cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
title: Vital Tooth Whitening: Effects on Tooth Color Satisfaction, Beliefs About Dentofacial Appearance, and Self-Esteem in Older Adults
Creators: name: Seeber, Kelly Marie
Publisher: name: Old Dominion University Libraries
Year: 2006

description: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of vital tooth whitening on tooth color satisfaction, beliefs about dentofacial appearance, and self-esteem in a population 50 years of age and older. A two-group, randomized, pre-test, post-test, single-blind design was utilized following !RB-approval. Sixty-two participants were enrolled. Fifty-three participants (N=53) completed the study with no adverse events reported. Both the control and experimental groups received instructions for a threeweek oral self-care regimen, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss. The experimental group also received a tooth whitening product (independent variable) to be used during the same three-week period. Dependent variable measures collected at baseline and at week three were: (1) tooth color measured using the Trubyte New Hue Vitality Scale, (2) tooth color satisfaction measured using the Tooth Color Satisfaction Scale, (3) beliefs about dentofacial appearance measured using The Beliefs about Appearance Questionnaire (ASI-R Short Form), and (4) self-esteem measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences (p< .001) in the experimental group for tooth color improvements and tooth color satisfaction. Tooth whitening did not significantly (p<.05) affect beliefs about dentofacial appearance, or self-esteem. Additionally, a correlation was not demonstrated among tooth color, tooth color satisfaction, beliefs about dentofacial appearance, and self-esteem in an older adult population. Overall, tooth whitening had little psychosocial effect in this sample of older adults.
Dark Matter searches with H.E.S.S. towards dwarf spheroidal galaxies
Creators: name: Viana, A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The H.E.S.S. experiment is an array of four identical imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes in the Southern hemisphere, designed to observe very high energy gamma-rays (E > 100 GeV). These high energy gamma-rays can be used to search for annihilations of Dark Matter particles in dense environments. Dwarf galaxy dynamics shows that they are Dark Matter-dominated environments. Several observation campaigns on dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way were launched by H.E.S.S.. The observations are reviewed. In the absence of clear signals, constraints on the Dark Matter particle annihilation cross-section have been derived in different particle physics scenarios. Some possible enhancements of the gamma-ray flux are studied, i.e., the Sommerfeld effect, the internal bremsstrahlung and the substructures in the Dark Matter halo.
description: 7 pages, 3 figures, conference proceedings from Identification of Dark Matter 2010, Montpellier, France
Constraints on feedback processes during the formation of early-type galaxies
Creators: name: Trevisan, Marina
name: Ferreras, Ignacio
name: de la Rosa, Ignacio
name: La Barbera, Francesco
name: de Carvalho, Reinaldo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Galaxies are found to obey scaling relations between a number of observables. These relations follow different trends at the low- and the high-mass ends. The processes driving the curvature of scaling relations remain uncertain. In this letter, we focus on the specific family of early-type galaxies, deriving the star formation histories of a complete sample of visually classified galaxies from SDSS-DR7 over the redshift range 0.01
description: 12 pages,3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL
Directed Inoculum Production of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi – the state of the art
Creators: name: Feldmann, Falko
name: Schneider, Carolin
Publisher: name: Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality
Year: 2020

description: Since the mutualistic nature of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) had been discovered, an enormous amount of experiments elucidated the huge potential of mycorrhizal technology. Nevertheless, the predict-ability of mycorrhizal effectiveness (i.e. the quantitative measure of a pronounced effect) in agro-ecosystems and plant production systems remained low. On this background, Directed Inoculum Production (DIP) had been developed based on quantitative genetics. During the inoculum production process the ecological niche of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) is considered, the effective ecological niche widened and population engineering included in large-scale inoculum production. This is done in order to place effective mycor-rhiza products on the market. This article reviews briefly the histori-cal development and the idea of DIP and its performance in the last 25 years. Recent and current scientific explanations for the variabili-ty of mycorrhizal effectiveness and future demands of research are outlined.
description: Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality, Vol. 93 (2020): Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality
Exploring the Role of Communication in Companion Animal Obesity in the Veterinary Practice
Creators: name: Phillips, Alexandra
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Education
subject: Animal Culture and Nutrition
subject: Veterinary Science
subject: feline
subject: Obesity
subject: communication
subject: veterinary
subject: thematic
subject: qualitative

