cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Statistical and Causal Inference for Complex High Dimensional Data
Creators: name: Abdukadyrov, Nurlan
Publisher: name: University of Illinois at Chicago
Year: 2023

description: This thesis addresses the challenges posed by high dimensional data, which has gained prominence due to the abundance of information available in recent years. We develop methods for statistical inference and causal inference specifically designed for high dimensional scenarios.. For statistical inference, we focus on two sample hypothesis tests with missing values. Existing methods for high dimensional mean tests do not consider missing values or rely on the assumption of data being missing completely at random (MCAR), which can be restrictive. We propose a method that works under the less restrictive assumption of missing at random (MAR). We derive the limiting distribution and develop a weighted $\chi^2$ approximation for a test statistic. Simulation studies and analysis of gene data demonstrate the advantage of our method. For causal inference, we propose a doubly robust test statistic for high dimensional outcome variables. Existing methods only consider case with a low dimensional outcome variable and not applicable for high dimensional scenario. The proposed method has property of being doubly robust, it gives more flexibility in models specification. We show that under some mild conditions the test statistic can be approximated by a normal distribution. Through simulations and empirical studies using gene data and Parkinson's disease data, we highlight the advantages of our proposed method. Overall, our thesis contributes novel methods for statistical and causal inference in high dimensional data, with empirical validation and efficient computational approaches.
Active shape correction of a thin glass/plastic X-ray mirror
Creators: name: Spiga, D.
name: Barbera, M.
name: Basso, S.
name: Civitani, M.
name: Collura, A.
name: Dell'Agostino, S.
name: Cicero, U. Lo
name: Lullo, G.
name: Pelliciari, C.
name: Riva, M.
name: Salmaso, B.
name: Sciortino, L.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Optics for future X-ray telescopes will be characterized by very large aperture and focal length, and will be made of lightweight materials like glass or plastic in order to keep the total mass within acceptable limits. Optics based on thin slumped glass foils are currently in use in the NuSTAR telescope and are being developed at various institutes like INAF/OAB, aiming at improving the angular resolution to a few arcsec HEW. Another possibility would be the use of thin plastic foils, being developed at SAO and the Palermo University. Even if relevant progresses in the achieved angular resolution were recently made, a viable possibility to further improve the mirror figure would be the application of piezoelectric actuators onto the non-optical side of the mirrors. In fact, thin mirrors are prone to deform, so they require a careful integration to avoid deformations and even correct forming errors. This however offers the possibility to actively correct the residual deformation. Even if other groups are already at work on this idea, we are pursuing the concept of active integration of thin glass or plastic foils with piezoelectric patches, fed by voltages driven by the feedback provided by X-rays, in intra-focal setup at the XACT facility at INAF/OAPA. In this work, we show the preliminary simulations and the first steps taken in this project.
Anomalous transport and observable average in the standard map
Creators: name: Bouchara, Lydia
name: Ourrad, Ouerdia
name: Vaienti, Sandro
name: Leoncini, Xavier
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Chaotic Dynamics (nlin.CD)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The distribution of finite time observable averages and transport in low dimensional Hamiltonian systems is studied. Finite time observable average distributions are computed, from which an exponent $α$ characteristic of how the maximum of the distributions scales with time is extracted. To link this exponent to transport properties, the characteristic exponent $μ(q)$ of the time evolution of the different moments of order $q$ related to transport are computed. As a testbed for our study the standard map is used. The stochasticity parameter $K$ is chosen so that either phase space is mixed with a chaotic sea and islands of stability or with only a chaotic sea. Our observations lead to a proposition of a law relating the slope in $q=0$ of the function $μ(q)$ with the exponent $α$.
Hip Flexibility Associated with Pitching Technical Errors
Creators: name: Miller, Catherine
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: Pitching technical errors have been linked to increased upper extremity injurious forces in baseball pitchers. Hip flexibility plays a key role in dynamic movement and may affect the ability of a pitcher to properly distribute force throughout a pitch. This could lead to certain technical errors and predispose a pitcher to injury. The purpose of this study was to determine if hip extension, internal rotation and external rotation range of motion is associated with baseball pitching technical errors in adolescent baseball pitchers. Each participant had their hip range of motion measured then pitched 15 fastballs while being filmed from the frontal and sagittal views. The videos were graded for technical errors. Point biserial Pearson r correlations were run between stance leg extension, bilateral hip internal rotation, bilateral hip external rotation and each technical error. No significant correlations were found. While it is still believed that hip flexibility plays a role in force transfer throughout the pitching sequence, this study did not support passive hip range of motion being correlated with technical errors. However, the majority of adolescent males did have restricted hip range of motion values compared to normative values. Active hip range of motion may be a more suitable measurement to use given the dynamic nature of baseball of pitching.
Urban vegetation change after a hundred years in a tropical city (San José de Costa Rica)
Creators: name: Monge-Nájera, Julián
name: Pérez-Gómez, Gabriela
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Quantitative Methods (q-bio.QM)
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Urban vegetation is of key importance because a large proportion of the human population lives in cities. Nevertheless, urban vegetation is understudied outside central Europe and particularly, little is known about the flora of tropical Asian, African and Latin American cities. We present an estimate of how the vegetation has changed in the city of San José, Costa Rica, after about one century, with the repeat photography technique (based on a collection of 19th and early 20th century photographs by José Fidel Tristán and others) and with data from the Costa Rican National Herbarium. We found little vegetation change in the landscape of San José during the 20th century, where a total of 95 families and 458 species were collected in the late 19th and early 20th century. The families with most species were Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae, Lamiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Solanaceae, Cyperaceae, Acanthaceae, Malvaceae, Piperaceae and Verbenaceae. Similar results have been found in Europe, where the number of plant species often is stable for long periods even when the individual species vary.
description: 20 pages, 19 figures
Retractable state-finite automata without outputs
Creators: name: Nagy, Attila
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Formal Languages and Automata Theory (cs.FL)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: 68Q70

