticide exposure through fresh produce.
RNA imaging in living cells – methods and applications
Creators: name: Urbanek, Martyna O
name: Galka-Marciniak, Paulina
name: Olejniczak, Marta
name: Wlodzimierz J Krzyzosiak
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: 60506 Virology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Hematology
subject: Developmental Biology
subject: Information and Computing Sciences
subject: Biological Sciences
subject: Molecular Biology
subject: Genetics
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Physics
subject: Biochemistry
subject: Biophysics

description: ABSTRACTNumerous types of transcripts perform multiple functions in cells, and these functions are mainly facilitated by the interactions of the RNA with various proteins and other RNAs. Insight into the dynamics of RNA biosynthesis, processing and cellular activities is highly desirable because this knowledge will deepen our understanding of cell physiology and help explain the mechanisms of RNA-mediated pathologies. In this review, we discuss the live RNA imaging systems that have been developed to date. We highlight information on the design of these systems, briefly discuss their advantages and limitations and provide examples of their numerous applications in various organisms and cell types. We present a detailed examination of one application of RNA imaging systems: this application aims to explain the role of mutant transcripts in human disease pathogenesis caused by triplet repeat expansions. Thus, this review introduces live RNA imaging systems and provides a glimpse into their various applications.
Thoughts About the Future of Art in the 21st Century (1997): Rick Doble
Creators: name: Doble, Rick
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: 200104 Media Studies
subject: FOS: Media and communications
subject: History
subject: Art
subject: Digital Humanities
subject: Design

description: Written over 15 years ago, this is an experimental outline written in 1997 during the earliest days of the Internet and digital photography. The purpose of this outline was to ask questions and suggest answers about the role of art as the world entered the 21st Century. Because the outline was open ended and experimental, it also invited others to join the discussion. This paper was widely reprinted across the Internet around the year 2000 and today can still be found online at the archives of the National Library of Australia, a website by the Board of Education - City of New York and the online Canadian publication, Annihilation Fountain. See more about these references in this document.
Palaeomagnetic studies of Eyjafjardardalur, northern Iceland: does the geocentric axial dipole exist during 3-7 Ma?
Creators: name: Supakulopas, Radchagrit
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2018

description: The geocentric axial dipole (GAD) hypothesis states that when we average the geomagnetic field over sufficient geological time intervals, the time-averaged field (TAF) behaves like a dipole aligned along the Earth’s spin axis and positioned at the Earth’s centre. This hypothesis is crucial in palaeomagnetic research, e.g., it is a key to tectonic reconstructions. However, there is some evidence for the persistence of long-term hemispheric asymmetry on time scales of 10^5-10^6 yrs, particularly at high-latitudes. As most palaeomagnetic research is conducted under the GAD hypothesis, this hypothesis needs to be rigorously tested. This thesis investigates the symmetry of the palaeomagnetic field and tests the GAD hypothesis during ~2.6-8.5 Ma using full-vector palaeomagnetic data - including palaeodirection and palaeointensity - from dated lava piles in northern Iceland. Demagnetisation measurements including alternating field (AF) and thermal were made to determine palaeomagnetic directions. A mean declination and inclination of 354.1° and 71.4° were found in this study, with a 95% confidence limit of only 2.4°. The mean virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) is located at 80.6°N and 184.6°E, which is tilted ~10° from the geographic north; this VGP position does not agree with the GAD hypothesis. It is argued that this shallow inclination is a result of the non- dipole fields which contribute to the GAD field. This was confirmed by the palaeosecular variation (PSV) model compilation of the global dataset during 0-8.5 Ma. The PSV model suggests that 4% of axial quadrupole and 1% of axial octupole contribute to the TAF during 0-8.5 Ma. Palaeointensity data reveals a weak mean intensity of 26.9 ± 1.8 μT, which is lower than the intensity of the expected GAD field (55.9 μT) at 65°N for the current day field. This weak intensity equates to a virtual dipole moment (VDM) of 37.4 ± 2.5 ZAm^2. After combining this study data with 1-3 Ma data also from Iceland to improve temporal resolution, a mean VADM of 44.0 ± 2.2 ZAm^2 was obtained. The direct comparison of the VADM between high-northern and high-southern latitudes (37.3 ± 3.8 ZAm2) was made. This study reveals that there is hemispheric asymmetry of the field between Northern and Southern Hemisphere.
Machine and Statistical Learning for Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility Systems
Creators: name: Apostolov, Atanas
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2024

This thesis presents machine and statistical learning approaches for sustainable planning in infrastructure and mobility systems. First, I have developed a convolutional neural network (CNN) to predict tree failure likelihood. Such assessments have traditionally been performed manually. I conduct a visual analysis of the predictions, indicating an approach for incorporating interpretability into model selection. Benchmarking the results against those produced by state-of-the-art CNNs, I show that a relatively simple model produces better results in a computational time that is three times faster. Via this novel framework, I demonstrate the potential of machine learning to automate and consequently reduce the costs of tree failure likelihood assessments in proximity to power lines, thereby promoting sustainable infrastructure. Secondly, I examine the effects of COVID-19 on mobility, segmented by transportation type, as well as social activity such as workplaces and residential, and their interdependencies. Using time series data across five continents, I estimate a Bayesian global vector autoregression model which explains patterns in activity and mobility trends and analyze their relationship with COVID-19 spread. I expect that the model framework and outcomes will guide policymakers to adopt appropriate measures to mitigate and safely recover from future disease outbreaks.
Applications of generative probabilistic models for information recovery in 1H NMR metabolomics
Creators: name: Zukowski, Edward Leon
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2018