description: Veterinarians are tasked with an important communication challenge when treating obese cats and dogs, as obesity among pets remains a prevalent health and welfare concern. Our objectives were to 1) foster further understanding of the owner and veterinary perspectives of the complex factors that influence obesity in dogs and cats; and 2) to contribute to the evidence surrounding the nature of obesity and diet discussions between veterinarians and cat owners. A review of diverse literatures suggested that a complex and multi-faceted set of influences complicate obesity management, and utility of communication between owners and veterinarians. A thematic analysis of an archive of video-recorded veterinarian-client-feline consultations revealed a lack of in-depth nutritional assessment by the veterinarian and communication misalignment between veterinarians and owners. Emergent themes included the use of humour and patient-directed speak to facilitate obesity conversations. Exploration and description of how veterinarians and owners of obese pets are communicating can inform veterinary education programming and continuing education opportunities.
Notes on dark energy interacting with dark matter and unparticle in loop quantum cosmology
Creators: name: Jamil, Mubasher
name: Momeni, D.
name: Rashid, Muneer A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: General Physics (physics.gen-ph)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We investigate the behavior of dark energy interacting with dark matter and unparticle in the framework of loop quantum cosmology. In four toy models, we study the interaction between the cosmic components by choosing different coupling functions representing the interaction. We found that there are only two attractor solutions namely dark energy dominated and dark matter dominated Universe. The other two models are unstable, as they predict either a dark energy filled Universe or one completely devoid of it.
description: 9 pages, 10 figures. v2: Minor revisions, matches published version
Cluster Aanlysis of Gene Expression Profiles via Flexible Count Models for RNA-seq Data
Creators: name: Ruan, Ji
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Statistics
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: RNA-seq Data
subject: Clustering
subject: EM algorithm

description: Clustering RNA-seq data is used to characterize environment-induced (e.g., treatment) differences in gene expression profiles by separating genes into clusters based on their expression patterns. Wang et al. [2013] recently adopted the bi-Poisson distribution, obtained via the trivariate reduction method, as a model for clustering bivariate RNA-seq data. We discuss the inadequacy of the bi-Poisson distribution in modelling the correlation between dependent Poisson counts, and its impact on clustering such data. We introduce an alternative Gaussian copula model that incorporates a flexible dependence structure for the counts, report simulation results to compare the performance of the Gaussian copula and bi-Poisson models, and investigate the impact on clustering of Poisson counts of misspecified dependence structures. We illustrate our methodology on a lung cancer RNA-seq data.
LGBTQ+ HOOKUP CULTURE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Creators: name: Frausto, Tayler
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: queer
hookup culture
COVID-19
HIV
concerns

description: The rise of online dating applications is becoming the new norm for how people meet other people romantically and sexually today. Specifically, people also can use these applications for finding a quick and casual sexual encounter from the comfort of their own homes. This rapid sexual expansion can come with health and social risks, if not looked at carefully. During the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, it became even more evident to go online to find people and socialize with others. All of this has the potential to change scripts around discussing risk with users possibly being more concerned with COVID-19 as opposed to other STD/STI risks, such as HIV. With 61 participants recruited via online forums and social media accounts, it was discovered that the majority of individuals still prioritize HIV over COVID-19 with concerns before meeting for an in-person sexual hookup. However, still, a great number of individuals were more concerned about COVID-19 as opposed to HIV, which may be a major health concern for the LGBTQ+ community in particular. It was also found that there is a correlation between Political Affiliation and concern for COVID-19, being the more conservative someone identifies as there will be less of a concern for COVID-19. It may be difficult to understand norms during a global pandemic being that concerns for the virus could possibly change throughout the year. Further research is needed to understand how we behave during a global pandemic, especially regarding sexual health, and to see if these concerns fluctuate or change in the future.
title: The Effects of Procedural Explanation in Lessening Anxiety During Dental Hygiene Care
Creators: name: Sensat, Michelle Leigh
Publisher: name: Old Dominion University Libraries
Year: 1997

description: The purpose of this investigation was to determine if procedural explanation, given during dental hygiene care, significantly reduces client anxiety. The sample consisted of 62 subjects selected randomly from the population of all current clients, with records dating from 1994 to the present, of a private general dental practice in Virginia Beach, Virginia. A randomized subjects, pretest-posttest design was used to determine ii if procedural explanation yields a significant reduction in client anxiety as opposed to no such explanation during treatment procedures, measured by the Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon matched-pairs tests. The Dental Hygiene Fear Survey served as the test instrument. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine statistically significant differences between the groups on overall anxiety and on its four dimensions: fear of specific stimuli, distrust, generalized anxiety, and fear of catastrophe. Results indicated no statistically significant differences between the two groups on each of the four subscales and the overall scale score, The Wilcoxon matched-pairs test also was used to determine statistically significant differences within the groups on overall anxiety and its four dimensions as listed above. Results showed a statistically significant difference in anxiety levels in both experimental and control groups at posttest, indicating that procedural explanation itself did not have a significant effect on anxiety levels in the experimental group. Sociodemographic variables analyzed using the Chi-Square test and t-test for independent samples resulted in no significant differences between the experimental and control groups on the variables sex and age.