description: A homomorphism of an automaton ${\bf A}$ without outputs onto a subautomaton ${\bf B}$ of ${\bf A}$ is called a retract homomorphism if it leaves the elements of $B$ fixed. An automaton ${\bf A}$ is called a retractable automaton if, for every subautomaton ${\bf B}$ of ${\bf A}$, there is a retract homomorphism of ${\bf A}$ onto ${\bf B}$. In [1] and [3], special retractable automata are examined. The purpose of this paper is to give a complete description of state-finite retractable automata without outputs.
description: 12 pages
Prudent behaviour accelerates disease transmission
Creators: name: Scarpino, Samuel V.
name: Allard, Antoine
name: Hebert-Dufresne, Laurent
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Quantitative Methods (q-bio.QM)
subject: Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems (nlin.AO)
subject: Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph)
subject: Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE)
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Infectious diseases often spread faster near their peak than would be predicted given early data on transmission. Despite the commonality of this phenomena, there are no known general mechanisms able to cause an exponentially spreading dis- ease to begin spreading faster. Indeed most features of real world social networks, e.g. clustering1,2 and community structure3, and of human behaviour, e.g. social distancing4 and increased hygiene5, will slow disease spread. Here, we consider a model where individuals with essential societal roles-e.g. teachers, first responders, health-care workers, etc.- who fall ill are replaced with healthy individuals. We refer to this process as relational exchange. Relational exchange is also a behavioural process, but one whose effect on disease transmission is less obvious. By incorporating this behaviour into a dynamic network model, we demonstrate that replacing individuals can accelerate disease transmission. Furthermore, we find that the effects of this process are trivial when considering a standard mass-action model, but dramatic when considering network structure. This result highlights another critical shortcoming in mass-action models, namely their inability to account for behavioural processes. Lastly, using empirical data, we find that this mechanism parsimoniously explains observed patterns across more than seventeen years of influenza and dengue virus data. We anticipate that our findings will advance the emerging field of disease forecasting and will better inform public health decision making during outbreaks.
DUS descriptors based morphometric characterization to analyze genetic variability in gladiolus
Creators: name: Hiremath, Varun M.
name: Singh, Kanwar Pal
name: Swaroop, Kishan
name: Panwar, Sapna
name: A., Pooja
name: B.K., Tejukumar
Publisher: name: Brill Online
Year: 2023
Subjects: Ecology not elsewhere classified

description: Present investigation involved phenotypic characterization of 84 gladiolus genotypes based on 18 DUS descriptors to estimate genetic variation and identify desirable genotypes for hybridization. Considerable variability was observed among the genotypes for most of the traits and principal component analysis revealed that the first two principal components explained most of the existing variation (>98%) in the germplasm. Genotypic coefficient of variation exhibited a wide range from 7.80% (androecium length) to 37.11% (duration of flowering) while, phenotypic coefficient of variation ranged from 8.12% (androecium length) to 37.61% (duration of flowering). Strong broad sense heritability estimates (>95%) were observed for the characters viz., bract length, flower width, tepal length, tepal width, style length, time of beginning of flowering and duration of flowering. Seventy four pair wise inter-trait combinations showed significant and positive genotypic and phenotypic correlations among 153 possible trait combinations. Mahalanobis D2 statistic analysis revealed that genotypes of the cluster II and V to be highly distinct and hybridization between them might have better chance to obtain desirable recombinants. Ward’s cluster analysis confirmed that the cv. Victor and cv. Malaviya Shatabdi to be highly diverse for the selected traits. It is concluded that the above genotypes may be utilized in crossing programme to obtain better progenies. Characterized data of gladiolus germplasm would assist the breeders in varietal identification, conservation and their sustainable utilization during breeding programme.
Effective Invariant Theory of Permutation Groups using Representation Theory
Creators: name: Borie, Nicolas
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Combinatorics (math.CO)
subject: Commutative Algebra (math.AC)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: Using the theory of representations of the symmetric group, we propose an algorithm to compute the invariant ring of a permutation group. Our approach have the goal to reduce the amount of linear algebra computations and exploit a thinner combinatorial description of the invariant ring.
description: Draft version, the corrected full version is available at http://www.springer.com/
Gas wars: determining dependency on Russian natural gas among EU member states
Creators: name: Pleasants, Stephanie Page
Publisher: name: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2014

