cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
title: Trends and patterns in the climate of Libya (1945-2010)
Creators: name: Ageena, Ismail
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2014

description: Climate change is one of the most important issues affecting the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This thesis explores changes and trends within the principal climatic parameters temperature for 18 synoptic stations, precipitation for 28 meteorological stations and 16 synoptic stations for evapotranspiration inter alia, during the last 66 years (1945-2010) across Libya. Eighteen meteorological stations were selected along the Mediterranean coast where ten inland stations were selected from the North and South Sahara regions. The study period of temperature is divided into two series of equal length (27 years), 1956 to 1982 and 1983 to 2010 are used to assess and provide comparison in rate of change. Significant increases in temperature are identified, with particularly rapid increases in minimum temperature (0.032 °C a-1; 1945-2010). The rates and periods of change are variable across the study period, with a number of stations documenting declining temperatures during the early phase, with significant increases during the second half of the period, while a mix of increasing and decreasing trends in extreme temperature during the last 50 years (1961-2010) are identified. Precipitation was assessed at 16 stations across Libya (1961-2010), with variable results and no clear pattern emerging for Libya as a whole for the total period, though evidence of a decrease in annual total precipitation (-1.95 mm a-1) is found during the second period. Extreme events as consecutive dry days (
title: Behavioural and evolutionary responses of Anopheles gambiae S.S. to bednets and pyrethoids
Creators: name: Lynd, Amy
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2023

description: Vector control by insecticides is fundamental to the global strategy foOr malaria prevention. Insecticide treated bednets (ITNs) are central to this approach but with only pyrethroids available for ITN use, resistance to this class of insecticides is a major threat. Knock-down resistance to pyrethroids is strongly associated with the presence of a single amino acid substitution (kdr) in the voltage-gated sodium channel in many insects, including African malaria vectors. With the long-term aim of extending the effective lifespan of pyrethroids and ITNs in particular, this study investigated knock-down resistance and behaviour at the bednet interface in Anopheles gambiae s.s. Specifically, the molecular studies aimed to improve the reliability of kdr detection methods, investigate the origins and spread of kdr mutations and determine the strength of the selection pressures acting on them; the behavioural studies investigated non-contact repellency by pyrethroids and arrival patterns ofhost-seeking mosquitoes at a human-baited bednet. Detection of kdr alleles is important in order to monitor the spread of resistance in the field, and a novel kdr detection method (Hot Oligonucleotide Ligation Assay or HOLA) was developed to improve on existing techniques. This method differentiated homozygous and heterozygous individuals for both kdr alleles and was transferred to a resource poor laboratory. HOLA was also used to confirm the first occurrence ofa phenylalanine heterozygous specimen. population genetic based approach was usedserine/ to investigate the relative age ofthe kdr mutations and selection pressures acting upon them. Sequencing ofthe voltage-gated sodium channel gene allowed the identification of 29 novel single nucleotide polymorphisms that were used to screen populations of field collected An. gambiae s.s. from seven locations in Africa. Analysis of the extended haplotypes revealed the signature of the selective sweeps associated with the kdr alleles, and suggested that the serine kdr mutation found in Kenya pre-dated the kdr mutations in West Africa, possibly the result of selection by the historic use of DDT rather than the more recent use of pyrethroids. Data indicated that the spread of the serine mutation in Gabon was recent, possibly due to a selective advantage conferred by co-expression with the phenylalanine kdr mutation and, confirming published data, that it had probably arisen at least twice through novel mutation events. The phenylalanine mutation in West and Central Africa is likely to have been the result of at least two separate mutation events, both ofwhich have been subjected to a strong selective sweep.
title: Analytic function methods for nonparametric control
Creators: name: Chen, Ming-Yen
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2014