Results indicated that procedural explanation reduced anxiety in those participants who experienced a high level of anxiety prior to dental hygiene care, but did not have an effect on those who experienced low or no anxiety prior to dental hygiene care. Individual items (i.e., fainting, choking, worry about the dental hygienist hurting me) were significantly affected by procedural explanation; anxiety levels concerning these items were significantly lower at posttest. All tests were conducted at the .05 alpha level of significance.
Artifact for "Understanding the Motivations of Inner Source Contributors"
Creators: name: Anonymous
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021

description: What the artifact does:
 1) an interview guide that we used for our semi-structured interviews (PDF);
 2) a questionnaire that we used for our online survey (PDF);
 3) the valid responses of our online survey (CSV).
Sub-cycle waveform synthesis for effective control of electron localization
Creators: name: Lan, Pengfei
name: Takahashi, Eiji J.
name: Midorikawa, Katsumi
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We have proposed and demonstrated an effective scheme to steer both the electronic and molecular motions of hydrogen molecule and its isotopes. Our scheme lies in the idea of sub-cycle waveform shaping (SWS) with synthesizing coherent IR pulses of different wavelengths. The quantum model simulation indicates a remarkable enhancement of the electron localization asymmetry compared with the few-cycle pulse. 68% and 89% electrons of the dissociating fragmentation can be localized to one nucleus for H_2^+ and H_2, respectively.
description: 12 pages, 4 figures
Characterization of a novel cobaltoenzyme and its metallochaperone in rhodococcus
Creators: name: Okamoto, Sachi
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: Rhodococcus jostii RHA1 grows on various nitriles. Proteomic studies revealed that RHA1 utilizes an nth pathway, which includes an Fe³⁺-dependent nitrile hydratase (NHase), to catabolize phenylacetonitrile. By contrast, RHA1 utilizes the anh pathway, which includes a novel acetonitrile hydratase (ANHase), a αβ-heterodimeric metalloenzyme, to catabolize acetonitrile. To better characterize ANHase, a Rhodococcus-E. coli shuttle vector was constructed using a benzoate-inducible promoter. ANHase transformed nitriles containing up to four carbons, with highest specificity for acetonitrile and propionitrile. The enzyme contained cobalt, copper and zinc, and lacked sequence identity with known NHases. Accordingly, ANHase is proposed to belong to a previously unknown class of NHases. The α subunit of ANHase possesses two potential metal-binding sequences: an N-terminal sequence rich in His and acidic residues; and a Cys-rich motif (CLLGCAC). The latter is reminiscent of the conserved catalytic motif in Co³⁺-dependent NHases, suggesting that it coordinates Co³⁺ in ANHase. The N-terminal sequence is similar to that found in some other cobaltoenzymes. Spectrophotometric analysis of a synthetic N-terminal peptide (MPDHGHDHGHNHDACDSE) demonstrated that it formed a 2:1 complex with Co²⁺ and that Cys is a probable ligand. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) studies demonstrated that the peptide binds Co²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Ni²⁺ with similar affinities (Kd = 3.2–4.3 µM). Finally, AnhE, an 11-kDa protein whose gene occurs between the ANHase structural genes, anhA and anhB, was characterized. A ΔanhE mutant grew on acetonitrile only if anhE was provided in trans. Co-expression of anhE with anhA enabled reconstitution of ANHase in vitro in the presence of low concentrations of Co²⁺. Co²⁺ and other divalent metal ions stabilized a dimeric form of AnhE. ITC studies demonstrated that the dimer binds two Co²⁺ ions with different affinities (Kd1 = 0.12 nM, Kd2 = 110 nM) but only one Zn²⁺ (Kd = 11 nM) and one Ni²⁺ (Kd = 49 nM). Together, these data suggest that AnhE acts as a dimeric metallochaperone to deliver cobalt to ANHase. Overall, these studies provide insight into a novel NHase and its maturation. The findings have potential applications in the bacterial transformation of nitriles as well as implications for metal-trafficking in biological systems.
A catalogue of rotation and activity in early-M stars
Creators: name: Reiners, Ansgar
name: Joshi, Nandan
name: Goldman, Bertrand
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a catalogue of rotation and chromospheric activity in a sample of 334 M dwarfs of spectral types M0--M4.5 populating the parameter space around the boundary to full convection. We obtained high-resolution optical spectra for 206 targets and determined projected rotational velocity, vsini, and Halpha emission. The data are combined with measurements of vsini in field stars of the same spectral type from the literature. Our sample adds 157 new rotation measurements to the existing literature and almost doubles the sample of available vsini. The final sample provides a statistically meaningful picture of rotation and activity at the transition to full convection in the solar neighborhood. We confirm the steep rise in the fraction of active stars at the transition to full convection known from earlier work. In addition, we see a clear rise in rotational velocity in the same stars. In very few stars, no chromospheric activity but a detection of rotational broadening was reported. We argue that all of them are probably spurious detections; we conclude that in our sample all significantly rotating stars are active, and all active stars are significantly rotating. The rotation-activity relation is valid in partially and in fully convective stars. Thus, we do not observe any evidence for a transition from a rotationally dominated dynamo in partially convective stars to a rotation-independent turbulent dynamo in fully convective stars; turbulent dynamos in fully convective stars of spectral types around M4 are still driven by rotation. Finally, we compare projected rotational velocities of 33 stars to rotational periods derived from photometry in the literature and determine inclinations for a few of them.
description: accepted for publication in AJ
title: Relationship Between the Empathy Levels of Dental Hygiene Students and Their Teachers
Creators: name: Sanderlin, Claudia Hudak
Publisher: name: Old Dominion University Libraries
Year: 1981