description: From the construction of pipelines to a lack of an EU energy policy to the development of alternative energy sources, EU member states have had a difficult time judging where they stand on Russian natural gas, which has raised many issues over energy security and interdependency. Therefore, the main question of this thesis is to determine to what extent EU member states are dependent on Russia for their natural gas resources. Using the countries of the Weimar Triangle (France, Germany, and Poland) as a case study, I look at the varying relationships between these three actors and Russia as well as their distinct energy make-up. And by analyzing additional energy sources, I conclude that while member states altogether are not heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, it is necessary to consider the gas dependency of individual member states as well as that of Russia.
DETERMINANTS OF THE LEVEL AND VOLATILITY OF BLACKCURRANT PURCHASE PRICES IN POLAND
Creators: name: KIERCZYŃSKA, SYLWIA
name: KIERCZYŃSKA, SYLWIA
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Agribusiness
subject: fruit production
subject: fruit producers
subject: fruits for processing
subject: frozen blackcurrants
subject: producer prices
subject: export prices
subject: COVID-19

description: The aim of the study was to identify the factors which significantly influence the purchase prices of blackcurrants in Poland. The average annual purchase prices of blackcurrants between 2004 and 2021 were the research material. The study was based on the data published by the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute in the semi-annual journal “Fruit and Vegetable Market”. The relationship between the fruit purchase prices and the selected explanatory variables was analysed with the multiple regression method. Single-equation econometric models were designated as multifactor functions. The reference publications were used as the basis for the selection of the following set of potential variables explaining the purchase prices of blackcurrants: the area of blackcurrant plantations in Poland, the yields of blackcurrants in Poland, the yields of blackcurrants in Ukraine, the yields of blackcurrants in Germany (the main importer of frozen products and a producer of currants), the volume of frozen blackcurrant exports and the export price of frozen blackcurrants. Apart from that, the qualitative variable COVID-19 was created, which allowed for the greater demand for blackcurrant preserves during the pandemic. In order to determine the factors which significantly influenced the purchase prices of blackcurrants during the period under analysis, the all possible regression method, also known as the best subsets regression, available in the Statistica PL package, was applied. This was a model with two explanatory variables: the export price of frozen blackcurrants and COVID-19. The linear determination coefficient of the estimated econometric model indicated that 90% of the variance of blackcurrant purchase prices was explained by the model.
Relationship between strength, physical activity, gender, and fractioned reaction time
Creators: name: Young, Stewart James
Publisher: name: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2011

description: This study explored the relationship between strength, physical activity, and fractioned reaction time. This study also examined the influence of gender on these relationships. The variables examined included peak strength, relative strength, pre-motor time, electromechanical delay, and total reaction time. A sample of 12 males and 12 females, 18-29 years old, performed five trials of a maximal voluntary isometric contraction in the hamstring muscle group to determine strength and fractioned reaction time. A significant inverse relationship between peak strength and total reaction time was observed (r = -0.455, p = 0.026). Additionally, a significant inverse relationship was observed between relative strength and total reaction time (r = -0.448, p = 0.028). No other relationships examined were significant. Gender significantly influenced the relationships between peak and relative strength and TRT by rendering the correlations non-significant but no other gender influence was observed. These findings suggest that stronger individuals will display shorter reaction times.
New Low Surface Brightness Dwarf Galaxies Detected Around Nearby Spirals
Creators: name: Karachentsev, I. D.
name: Riepe, P.
name: Zilch, T.
name: Blauensteiner, M.
name: Elvov, M.
name: Hochleitner, P.
name: Hubl, B.
name: Kerschhuber, G.
name: Küppers, S.
name: Neyer, F.
name: Pölzl, R.
name: Remmel, P.
name: Schneider, O.
name: Sparenberg, R.
name: Trulson, U.
name: Willems, G.
name: Ziegler, H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We conduct a survey of low surface brightness (LSB) satellite galaxies around the Local Volume massive spirals using long exposures with small amateur telescopes. We identified 27 low and very low surface brightness objects around the galaxies NGC,672, 891, 1156, 2683, 3344, 4258, 4618, 4631, and 5457 situated within 10 Mpc from us, and found nothing new around NGC,2903, 3239, 4214, and 5585. Assuming that the dwarf candidates are the satellites of the neighboring luminous galaxies, their absolute magnitudes are in the range of -8.6 > M_B > -13.3, their effective diameters are 0.4-4.7 kpc, and the average surface brightness is 26.1 mag/sq arcsec. The mean linear projected separation of the satellite candidates from the host galaxies is 73 kpc. Our spectroscopic observations of two LSB dwarfs with the Russian 6-meter telescope confirm their physical connection to the host galaxies NGC,891 and NGC,2683.
description: 13 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, accepted in the Astrophysical Bulletin, 2015, 70, 4
Transformation in Composition
Creators: name: Van Der Velde, Rene
Publisher: name: A+BE | Architecture and the Built Environment
Year: 2018