description: This thesis develops and investigates analytic function methods for nonparametric analysis and design of robust control linear systems. Compared to the parametric approaches, nonparametric approaches may enable the designer to directly use the experimental plant data to design the controller. Nonparametric approaches are potentially more accurate than parametric approaches since they do not need to make significant approximations due to parametric fittings. Moreover, since no parametric identification is required, nonparametric approaches are able to cope with time-delayed and differential difference systems. The design procedure process may also require less human judgement and so may be quicker and more readily automated. In this thesis, nonparametric approaches to control based on H-infinity analytic function theory is presented. It is the main purpose of this thesis to investigate the use of analytic function methods in H-infinity control problems. The implementation of the analytic methods and their applications are both addressed in the thesis.
Trends in Incidence of Type 1 Diabetes Among Non-Hispanic White Youth in the U.S., 2002–2009
Creators: name: Pettitt, David J.
name: Klingensmith, Georgeanna J.
name: Imperatore, Giuseppina
name: Standiford, Debra A.
name: Dolan, Lawrence
name: Thomas, Joan
name: D’Agostino, Ralph B.
name: Linder, Barbara
name: Saydah, Sharon
name: Pihoker, Catherine
name: Mayer-Davis, Elizabeth J.
name: Lawrence, Jean M.
name: Talton, Jennifer W.
name: Bell, Ronny A.
name: Dabelea, Dana
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2014

description: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study prospectively identified youth aged <20 years with physician-diagnosed diabetes. Annual type 1 diabetes (T1D) incidence per 100,000 person-years (95% CI) overall, by age-group, and by sex were calculated for at-risk non-Hispanic white (NHW) youth from 2002 through 2009. Joinpoint and Poisson regression models were used to test for temporal trends. The age- and sex-adjusted incidence of T1D increased from 24.4/100,000 (95% CI 23.9–24.8) in 2002 to 27.4/100,000 (26.9–27.9) in 2009 (P for trend = 0.0008). The relative annual increase in T1D incidence was 2.72% (1.18–4.28) per year; 2.84% (1.12–4.58) per year for males and 2.57% (0.68–4.51) per year for females. After adjustment for sex, significant increases were found for youth aged 5–9 years (P = 0.0023), 10–14 years (P = 0.0008), and 15–19 years (P = 0.004) but not among 0–4-year-olds (P = 0.1862). Mean age at diagnosis did not change. The SEARCH study demonstrated a significant increase in the incidence of T1D among NHW youth from 2002 through 2009 overall and in all but the youngest age-group. Continued surveillance of T1D in U.S. youth to identify future trends in T1D incidence and to plan for health care delivery is warranted.
Compartmentalized Acyl-CoA Metabolism in Skeletal Muscle Regulates Systemic Glucose Homeostasis
Creators: name: Newgard, Christopher B.
name: Li, Lei O.
name: Pascual, Florencia
name: Paul, David S.
name: Grevengoed, Trisha J.
name: Coleman, Rosalind A.
name: Koves, Timothy R.
name: Muoio, Deborah M.
name: Ilkayeva, Olga
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2015

description: The impaired capacity of skeletal muscle to switch between the oxidation of fatty acid (FA) and glucose is linked to disordered metabolic homeostasis. To understand how muscle FA oxidation affects systemic glucose, we studied mice with a skeletal muscle–specific deficiency of long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase (ACSL)1. ACSL1 deficiency caused a 91% loss of ACSL-specific activity and a 60–85% decrease in muscle FA oxidation. Acsl1M−/− mice were more insulin sensitive, and, during an overnight fast, their respiratory exchange ratio was higher, indicating greater glucose use. During endurance exercise, Acsl1M−/− mice ran only 48% as far as controls. At the time that Acsl1M−/− mice were exhausted but control mice continued to run, liver and muscle glycogen and triacylglycerol stores were similar in both genotypes; however, plasma glucose concentrations in Acsl1M−/− mice were ∼40 mg/dL, whereas glucose concentrations in controls were ∼90 mg/dL. Excess use of glucose and the likely use of amino acids for fuel within muscle depleted glucose reserves and diminished substrate availability for hepatic gluconeogenesis. Surprisingly, the content of muscle acyl-CoA at exhaustion was markedly elevated, indicating that acyl-CoAs synthesized by other ACSL isoforms were not available for β-oxidation. This compartmentalization of acyl-CoAs resulted in both an excessive glucose requirement and severely compromised systemic glucose homeostasis.
Calculating electron momentum densities and Compton profiles using the linear tetrahedron method
Creators: name: Ernsting, D.
name: Billington, D.
name: Haynes, T. D .
name: Millichamp, T. E .
name: Taylor, J. W .
name: Duffy, J. A.
name: Giblin, S. R.
name: Dewhurst, J. K.
name: Dugdale, S. B.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A method for computing electron momentum densities and Compton profiles from ab initio calculations is presented. Reciprocal space is divided into optimally-shaped tetrahedra for interpolation, and the linear tetrahedron method is used to obtain the momentum density and its projections such as Compton profiles. Results are presented and evaluated against experimental data for Be, Cu, Ni, Fe3Pt, and YBa2Cu4O8, demonstrating the accuracy of our method in a wide variety of crystal structures.
description: Code incorporated into ELK distribution (http://elk.sourceforge.net) from December 2014
Psychologie und Seelsorge als Gespräch
Creators: name: Casetti, Christoph
name: Möhler, Wilhelm
name: Battke, Marion
name: Imhasly, Andreas
Publisher: name: Diakonia
Year: 1970