description: This investigation assessed empathy in first year, second year, and graduate dental hygiene students, and dental hygiene educators. Change in empathy levels of students and educators over one academic year was determined by taking repeated measures of the dependent variable, empathy, as measured by the Hogan Empathy Scale, A convenience sample of subjects from two universities was included in this study.

Empathy scores were compared and analyzed by a three-way analysis of variance at the .05 level of significance and also three separate one-way analyses, Results established that graduate students and educators score significantly higher in empathy than first and second year students, and that empathy scores of students and educators do not significantly change over a one academic year period. Results also established that empathy scores do not significantly differ between the two universities, and that an interaction effect is associated with the second year students.
Distributed GraphLab: A Framework for Machine Learning in the Cloud
Creators: name: Low, Yucheng
name: Gonzalez, Joseph
name: Kyrola, Aapo
name: Bickson, Danny
name: Guestrin, Carlos
name: Hellerstein, Joseph M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Databases (cs.DB)
subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: While high-level data parallel frameworks, like MapReduce, simplify the design and implementation of large-scale data processing systems, they do not naturally or efficiently support many important data mining and machine learning algorithms and can lead to inefficient learning systems. To help fill this critical void, we introduced the GraphLab abstraction which naturally expresses asynchronous, dynamic, graph-parallel computation while ensuring data consistency and achieving a high degree of parallel performance in the shared-memory setting. In this paper, we extend the GraphLab framework to the substantially more challenging distributed setting while preserving strong data consistency guarantees. We develop graph based extensions to pipelined locking and data versioning to reduce network congestion and mitigate the effect of network latency. We also introduce fault tolerance to the GraphLab abstraction using the classic Chandy-Lamport snapshot algorithm and demonstrate how it can be easily implemented by exploiting the GraphLab abstraction itself. Finally, we evaluate our distributed implementation of the GraphLab abstraction on a large Amazon EC2 deployment and show 1-2 orders of magnitude performance gains over Hadoop-based implementations.
description: VLDB2012
Synthesis of Silver Nano wires and their Polymer Nanocomposite
Creators: name: Abbasi Moud, Aref
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Materials Science
subject: Silver nanowires (AgNWs)
subject: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)
subject: Nanocomposites
subject: Electrical Conductivity
subject: Electromagnetic Interference Shielding
subject: Imaginary permittivity
subject: percolation
subject: fragmentation
subject: morphology
subject: Nano capacitors