description: This study enlarges on the notion of composition in landscape architecture. It builds upon the ‘Delft method’, which elaborates composition as a methodological framework from its sister discipline architecture. At the same time takes a critical stance in respect to this framework, informed by recent epistemological developments in landscape architecture such as the site-specificity and process discourses. The notion of composition is examined from a historical and theoretical perspective, before turning to an examination of the brownfield park project realised in the period 1975-2015. These projects emerge as an important laboratory and catalyst for developments in landscape architecture, whereby contextual, process, and formal-aesthetic aspects emerge as central themes. The thesis of this research is that a major theoretical and methodological expansion of the notion of composition can be distilled from the brownfield park project, in which seemingly irreconcilable paradigms such as site and process are incorporated. By extension, the study elaborates on the disciplinary specificity of landscape architecture as distinct to its sister disciplines architecture and urbanism, propositioning a ‘radical maturation’ of the foundations of the discipline in the period 1975 – 2015, via the brownfield park project. A metaphor for this process is offered by the phenomenon of ecdysis in arthropods (such as the blue swimmer crab), whereby the growth from juvenile to adult takes place in stages involving the moulting of an inelastic exoskeleton. Once shed, a larger exoskeleton is formed, whose shape and character is significantly different to its forebears. The research sketches the contours of a similar ‘disciplinary ecdysis’ in the period 1975-2015, whereby an evolution of design-as-composition praxis in landscape architecture takes place. In the slipstream of these findings, the research sheds new light on the shifts in the form and content of the city itself in this period, and the agency of the urban park in the problematique of the contemporary urban realm. In the cases studied, the park typology has been able to address problems that much of the traditional apparatus of spatial planning and design has failed to do. By extension, the study reveals that many of the paradigms of urban planning and design are in need of major review in the context of deindustrialization. The urban park typology – in its guise as the brownfield park – also appears also able to shape and qualify larger urban regions. As such, the research highlights the rise of brownfield lands and their impact on the fabric of the city, the life of their inhabitants and the paradigms that dominate urban cultures, in turn fundamentally revising the definitions and agencies of notions such as city, nature and landscape.
description: A+BE | Architecture and the Built Environment, No. 9 (2018): Transformation in Composition
Neoryssomus Hofmann 1972
Creators: name: Almeida, Lúcia M.
name: Santos, Paula B.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Coccinellidae
Neoryssomus

description: Neoryssomus Hofmann, 1972
Neoryssomus Hofmann, 1972: 82 (original description).
Type species. Oryssomus germainii Crotch, 1874.
Diagnosis. Oryssomini with flattened body; antenna 11-segmented; pronotum semicircular, covering the head, with posterior angles rounded; all tibiae slender, unmodified; postcoxal line complete; female genitalia with genital plate elongate; spermatheca simple, curved. For more details see Hofmann (1972).
description: Published as part of Almeida, Lúcia M. & Santos, Paula B., 2014, Synopsis of Oryssomini Gordon (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) from the Neotropical region with new species of Oryssomus Mulsant, Pseudoryssomus Gordon and Gordonoryssomus Almeida & Lima, pp. 42-68 in Zootaxa 3846 (1) on page 66, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3846.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/250860
Superbunching and Nonclassicality as new Hallmarks of Superradiance
Creators: name: Bhatti, Daniel
name: von Zanthier, Joachim
name: Agarwal, Girish S.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Superradiance, i.e., spontaneous emission of coherent radiation by an ensemble of identical two-level atoms in collective states introduced by Dicke in 1954, is one of the enigmatic problems of quantum optics. The startling gist is that even though the atoms have no dipole moment they radiate with increased intensity in particular directions. Following the advances in our understanding of superradiant emission by atoms in entangled $W$ states we examine the quantum statistical properties of superradiance. Such investigations require the system to have at least two excitations as one needs to explore the photon-photon correlations of the radiation emitted by such states. We present specifically results for the spatially resolved photon-photon correlations of systems prepared in doubly excited $W$ states and give conditions when the atomic system emits nonclassial light. Equally, we derive the conditions for the occurrence of bunching and even of superbunching, a rare phenomenon otherwise known only from nonclassical states of light like the squeezed vacuum. We finally investigate the photon-photon cross correlations of the spontaneously scattered light and highlight the nonclassicalty of such correlations.
description: 14 pages, 7 pictures
The use of videoconferencing and low-latency technologies for instrumental music teaching
Creators: name: Redman, Benjamin Paul
Publisher: name: The University of St Andrews
Year: 2022
Subjects: Online learning
Videoconferencing
LoLa
Low-latency
Vocal and instrumental music teaching
Music education
Conservatoire