description: Diakonia, Bd. 5 Nr. 1 (1974): Diakonia, Band 5, Heft 1
Europium complexes for detection of nucleoside polyphosphate anions
Creators: name: Mr Mailhot
Publisher: name: Loughborough University
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences

description: A series of novel europium(III) based anion receptors [Eu.1-8] for nucleoside polyphosphate anions have been designed and synthesized. A study of their binding abilities was carried out in buffered aqueous media against a range of biologically relevant anions. It was demonstrated that certain probes could be used in biological applications such as real-time monitoring of enzymatic activity and real-time monitoring of ATP concentrations in living cells. Chapter 2 describes the synthesis of the 8 cationic Eu(III) complexes, each based on a cyclen macrocyclic scaffold and two quinoline arms in a trans relationship, which serve as antennae for the sensitisation of the central Eu(III) ion. Modifications in the structure of the complexes included varying the hydrogen bond donor groups on the quinoline arms (hydrogen, amide or an urea moiety) and the nature of the ligand donor groups to vary the local charge at the Eu(III) metal centre. The photophysical properties of all 8 complexes were characterised and the two urea bearing compounds proved unsuited for anion sensing as they do not possess a coordinated water molecule in the absence of added anion, preventing the displacement of water by an anion. Chapter 3 focuses on the behaviour of the 6 remaining Eu(III) complexes towards numerous biologically relevant anions in buffered water. The probes bearing the hydrogen moieties showed very little selectivity and low affinity towards the target anion ATP. On the other hand, probes bearing the amide moiety proved selective towards polyphosphate anions with high affinities. Additionally, polyphosphate anions when displacing the bound water molecule of such probes induced significant spectral changes and a large increase (up to 14-fold) in the emission intensity. [Continues.]
Normal Functions over Locally Symmetric Varieties
Creators: name: Keast, Ryan
name: Kerr, Matt
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Algebraic Geometry (math.AG)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 14D07, 14M17, 17B45, 32M15, 32G20

description: We classify the irreducible Hermitian real variations of Hodge structure admitting an infinitesimal normal function, and draw conclusions for cycle-class maps on families of abelian varieties with a given Mumford-Tate group.
A note on the Fourier coefficients of a Cohen-Eisenstein series
Creators: name: Krishnamoorthy, Srilakshmi
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Number Theory (math.NT)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 11F37 (Primary), 11F67, 11R52 (Secondary)

description: We prove a formula for the coefficients of a weight $3/2$ Cohen-Eisenstein series of square-free level $N$. This formula generalizes a result of Gross and in particular, it proves a conjecture of Quattrini. Let $l$ be an odd prime number. For any elliptic curve $E$ defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ of rank zero and square-free conductor $N$, if $l \mid |E(\mathbb{Q})|$, under certain conditions on the Shafarevich-Tate group $III_D$, we show that $l$ divides $|III_D|$ if and only if $l$ divides the class number $h(-D)$ of $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-D}).$
description: To appear in International Journal of Number Theory
title: Examining the nature of reflective learning in an online MBA; a dialogic approach
Creators: name: Goumaa, Rasha
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2015