description: Polymers and polymer engineering have been revolutionized using nano inclusions such as MWCNT and metal nanowires. In this study due to its amazing properties silver nanowire was singled out for embedding in polymers and produced using an efficient electrochemical process. Silver nanowires (AgNWs) were synthesized by the AC electrodeposition of Ag into porous aluminum oxide templates. AgNWs were embedded into polystyrene with a solution processing technique to create a nanocomposite. In a nutshell, this study is aimed at attaining high EMI shielding effectiveness for silver nanowire/polymer nanocomposite and finding a correlation between deteriorating effect of surface oxidation and EMI shielding efficacy. To the best of our knowledge, to date, no one has studied the effect of change in silver surface chemistry and subsequent changes in conductivity, on EMI shielding effectiveness.
Robust 3D object detection and feature extraction for cooperative multi-robot tasks
Creators: name: Kananka Liyanage, Arunasiri
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: Computer vision uses image processing, image understanding, and feature extraction, which is vital in robotic tasks. This research is an integral part of a larger project on human rescue robotics where the goal is to quickly locate objects in an emergency scenario by a group of heterogeneous robots and assemble them into a useful device. Hence, the vision system should be fast and capable of working in an unstructured, dynamic, and unknown environment. Since there may be a number of variations with regard to the objects and the environment, the robustness is crucial. A novel vision system architecture is proposed and developed in this research to fulfill the vision requirements of a multi-robot system. Appropriate approaches, techniques, and structures are proposed and implemented together with appropriate existing methods and their enhancements. An approach of object modeling is proposed and used to generate object models. These models are used with a proposed object detection method to identify objects and determine useful features and parameters. Another object detection method is proposed to detect regular geometrical shaped objects. The proposed methods is able to detect multiple objects with varying object properties and environmental factors. Different types of object detection methods are employed in the proposed system according to the requirement of a robot by utilizing a real-time method selection technique, which is developed in the thesis. Achieving the expected level of performance involves a trade-off between speed and accuracy, by managing the execution of the processing steps in the developed method. Properties of expected objects need to be defined as facts and constraints based on the requirements of the robots. The performance of the vision system can be enhanced, by providing more facts and constraints. The developed methodologies are implemented in an experimental system in the Industrial Automation Laboratory of the University of British Columbia. Rigorous experiments are conducted in a typical unstructured environment. Features such as invariance of scale, rotation, illumination, and occlusion are tested with different types of objects, for various methods. Generally good results have been obtained thereby validating the developed vision system for use in the multi-robot application.
Understanding Math 10 Students’ Experiences of Struggle to Learn Mathematics
Creators: name: Smith, Stephanie Ursula
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Education--Mathematics
subject: Education--Secondary
subject: Struggle
subject: Student
subject: Experience
subject: Mathematics
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Learning
subject: Understanding
subject: Secondary

description: Students have much to tell educators about their experiences of learning mathematics. Their experiences include struggles that may either be productive as they persevere to understand or destructive as they feel that learning is frustrating and painful. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding and new insights into how students struggle to learn math, the different ways that students struggle, and how this experience shapes how they respond to future encounters of difficulty, as well, as their attitude towards math. Six Math 10 students were interviewed using semi-structured questions. Students’ lived experiences were explored using interpretive methodology. Students spoke about their experiences of confusion, disconnection, encountering hidden rules, not understanding why, freezing on a test, and having to learn concepts that they found were irrelevant to their lives. These experiences may provide new insights and understandings of how teachers may better teach students.
SAGD in Reservoirs with Top and Bottom Water Zones
Creators: name: Detpunyawat, Pachari
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Engineering--Petroleum
subject: SAGD optimization
subject: Thief zones
subject: ES-SAGD
subject: NCG-SAGD
subject: Reservoir with top and bottom water zones

description: Producing bitumen from non-ideal reservoirs is an important challenge for SAGD operators. Thief-zone interactions and with steam chamber coalescence must be considered for optimal process design. Here, a sensitivity analysis is conducted on a thin reservoir with top and bottom aquifers to understand the impact on recovery process performance. Solvent and non-condensable gas addition are considered to determine if they can improve the performance of the recovery process. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used to determine alternative operating strategies using both solvent and NCG in recovery processes that achieve reasonable economic and environmental outcomes. The results illustrate that solvent and non-condensable gas co-injection in SAGD can be advantageous. However, processes without solvent gave the best NPV due to the cost of the lost solvent retained in the reservoir.
Unportraits: an Exploration of the Relationship Between Precarity and Portraiture
Creators: name: Allen Kogut, Vince
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Fine Arts
subject: precarity
subject: portraiture
subject: unportrait
subject: painting
subject: figurative painting

description: Unportraits: an Exploration of the Relationship Between Precarity and Portraiture addresses an arts-based studio practice exploring the relationship between portraiture and social critique. Specifically, the concepts discussed in this paper are precarity, Guy Standing’s personification of the precariat, and how they influence my portraiture. In order to investigate these concepts the methodology used is autoethnography and an arts-based studio practice. Three projects are discussed in this writing; creating something out of nothing, only to destroy it; …IN PASSING; and Unportraits. Through these, I attempt to display the conceptual and technical development demonstrated in visualizing precarious identity. In the final thesis project, Unportraits, I establish the term unportraiture, a reconstruction of traditional portraiture that surrenders personal identity to express societal narratives.
Modulation of Human Intestinal Microbiota Composition and Structure by Campylobacter jejuni
Creators: name: Akierman, Sarah
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Physiology
subject: C. jejuni
subject: Calgary Biofilm Device
subject: mucosal biopsy
subject: microbiota
subject: Campylobacterosis
subject: IBD