description: Videoconferencing platforms have been used for a number of years in the UK and other countries to facilitate instrumental music lessons between remote parties. However, videoconferencing is typically not optimised for music performance which results in poor audio quality and musicians not being able to play together. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this led to some resistance to using the technology. Low-latency technologies such as LoLa and JackTrip offer high-quality audio and facilitate synchronous musical interaction so that remote parties can play music together in real time. However, limited research has been conducted on how effective these technologies are when used for instrumental music teaching. This study aimed to address this gap through the following research questions: • What changes in the quality of the interactions and the learning and teaching experience between face-to-face, standard videoconferencing, and low-latency environments? • Are some elements of music instruction more or less effective in these different environments? • What are the barriers to using these technologies in educational settings, and how can these be overcome? I deployed a mixed methods concurrent nested design. My research was primarily qualitative and conducted through a series of small-scale trials, interviews, and autoethnographic studies, together with analysis of data from a larger set of LoLa trials in three European conservatoires, and a small-scale quantitative study. Participants included music teachers and students in Higher Education and school settings across a range of instrument types and musical genres. Several themes emerged from a synthesis of the findings across the 17 studies, including: teachers’ attitudes became more favourable to the various technologies after trialling them; the visual element of technologies was important for musical cues and diagnosing technical and postural problems in students; each learning environment had its own advantages and disadvantages, but participants preferred the face-to-face environment. My research makes an original contribution to literature by reporting findings showing that: playing together can form a significant element of face-to-face lessons, LoLa and JackTrip low-latency technologies improved musical interactions compared to standard videoconferencing platforms, LoLa can be used in conjunction with an institutional firewall, JackTrip can be used with multiple players on domestic internet connections. I conclude that low-latency technologies have an important role in the future of music education by offering increased interaction between teachers and students from different institutions, and by offering new teaching and learning possibilities, including collaborative learning, and teaching through playing.
Dual properties and joint spectra for solvable Lie algebras of operators
Creators: name: Boasso, Enrico
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Functional Analysis (math.FA)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Primary 47A13, 47A10, Secondary 17B30, 47D99

description: Given $L$ a solvable Lie Algebra of operators acting on a Banach space $E$, we study the action of the opposite algebra of $L$, $L'$, on $E^*$. Moreover, we extend Słodkowski joint spectra, $σ_{δ,k}$, $σ_{π,k}$, and we study its usual spectral properties.
description: 10 pages, original research article
title: The Role of IL-4/IL-13 Signalling in Mucociliary Clearance in Bronchiectasis
titleType: Other
Creators: name: Cant, Erin
Publisher: name: University of Dundee
Year: 2022

description: Bronchiectasis is a pulmonary condition defined by abnormal bronchial dilation resulting in chronic cough, inflammation, and repeated chest infections. Cilia are tiny hair-like structures in the airways which beat in a co-ordinated fashion to remove harmful pathogens trapped by mucus. Mucociliary dysfunction is a feature of inflammatory lung diseases like bronchiectasis and COPD which are believed to be primarily Th1 driven, and asthma which is believed to be predominantly Th2 driven. It is now recognised there is substantial overlap in the inflammatory pathways between different airway diseases. We hypothesised that both Th1 and Th2 inflammation may be associated with mucociliary dysfunction. To investigate the mechanisms of mucociliary dysfunction we performed inflammatory profiling in sputum from patients with bronchiectasis enrolled in a European cohort study. Principle component analysis of a panel of cytokines identified two different subgroups one defined by Th2 cytokines and another dominated by Th1 and neutrophil proteins. To investigate the Th2 subgroup, ciliated nasal epithelial cells grown at air liquid interface were treated with Th2 cytokines for 3 weeks and cilia parameters recorded using high-speed video microscopy. IL-4 significantly decreased ciliary beat frequency whereas IL-13 had no significant effect. Tiotropium (an inhibitor of mucus release) did not prevent the IL-4 induced decrease in cilia beat frequency. Finally, this project compared mucus properties in different respiratory conditions. The sputum percentage dry weight, rheology and inflammatory markers were compared between groups. Each of these parameters was different between disease and control groups, but few differences between CF, bronchiectasis, asthma and COPD were observed. Principle component analysis highlighted two sub-groups of patients defined by Th1/neutrophilic inflammation and Th2 high inflammation regardless of their condition. It can be concluded that a proportion of patients with bronchiectasis and other respiratory conditions have IL-4 associated Th2 inflammation and that IL-4 reduces cilia function thus propagating the cycle of disease.
The forgotten freedom of assembly
Creators: name: Inazu, John D.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2007