description: The debate around the relevance of management education to practice is a long standing one. Critics argue that conventional, lectured-based teaching does not attend to practitioners’ needs and their complex realities. Critical management education has been held up as an alternate teaching pedagogy that speaks more adequately to practice. A starting point for a critical pedagogy may be a social constructivist approach where students actively construct their own knowledge and meanings rather than passively receive information. The essence of critical management education is to create more spaces to promote a questioning attitude towards practice and theory and help management students to become active, reflective learners. So far, investigations of criticality seem to have largely drawn on exploring management students’ perspectives about their learning experience. Little evidence is available on what becoming more or less critical entails for management students from within practice. There is no mention of a rigorous framework that would offer insights about what to look for in investigating reflective learning from within its natural setting. As an area that appears to be under developed in critical management education research, the nature of reflective learning evoked in classroom dialogue is considered, and a framework is devised based on Bakhtin’s dialogism to help identify and conceptualize reflective learning. The availability of online courses has grown strongly over the past two decades. A number of commentators consequently see that online management learning is becoming a mainstream aspect of higher education. Yet, serious reservations against the nature of learning that an asynchronous, text-based learning environment can offer management students have been raised. Therefore, an online MBA classroom is chosen as the site of this study. Data is collected through a combination of observations of online classroom conversations and document analysis. The proposed framework is used is to carry out a relational analysis of online, text-based classroom conversations. It is not the asynchronicity of the setting that is inherently problematic in stimulating reflective, emancipatory learning. The potential of online management classrooms to engender dialogic, reflective learning amongst management students responds to the wider critiques of the status of learning in management classrooms. A critical approach to online teaching, which is not underpinned by a critical curriculum, is proposed. There is an urgent need to attend to the role of online tutors and their influence on the nature of learning, which occurs in their conversations with students in virtual classrooms. The study opens up the scope for assessing online management learning as a “dialogical construction of meaning” and offers insights into the online setting beyond the passive portrayals of learners.
Study on synergistic and antagonistic interactions of P and Zn fertilization on sweet pepper
Creators: name: Bhardwaj, Gitika
name: Brar, Perminder Singh
name: Sharma, Uday
name: Kaushal, Rajesh
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: Plant Biology
subject: Virology

description: The present study was carried out to investigate the synergistic and antagonistic interactions of combined application of Phosphorus and Zinc fertilizers on sweet pepper in net house conditions. Pot experiment consists of thirteen treatments combinations set up in a completely randomized design. The treatment combinations comprising of four levels of phosphorus (0, 237.5, 355.5 and 475 kg Single Super Phosphate ha−1) and three levels of Zn (5, 7.5 and 10 kg Zinc Sulfate ha−1) including one control (100% NPK). The available macro and micronutrients content in potting mixture was confirmed in medium range before conducting the experiment. The results clearly demonstrate the treatment comprising 475 kg SSP ha−1 with 10 kg ZnSO4 ha−1 (T13) showed synergistic effects on vegetative characteristics, above and below ground nutrient content as well as nutrient uptake. When balanced phosphatic and zinc fertilizers (T13) are applied to soil, there is a low possibility of an antagonistic reaction. Antagonism problems arise most frequently when the soil’s Zn content is extremely low in combination with excess application of P fertilizer limiting their availability to plants. To avoid P-Zn antagonism in the soil system, utilization of appropriate fertilizer methods, supplies, and rates was done. As a result, the present study confirms that recommended fertilizer doses combined with phosphorus @ 475 kg SSP ha−1 and zinc @ 10 kg ZnSO4 ha−1, is the best nutrient combination for improving plant growth parameters; however, in terms of soil parameters, P and Zn fertilizers affected micronutrient content in soil, which further interacted antagonistically.
Nones et al., 2014.pdf
Creators: name: Nones, Michael
name: Guerrero, Massimo
name: Ronco, Paolo
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: 49999 Earth Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences

description: River morphodynamics are the result of a variety of processes, ranging from the typical small-scale of fluid mechanics to the large-scale of landscape evolution Problems inherent in the long-term modelling of large rivers derive from limited computational resources and the high level of process detail. Moreover, these modelling results depend on processes parameterization and calibrations based on detailed field data. In this paper, a simplified 1-D approach is presented that is suited for modelling very large rivers, such as the Zambezi River (Africa) and the Parana River (Argentina).
Quantum-optical channels that output only classical states
Creators: name: Sabapathy, Krishna Kumar
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The Glauber-Sudarshan diagonal `weight' function provides a natural divide between the quantum-optical notion of classical and nonclassical states of continuous variables systems. Based on this demarcation, a channel is said to be nonclassicality breaking if it outputs only classical states for any input state. We focus on multimode bosonic Gaussian channels and classify those that are nonclassicality breaking by introducing a criterion that needs to be satisfied by the matrices representing these channels. The criterion can be interpreted as a nonclassicality benchmark for these channels since it quantifies the threshold noise at which there is a complete nonclassical to classical transition of the output states, i.e., it quantifies the robustness of the nonclassicality of the outputs of the channel against Gaussian noise. We then prove a striking `duality' between nonclassicality breaking and entanglement breaking bosonic Gaussian channels.
description: v3: close to published version
title: Youth crime and sports-based interventions : representation, history, theory, policy, and practice
Creators: name: Claire Kelly, Laura
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2023

description: Representations of youth are often polarised: stressing potentiality or deficiency. This ambivalence is reflected in New Labour youth policy for England, where the insistence that 'Every Child Matters' (HM Treasury 2003) exists alongside an expanded, often punitive, youth justice system in England and Wales (Muncie and Goldson 2006). Within this system, 'early intervention' and 'prevention' services attempt to combine 'crime reduction' and 'welfare-orientated' objectives. Targeted sports programmes or 'sportsbased interventions' also claim to tackle 'drug use, crime and anti-social behaviour' and promote 'social inclusion' (Crime Concern 2006: 15, Football Foundation 2006). Sport has long been associated with youth crime reduction (RusseU and Rigby 1908; Wolfenden 1960; Rigg 1986), but research has historically failed to provide robust evidence to support such claims (Utting 1996; Coalter et al. 2000). Some now claim an 'evidence base' is developing (Nichols 2007), or believe programmes can bring wider social poKcy benefits (Collins et al. 1999; Crabbe et al. 2006a).
title: Conjurer laureates: reading early modern magicians with Derrida
Creators: name: Gray, Sophie
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2014