description: Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni), one of the most common causes of human bacterial gastroenteritis in both the developed and developing worlds, has been found to contribute to post-infectious symptoms in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). While the postulated causes of IBD are various, evidence suggests a role of modulation of the intestinal microbiota in the pathophysiology. There is currently a lack of knowledge as to what extent the exposure to enteropathogens may lead to gastrointestinal microbiota dysbiosis by the promotion of an inappropriate immunological response, leading to the development of IBD-like symptoms. This study investigated the interaction between C. jejuni and the commensal microbiota of the descending colon, in a Calgary Biofilm Device (CBD) model with human mucosa biopsy samples. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) studies demonstrated that anaerobic C. jejuni co-incubation leads to a loss of microbiota diversity, a decrease in the relative abundance of the unknown bacteria and an increase in the relative abundance of the phyla Firmicutes. Microscopy depicts that C. jejuni co-incubation decreases microbiota biofilm thickness and decreases the extracellular matrix. Whether the loss of extracellular matrix occurs along the surface of the biofilm or throughout the biofilm requires further investigation. These novel findings contribute to our understanding of C. jejuni pathogenesis, specifically C. jejuni-microbiota modulation, and may play a role in post-Campylobacterosis flares in patients with IBD.
Convergence of a full waveform inversion scheme based on PSPI migration and forward modeling-free approximation: procedure and validation
Creators: name: Guarido De Andrade, Marcelo
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Geophysics
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: Full waveform inversion
subject: FWI
subject: impedance inversion
subject: forward modeling
subject: forward modeling-free gradient
subject: fast fwi
subject: fast full waveform inversion

description: Full waveform inversion is a least squares technique that estimates rocks parameters by finding the model that reduces the difference between synthetic and acquired seismic data. This project is focused on acoustic inversion. The main goal is to understand and develop an FWI algorithm that is cheap and provides a higher quality inversion. The steepest-descent method is shown to be robust with some level of guarantee to converge, when the geology is simple, and when the starting model is close to the global minimum. Understanding that the gradient can be estimated by any pre-stack depth migration of the residuals, the RTM (reverse-time migration) is replaced by a PSPI (phase shift plus interpolation) migration, to reduce cost. Even though the method was shown to be expensive, mostly by the number of synthetic shots required and the pre-stack migration. By using a monochromatic averaged gradient combined with a conjugate gradient algorithm, inversion is possible for more complex geology, like a simulation on a 2D acoustic Marmousi model. However, the cost to run the process increased significantly, as each frequency on a selected band is migrated separately to form a pseudo-gradient, and are weighted averaged for the update. Inversion is simplified by applying an impedance inversion on the reflection coefficients based gradient using a band-limited impedance inversion (BLIMP) algorithm. Cost is reduced, being comparable to the standard steepest-descent, and the inverted model resolution is kept similar to the one using the monochromatic averaged gradient. Later, we came with a new interpretation of the gradient, understood to be the difference between current model and the impedance inversion of the migrated acquired data. No forward modeling or source estimation are required to compute the gradient. The cost per iteration is the same of the PSPI migration. A post-stack method is shown to be even cheaper and promising. Using a well sonic log to calibrate the gradient reduces method cost and improves its resolution, and is our most impressive solution.
Prediction by CFD Modeling of Corrosion of Downhole SAGD/CO2 Co-injection Tubulars and Upstream Gathering Pipelines
Creators: name: Hu, Haitao
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Engineering--Mechanical
subject: CFD
subject: Corrosion
subject: SAGD

description: Corrosion has been one of the primary mechanisms causing failures of infrastructure in the oil and gas industry. As fluid mechanics plays an essential role in internal corrosion of tubulars and pipelines, it is expected that a complete understanding and modeling of tubular/pipeline corrosion depends on integration of the fluid flow with the electrochemical corrosion reactions occurring on the steel. In this work, the fluid flow in downhole steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD)/CO2 co-injection tubulars and upstream gathering pipelines in oil production is modeled by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and the potential locations where corrosion occurs are identified. Models are developed for prediction of corrosion rate of steel tubulars and pipelines under the operating conditions. The mechanism and parametric effects of pipeline corrosion in CO2-containing oil-water emulsions is investigate experimentally using flow loop system.
Panicum (sect. Virgata) Nees 1829
Creators: name: Fernando O. Zuloaga
name: Diego Giraldo-Cañas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Poales
Poaceae
Panicum
Panicum virgatum