description: This thesis examines “the right of the people peaceably to assemble” and its gradual disappearance from American constitutional jurisprudence. I begin by exploring the English and colonial roots of the freedom of assembly and its adoption in the Bill of Rights. In doing so, I highlight the significance of political and religious assembly to the Framers and in the early Republic. I then examine the development of assembly in American constitutional law and the later emergence of the right of association in the context of mid-twentieth century liberalism. I argue throughout the thesis that assembly, unlike association, reminds us of the importance of protecting the physical act of people coming together, the value of allowing dissent, and the fundamental differences between state and non-state social practices. I conclude by positing how a recovery of the freedom of assembly might be employed within a contemporary legal framework to strengthen the constitutional protections for groups.
Shape-dependence of transmission, reflection and absorption eigenvalue densities in disordered waveguides with dissipation
Creators: name: Yamilov, A.
name: Petrenko, S.
name: Sarma, R.
name: Cao, H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The universal bimodal distribution of transmission eigenvalues in lossless diffusive systems un- derpins such celebrated phenomena as universal conductance fluctuations, quantum shot noise in condensed matter physics and enhanced transmission in optics and acoustics. Here, we show that in the presence of absorption, density of the transmission eigenvalues depends on the confinement geometry of scattering media. Furthermore, in an asymmetric waveguide, densities of the reflection and absorption eigenvalues also depend of the side from which the waves are incident. With increas- ing absorpotion, the density of absorption eigenvalues transforms from single-peak to double-peak function. Our findings open a new avenue for coherent control of wave transmission, reflection and absorption in random media.
description: 9 pages 8 figures
Smart Energy Dissipation
Creators: name: Beltran, Mauricio
Publisher: name: A+BE | Architecture and the Built Environment
Year: 2018

description: The use of outriggers in tall buildings is a common practice to reduce response under dynamic loading. Viscous dampers have been implemented between the outrigger and the perimeter columns, to reduce vibrations without increasing the stiffness of the structure. This damped outrigger concept has been implemented for reducing vibrations produced by strong winds. However, its behaviour under strong earthquakes has been not yet properly investigated. Strong earthquakes introduce larger amount of energy into the building’s structure, compared to moderate earthquakes or strong winds. In tall buildings, such seismic energy is dissipated by several mechanisms including bending deformation of the core, friction between structural and nonstructural components, and eventually, damage. This research focuses on the capability of tall buildings equipped with damped outriggers to undergo large deformations without damage. In other words, when the ground motion increases due to strong earthquakes, the dampers can be assumed to be the main source of energy dissipation whilst the host structure displays an elastic behaviour. These investigations are based on the assessment of both the energy demands due to large-earthquake induced motion and the energy capacity of the system, i.e. the energy capacity of the main components, namely core, outriggers, perimeter columns and dampers. The objective of this research is to determine if the energy dissipated by hysteresis can be fully replaced by energy dissipated through the action of passive dampers. This research is based on finite element (FE) models developed in Diana-FEA software. These analytical models consider the use of nonlinear settings throughout almost the whole FE model. The numerical investigations on passive damped outriggers are based on master Matlab scripts, which run combined parametric analysis within Diana.
description: A+BE | Architecture and the Built Environment, No. 12 (2018): Smart Energy Dissipation
On Surfaces of finite Chen-type
Creators: name: Stamatakis, Stylianos
name: Al-Zoubi, Hassan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Differential Geometry (math.DG)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 53A05, 53A10