description: Metabolomics is a well-established approach for investigation of the metabolic state of an organism usually conducted via high-throughput methods and focusing on quantification and identification of small molecules. A popular analytical technique used in metabolomics is 1H NMR spectroscopy. The data obtained in NMR experiments contains a wealth of information on metabolites in a sample and their chemical structure. To help uncover this information and find patterns in the data, statistical and machine learning methods must be applied. The work presented in this thesis demonstrates applications of probabilistic generative modelling, with particular focus in Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), as a tool for information recovery in 1H NMR data sets obtained in metabolomics research. LDA is an example of a topic model. The model is based on a generative process which can be thought of as a source of the data. Topics are latent variables which select co-occurring metabolites in a sample. In turn, NMR spectra can be represented in the latent variable space. We present applications of LDA in three scenarios. (1) How LDA can be used to simulate NMR spectra; such spectra demonstrate that LDA is a valid model for NMR data and also provide synthetic data for evaluation of statistical models. (2) Unsupervised learning with LDA to uncover patterns in the NMR data; we use synthetics and real NMR data with knowledge of key biomarkers from a prior study and conclude that LDA was successful in the recovery of useful topics. (3) Supervised learning with SLDA and combined latent variable models with ElasticNet regression where we investigate NMR data from The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) study which is paired with clinical variables such as BMI. The goal was to examine if topics can be informative about clinical outcomes.
Effects of Habitat, Density, and Climate on Moose and Winter Tick Ecology in the northeastern U.S.
Creators: name: Berube, Juliana
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2024

Over the past several decades, moose (Alces alces) populations in New England have been in decline due to winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) parasitism. Winter ticks have been known to infest moose, with over 90,000 ticks being recorded on a single moose. These severe infestations, known as epizootics, are associated with high annual calf mortality rates (> 50%) and reductions in annual productivity (adult calving and twinning rates < 60% and 5%, respectively). Given this, it is increasingly important to effectively monitor moose and winter ticks to address consistent population decline of moose due to winter tick epizootics. The objectives of this work were to measure off-host winter tick abundance and associated environmental variables and compare off-host tick abundance in relation to moose abundance. 
To assess moose and winter tick abundance, I used a combination of camera traps and winter tick sampling. I set an array of 60 cameras across central-western Massachusetts, which contribute data to the Northeast Wildlife Monitoring Network. I used a plot-based sampling strategy that is effective for heterogenous habitat types to sample winter ticks at sites in western and central Massachusetts as well as the White Mountain National Forest and Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge in New Hampshire. The Penobscot Nation developed the tick sampling approach and contributed additional winter tick data from their sovereign trust lands in Maine. I used N-mixture models to generate estimates of tick abundance for each of the three study areas.
Results from this study can inform monitoring strategies for ticks, predict epizootic severity, and develop tools to mitigate threats to moose. This is important for managers looking to prevent further declines in moose populations due to winter ticks and tribes seeking to maintain populations for sustenance.
Rheology and structure of a suspension of deformable particles in plane Poiseuille flow
Creators: name: Audemar, Vassanti
name: Podgorski, Thomas
name: Coupier, Gwennou
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present an experimental study of the rheology and structure of a confined suspension of deformable particles flowing in a quasi-two-dimensional Poiseuille flow. Thanks to a precise microfluidic viscosimetry technique combined with measurements of concentration profiles, our study provides the first experimental confirmation {with three-dimensional particles} of a strong relationship between structuring effects and rheology, previously only reported in numerical simulations of purely two-dimensional systems. In conditions where strong structuring effects take place due to confinement, the evolution of the effective viscosity with particle concentration (here, red blood cells) shows a remarkable succession of ranges of rapid growth and plateaus that are associated to qualitative transitions in the structure of the suspension.
Refactoring yeast signalling pathways for tuneable extracellular biosensing
Creators: name: Shaw, William
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2018

description: G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) present themselves as an attractive class of membrane protein for use within eukaryotic whole-cell biosensors due to their responsiveness to an extensive and diverse range of ligands. Despite being a comparatively simple organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has the complex machinery necessary for coupling heterologous GPCRs to a cellular output, thus enabling this highly amenable chassis with the sensing abilities of higher eukaryotes. Although examples are beginning to emerge within the field of synthetic biology, GPCR signalling in yeast remains an underutilised foundation for the creation of new biosensors. Current designs are often limited due to a mismatch between the input concentrations to which these biosensors respond and the application requirements. Here we present a new platform for rationally tuning GPCR-based biosensors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to address these limitations. While previous efforts to manipulate GPCR signalling in yeast have involved a top-down approach or overlaying complexity, we sought to identify the minimal requirements to achieve fully tuneable behaviour from the bottom-up. Using genome engineering, we constructed an insulated, modular GPCR signal transduction system to study how the response to stimuli can be predictably tuned using synthetic tools. By systematically refactoring the system, we delineated the contributions of a minimal set of components, identifying robust and straightforward design rules for tuning the sensitivity, leakiness, and signal output. Using these principles, we then established novel community-based approaches for tuning the final dose-response property – the Hill slope. This work enables the development of diverse yeast biosensors that are well-suited to their applications demands, while also providing a framework to guide the reprogramming of GPCR-based signalling in more complex systems.