description: 8.  Panicum sect. Virgata  Nees,
Fl. Bras. Enum. Pl. 2: 131. 1829.
 Especie tipo. Panicum virgatum L.
 Plantas perennes, rizomatosas, con rizomas estoloníferos. Hojas con lígulas membranáceo-ciliadas; láminas lanceoladas. Inflorescencias laxas a contraídas. Espiguillas ovoides a largamente ovoides, biconvexas, glabras. Gluma inferior 1/2 a 4/5 del largo de la espiguilla, 5-7-nervia. Gluma superior y lema inferior subiguales, superando en largo al antecio superior, 7-9-nervias. Pálea inferior conspicua. Flor inferior estaminada. Antecio superior crustáceo, liso, glabro, pálea superior con papilas verrugosas en su ápice. Cariopsis (sólo vista en P. tricholaenoides) elipsoide, hilo obovado, embrión más de la mitad del largo de la cariopsis.
 Composición y distribución. Sección americana con cinco especies que frecuentemente se encuentran formando agregaciones densas en sitios húmedos, junto a cursos permanentes de agua o lagunas.
 Comentarios. Plantas C4, Kranz del subtipo anatómico PS (= XyMS+), NAD; número cromosómico básico x = 9.    Clave para las especies de Panicum sect. Virgata presentes en Colombia
 1. Pedicelos glabros; espiguillas 2.8-4 x 1-1.2 mm; gluma inferior 2-3 mm de largo; gluma superior 2.8-4 mm de largo; pálea inferior 2.4-2.6 mm de largo; antecio superior 2-3 x 0.9-1 mm; cañas no ramificadas en los nudos medios y superiores.......................................................................................................................  8-1. Panicum altum
 1. Pedicelos con largos pelos blanquecinos persistentes; espiguillas 2.2-2.9 x 0.8-1 mm; gluma inferior 1.5-2.2 mm de largo; gluma superior 1.8-2.6 mm de largo; pálea inferior 1.6-2 mm de largo; antecio superior 1.6-1.8 x 0.7 mm; cañas manifiestamente ramificadas en los nudos medios y superiores............  8-2. Panicum tricholaenoides
description: Published as part of Fernando O. Zuloaga & Diego Giraldo-Cañas, 2013, 30. Panicum, pp. 1-107 in Flora de Colombia 30 on page 59, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.259616
Permutationally invariant state reconstruction
Creators: name: Moroder, Tobias
name: Hyllus, Philipp
name: Toth, Geza
name: Schwemmer, Christian
name: Niggebaum, Alexander
name: Gaile, Stefanie
name: Gühne, Otfried
name: Weinfurter, Harald
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Feasible tomography schemes for large particle numbers must possess, besides an appropriate data acquisition protocol, also an efficient way to reconstruct the density operator from the observed finite data set. Since state reconstruction typically requires the solution of a non-linear large-scale optimization problem, this is a major challenge in the design of scalable tomography schemes. Here we present an efficient state reconstruction scheme for permutationally invariant quantum state tomography. It works for all common state-of-the-art reconstruction principles, including, in particular, maximum likelihood and least squares methods, which are the preferred choices in today's experiments. This high efficiency is achieved by greatly reducing the dimensionality of the problem employing a particular representation of permutationally invariant states known from spin coupling combined with convex optimization, which has clear advantages regarding speed, control and accuracy in comparison to commonly employed numerical routines. First prototype implementations easily allow reconstruction of a state of 20 qubits in a few minutes on a standard computer.
description: 25 pages, 4 figues, 2 tables
The response of insects to wastewater effluent in the Red Deer River: A spatial perspective
Creators: name: Kobryn, Madison Jensen
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: River
subject: Insects
subject: Movement
subject: Longitudinal
subject: Nutrients
subject: Spatial
subject: Isotopes
subject: Hydropsyche
subject: Baetis
subject: Tricorythodes
subject: Heptagenia
subject: Brachycentrus