description: We investigate some relations concerning the first and the second Beltrami operators corresponding to the fundamental forms I, II, III of a surface in the three-dimensional Euclidean space and we study surfaces which are of finite type in the sense of B.-Y. Chen with respect to the fundamental forms II and III.
description: 13 pages
On the Atmospheric Extinction Reduction Procedure in Multiband Wide-Field Photometric Surveys
Creators: name: Zakharov, A.
name: Mironov, A.
name: Biryukov, A.
name: Kroussanova, N.
name: Prokhorov, M.
name: Beskin, G.
name: Karpov, S.
name: Bondar, S.
name: Ivanov, E.
name: Perkov, A.
name: Sasyuk, V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We propose an improved method for the atmospheric extinction reduction within optical photometry. Our method is based on the simultaneous multicolor observations of photometric standards. Such data are now available within the modern wide-field sky surveys and contain a large amount of information about instant atmospheric conditions. So, it became possible to estimate the extinction parameters on the basis of a quite short observational dataset and, hence, to trace the rapid stars twinkling accurately. Having been developed for a new MiniMegaTORTORA observational system, the proposed method can be adopted for a wide range of modern observational programs.
description: 8 pages, 3 figures
Dissipation of Quasiclassical Turbulence in Superfluid $^4$He
Creators: name: Zmeev, D. E.
name: Walmsley, P. M.
name: Golov, A. I.
name: McClintock, P. V. E.
name: Fisher, S. N.
name: Vinen, W. F.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn)
subject: Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other)
subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We compare the decay of turbulence in superfluid $^4$He produced by a moving grid to the decay of turbulence created by either impulsive spin-down to rest or by intense ion injection. In all cases the vortex line density $L$ decays at late time $t$ as $L \propto t^{-3/2}$. At temperatures above 0.8 K, all methods result in the same rate of decay. Below 0.8 K, the spin-down turbulence maintains initial rotation and decays slower than grid turbulence and ion-jet turbulence. This may be due to a decoupling of the large-scale superfluid flow from the normal component at low temperatures, which changes its effective boundary condition from no-slip to slip.
description: Main article: 5 pages, 3 figures. Supplemental material: 4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters
Justifying Government Paternalism, Beyond J.S. Mill
Creators: name: Christensen, Devin
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: Recent scholarship on paternalism has rarely strayed from John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, in which the protection of liberty and respect for individual exercises of reason are offered as the only grounds for justifying paternalistic government interference in the private affairs of individuals. However, Mill’s restricted universe of moral discourse cannot exhaust the moral economy from which we draw when justifying government interference, including paternalistic interference, given pluralist commitments. If we are committed to pluralism, then we must accept 1) that normally competent, rational adults will inevitably disagree about what the good life entails, and these disagreements cannot be resolved on the basis of reason alone and 2) that citizens could consent to paternalistic interference for a plurality of reasons which are not reducible to liberty. I suggest that paternalistic mitigation of certain kinds of individual vulnerability offers an example of justified paternalism which cannot be explained in Millian terms.
Warren Brown, Beyond the Monastery Walls. Lay Men and Women in Early Medieval Legal Formularies, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2022
Creators: name: Tock, Benoît-Michel
Publisher: name: Francia-Recensio
Year: 2023

description: Warren Brown, Beyond the Monastery Walls. Lay Men and Women in Early Medieval Legal Formularies, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2022, 407 p., ISBN 978-1-108-47958-5, USD 39,99.
description: Francia-Recensio, 2023/3
Caroline Brett, Brittany and the Atlantic Archipelago, 450–1200. Contact, Myth and History, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2021
Creators: name: Bourgès, André-Yves
Publisher: name: Francia-Recensio
Year: 2023

description: Caroline Brett, Brittany and the Atlantic Archipelago, 450–1200. Contact, Myth and History, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2021, 496 p., 5 b/w fig., ISBN 978-1-108-48651-4, GBP 90,00.
description: Francia-Recensio, 2023/3
Tobias Boestadt, Pour le profit du commun marchand. La genèse de la Hanse (XIIe siècle–milieu du XIVe siècle), Genève (Librairie Droz) 2022
Creators: name: Kümper, Hiram
Publisher: name: Francia-Recensio
Year: 2023

description: Tobias Boestadt, Pour le profit du commun marchand. La genèse de la Hanse (XIIe siècle–milieu du XIVe siècle), Genève (Librairie Droz) 2022, 820 p. (Hautes études médiévales et modernes, 116), ISBN 978-2-600-05753-0, EUR 92,00.
description: Francia-Recensio, 2023/3
Joël Blanchard, Pierre-Anne Forcadet (dir.), Procès politiques au temps de Louis XI. Le cardinal Balue. Lèse-majesté en débat, Genève (Librairie Droz) 2022
Creators: name: Paviot, Jacques
Publisher: name: Francia-Recensio
Year: 2023

description: Joël Blanchard, Pierre-Anne Forcadet (dir.), Procès politiques au temps de Louis XI. Le cardinal Balue. Lèse-majesté en débat, Genève (Librairie Droz) 2022, 264 p. (Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance), ISBN 978-2-600-06423-1, EUR 46,45.
description: Francia-Recensio, 2023/3
Second Language Acquisition of Particle-verb Constructions in English by Adult Mandarin Speakers
Creators: name: He, Xue
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2017

description: There have been few research studies on the acquisition of particle-verb constructions (PVCs) in English by Mandarin speakers. The present study investigates the grammaticality judgments of PVCs in English made by Mandarin speakers who have been learning English as a second language (L2). The result of the present study shows that Mandarin speakers have different grammaticality judgments from native English speakers, which could be the reason for the avoidance of PVCs in English by Mandarin speakers shown by Liao and Fukuya (2004). The result also shows that Mandarin speakers are confident in their grammaticality judgments, so being unsure about the grammaticality of PVCs in English is not the cause for Mandarin speakers’ avoidance of PVCs. Furthermore, the present study finds that the grammaticality judgments on PVCs by Mandarin speakers show evidence of transfer of the grammaticality of PVCs in Mandarin and evidence of the interlanguage grammar shifting away from the L1 grammar, supporting the Full Transfer Full Access Hypothesis.
Nicole Bériou, Marie-Céline Isaïa, Michel Sot, Nicolas Grimal (dir.), Sainte Geneviève. Histoire et mémoire, Paris (Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres) 2022
Creators: name: Oberste, Jörg
Publisher: name: Francia-Recensio
Year: 2023

description: Nicole Bériou, Marie-Céline Isaïa, Michel Sot, Nicolas Grimal (dir.), Sainte Geneviève. Histoire et mémoire. Actes du colloque organisé par l’AIBL, le Collège des Bernardins, Sorbonne-Université, la Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève et le Comité d’histoire de la ville de Paris, les 3–5 novembre 2021, Paris (Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres) 2022, 526 p., 116 ill., ISBN 978-2-87754-695-9, EUR 50,00.
description: Francia-Recensio, 2023/3
Grzegorz Bartusik, Radoslaw Biskup, Jakub Morawiec (ed.), Adam of Bremen’s »Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum«. Origins, Reception and Significance, London, New York (Routledge) 2022
Creators: name: Huffman, Joseph P.
Publisher: name: Francia-Recensio
Year: 2023

description: Grzegorz Bartusik, Radoslaw Biskup, Jakub Morawiec (ed.), Adam of Bremen’s »Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum«. Origins, Reception and Significance, London, New York (Routledge) 2022, 308 p., 19 fig. (Studies in Medieval History and Culture), ISBN 978-1-032-12105-5, GBP 120,00.
description: Francia-Recensio, 2023/3
title: Farming in Transition in East Africa: Financial Risk Taking and Agricultural Intensification
Creators: name: Balchin, Eleanor
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2023

description: This thesis contributes to understandings of the intensification of livestock production in Busia County, Western Kenya. Livestock production here has been intensifying in the recent past, and became a key strategy in Kenya for meeting the growing demand for livestock source foods here whilst simultaneously raising smallholder farmers out of poverty. How smallholders juggle insufficient incomes with a variety of expenditure needs is rarely considered in the context of smallholder livestock production in great detail. This study utilises the Financial Diaries Methodology to harness a great depth of information from 15 smallholder livestock farmers in Busia to establish the ways in which they attempt to intensify their production, understand how they engage with financial providers to achieve this, and establish the risks they face in their production. Research took place between November 2018-Febuary 2020, with around 20 months spent in the field. The results from this study find that overall, the participants make a profit from their livestock production, save for those who are categorised as subsistence farmers. However, there is a great variation in the size of these profits, even when expenditure on inputs (the resources used in livestock production, such as feed and veterinary care) is similar. Dairy cattle in particular tend to be far more lucrative, whilst chickens often resulted in financial losses for all participants, particularly due to very high mortality levels that prevent significant rises in the number of chickens owned at households that can be sold. Additionally, inputs the participants invest in plays a significant role in the incomes derived. However, despite large profit margins, this often equates to low levels of income in terms of money. The participants never accessed finance specifically for livestock production needs, and expressed fear of taking loans. Thus, this study recommends that if individual farmers are to intensify, they require access to higher yielding livestock and to inputs in a way that will not cause them any further financial burdens, as well as access to livestock production education.
D4.9 Entrepreneurship Patterns Of Creative Industries In Gentrifying Urban Neighbourhoods
Creators: name: Pastak, Ingmar
name: Klemm, Ragne Kõuts-
name: Eenmaa, Helen
name: Kindsiko, Eneli
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: `creative industries
urban areas
gentrification
digitalisation
cultural diversity

description: This report offers an account of the changing entrepreneurship patterns of agglomerated CCI enterprises located in gentrifying urban neighbourhoods. Note: Please see the Word Doc upload of this report for a screen-reader-accessible version. If you experience other accessibility issues with our work, please contact h2020recreatingeurope@gmail.com. 
B-spline parameterization of spatial response in a monolithic scintillation camera
Creators: name: Solovov, V.
name: Morozov, A.
name: Chepel, V.
name: Domingos, V.
name: Martins, R.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: Medical Physics (physics.med-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A framework for parameterization of the light response functions (LRFs) in a scintillation camera is presented. It is based on approximation of the measured or simulated photosensor response with weighted sums of uniform cubic B-splines or their tensor products. The LRFs represented in this way are smooth, computationally inexpensive to evaluate and require much less computer memory than non-parametric alternatives. The parameters are found in a straightforward way by the linear least squares method. Several techniques that allow to reduce the storage and processing power requirements were developed. A software library for fitting simulated and measured light response with spline functions was developed and integrated into an open source software package ANTS2 designed for simulation and data processing for Anger camera type detectors.
description: 16 pages, 9 figures, Published in JINST