description: Few studies document the spatial responses of biota to point-source nutrient enrichment in rivers. Even fewer identify the mechanisms acting to create these responses. This study addressed these research shortages by investigating spatial patterns of physicochemical variables, insect abundance, and periphyton abundance, in the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada, downstream of wastewater input. Additionally, patterns in nitrogen isotope signatures driven by effluent input were used to estimate the scale of insect movements. Analyses of family assemblage spatial structure, and of across-scale explanators of local insect abundance, were used to infer whether movement helps structure the spatial response of insects to effluent addition. Notably, nutrient concentrations peaked downstream of effluent addition, and were significantly correlated with insect abundance. Although insects were estimated to have undergone downstream movements of ~1-5 km per month, broad-scale spatial patterns did not show obvious signs of being affected by downstream movement.
Assessing the Feasibility of Cosmic-Ray Acceleration by Magnetic Turbulence at the Galactic Center
Creators: name: Fatuzzo, Marco
name: Melia, Fulvio
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The presence of relativistic particles at the center of our galaxy is evidenced by the diffuse TeV emission detected from the inner $\sim$$2^\circ$ of the Galaxy. Although it is not yet entirely clear whether the origin of the TeV photons is due to hadronic or leptonic interactions, the tight correlation of the intensity distribution with the distribution of molecular gas along the Galactic ridge strongly points to a pionic-decay process involving relativistic protons. In earlier work, we concluded that point-source candidates, such as the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (identified with the HESS source J1745-290), or the pulsar wind nebulae dispersed along the Galactic plane, could not account for the observed diffuse TeV emission from this region. Motivated by this result, we consider here the feasibility that the cosmic rays populating the Galactic Center (GC) region are accelerated in situ by magnetic turbulence. Our results indicate that even in a highly conductive environment, this mechanism is efficient enough to energize protons within the intercloud medium to the $\ga $ TeV energies required to produce the HESS emission.
description: Accepted for publication in ApJ
Numerical Modeling of Pipe-Soil Interaction under Transverse Direction
Creators: name: Farhadi Hikooei, Bahar
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Geotechnology
subject: Civil
subject: Energy
subject: General Engineering

description: Based on Winkler method, pipe can be simplified as a beam, while pipe-soil interaction can be represented by soil springs in the axial, horizontal and vertical direction. Pipe deflection and resultant forces are related to each other by coefficient K in the equation F=Kδ, where F is the resultant force and δ is the pipe displacement. This project studies pipe-soil interaction for pipelines buried in clay and sand subjected to pipeline displacement in oblique direction. The objective is to quantify the effect of soil parameters on coefficient K and maximum soil resistance. Pipe-soil behavior has been studied using the finite element software ABAQUS/CAE. There were totally 48 models with varying soil parameters, pipe burial depth and pipe-soil interaction friction to investigate the effect of each variable on pipe-soil behavior. The results have been presented in normalized force-displacement plots to identify the parameters which affect the soil resistance most. In addition they have been compared to the analytical results from ALA (2001) and proposed failure envelopes in previous studies. The results show that the maximum normal force per unit length depends on the type of soil surrounding the pipe. By comparing all the results pipe burial depth, soil cohesion, friction and dilation angles were found to have a significant effect on pipe-soil interaction and can considerably increase the maximum soil resistance.
title: Open Source GIS Decision Support Tools for Wildfire and Flood Natural Hazards with Embeded Interactive Training Resources
Creators: name: Stefanov, Stefan
name: Dobrinkova, Nina
name: Tosheva, Emilia
Publisher: name: Proceeding of 1st International Conference on Environmental Protection and Disaster RISKs, 2020, p. 231-240
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Training of volunteers that participate in natural hazard suppression measures is very important and time consuming. The volunteers do not have unlimited amount of time to dedicate on educational activities. Thus, interactive training platforms are the next step of the training processes. In our paper we will describe an open source Geographic Information System (GIS) tool specifically designed to support decision making for field operations in cases of natural disasters. The training activities for the tool implementation were based on Google G-Suite cloud application. The GIS application was developed to deliver field situation alerts in operational room and G suite was used before the field work as preparatory training for the teams working with it. The combination of the online tools described in the paper is presented as potential first step of real time volunteer training system that in future can be further elaborated and improved.
description: Proceeding of 1st International Conference on Environmental Protection and Disaster RISKs, 2020, p. 231-240
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Natural Gas Development in Western Canada: A Gap Analysis
Creators: name: Senobari Vayghan, Elnaz
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Energy
subject: Engineering--Chemical
subject: Engineering--Environmental
subject: GHG emissions
subject: Natural Gas
subject: Gap analysis

description: The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of conventional and unconventional natural gas are primarily methane and carbon dioxide that are released in natural gas development activities. Addressing these emissions have gained attention because of recent climate commitments. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can help to compare different pathways of gas development considering all life cycle stages. The objective of this thesis is to conduct a LCA of GHG emissions of natural gas in western Canada, with a focus on BC`s Montney and Horn River. This thesis presents a gap analysis demonstrating that current public data in Canada is insufficient to characterize the life cycle emissions and highlighted where the data is needed. Preliminary estimates suggest that the average US unconventional gas life cycle emissions are higher than those in Canada but significant variability exists between and within regions of Canada. Future investigation and data collection is required to confirm these preliminary results.