description: This thesis uses the philosophy of Jacques Derrida to propose a performative method of close reading, which it uses to explore the relationship between language and identity in early modern literary representations of magicians. It addresses the common assumptions we make about the authority and stability of language by exploring the tensions that arise as the magicians attempt to use performative language to realise impossible ambitions of absolute power, knowledge and self presence. The texts studied are a combination of prose and drama from 1512 to 1607. They are read in light of Derrida’s engagement with speech act theory in ‘Signature Event Context’ and ‘Limited Inc a b c . . .’ , and also other related work of his on the performative foundations of literature and the law, including ‘Before the Law’, ‘The Law of Genre’, and ‘Force of Law: The ‘Mystical Foundations’ of Authority’. The final chapter also takes in Aporias. The magicians’ trajectories are followed in three chapters. The first is on the founding violences of their authoritative identities. Working with Derrida’s accounts of the law, it begins by describing how the foundation of authority is self-authorizing and therefore performative. It then explores how performative pacts, deals and contracts with the devil are used to establish and authorize the magicians and their supernatural worlds. This metatextual authority is reflected in the magician’s own ambitions for the certainty and stability of absolute power and knowledge. Using the early modern sense of ‘perform’ as to complete, carry out or make something, the second chapter focuses upon materiality and embodiment as attempts to stabilise or fix performative utterances. Fake suicide notes and contracts written in blood are analysed to demonstrate the slip and drift equally at work in the structures of writing and signatures. In addition, Friar Bacon’s enormous brass head with its promise of ‘sound aphorisms’ is discussed as an alternative example of the misinformed urge to embody certainty. The final chapter addresses why almost all the stories of magicians, good and bad, end with their deaths. Following Derrida’s Aporias, death is represented as the ultimate opening limit, which undermines all attempts at certainty and self-presence. This leads to discussion of the other’s role in identity and, it follows, death. The magicians’ ends are compared, with particular focus on the sense of a coming event in the final scene of Doctor Faustus. The use of Derrida’s work to engage with early modern texts responds to a significant gap in the field. It offers original, contemporary insight into traditional themes of power, language and identity that are usually approached from a historicist perspective. The critical-creative close reading describes and carries out by the thesis suggests an exciting way to performatively respond to literature of the past, bearing witness to it but also transforming it into something new.
Genome-Wide Association Meta-analysis Identifies Novel Variants Associated With Fasting Plasma Glucose in East Asians
Creators: name: Wu, Ying
name: Gu, Dongfeng
name: Liu, Jianjun
name: Hu, Cheng
name: Jee, Sunha
name: Cai, Qiuyin
name: Liang, Jun
name: Yamauchi, Toshimasa
name: So, Wing Yee
name: Ong, Rick Twee Hee
name: Umemura, Satoshi
name: Maeda, Shiro
name: Kim, Yeon-Jung
name: Hara, Kazuo
name: Kim, Young Jin
name: Ohkubo, Takayoshi
name: Zhang, Rong
name: Zhao, Qi
name: Jiang, Feng
name: Long, Jirong
name: Lu, Wei
name: Kim, Soriul
name: Tam, Claudia H.T.
name: Oh, Ji Hee
name: Katsuya, Tomohiro
name: Sim, Xueling
name: Go, Min Jin
name: Takeuchi, Fumihiko
name: Lee, Nanette R.
name: Chan, Juliana C.N.
name: Hwang, Joo-Yeon
name: Tabara, Yasuharu
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2015

description: Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) has been recognized as an important indicator for the overall glycemic state preceding the onset of metabolic diseases. So far, most indentified genome-wide association loci for FPG were derived from populations with European ancestry, with a few exceptions. To extend a thorough catalog for FPG loci, we conducted meta-analyses of 13 genome-wide association studies in up to 24,740 nondiabetic subjects with East Asian ancestry. Follow-up replication analyses in up to an additional 21,345 participants identified three new FPG loci reaching genome-wide significance in or near PDK1-RAPGEF4, KANK1, and IGF1R. Our results could provide additional insight into the genetic variation implicated in fasting glucose regulation.
Integrated use of phosphorus sources, phosphate solubilizing bacteria, and rhizobium enhanced growth, nitrogen, and phosphorus uptake in chickpea
Creators: name: Alamzeb, Madeeha
name: Iqbal, Asif
name: Inamullah
name: Iqbal, Mazhar
name: Ullah, Inam
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Space Science
subject: Medicine
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Evolutionary Biology
subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: Developmental Biology
subject: Plant Biology
subject: Virology
subject: Computational Biology

description: Expensive phosphatic fertilizers and limited phosphorus (P) availability hamper chickpea production in calcareous soils. Using cheaper P sources could reduce production costs. A field experiment assessed the combined effect of single superphosphate (SSP) and rock phosphate (RP) ratios (RP: SSP; 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, and 100:0), phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB; with and without), and rhizobium (with and without) on chickpea growth and N and P uptake. RP:SSP ratios of 0:100 and 25:75 yielded higher plant height, growth rate, branch number, N concentration in straw and seeds, crude protein content, and P concentration and uptake in both straw and seeds compared to the 100:0 ratio. PSB application significantly improved chickpea growth, seed and straw N concentration, seed crude protein, and P uptake. Rhizobium-inoculated seeds also enhanced growth, N and P concentration in straw and seed, and P uptake. PSB enhanced rhizobium efficiency by promoting chickpea growth and increasing N and P concentration and uptake through solubilizing low-availability P from RP and SSP. Using RP:SSP (25:75) with PSB and rhizobium is recommended for enhanced chickpea growth and nutrient uptake in calcareous soils.
title: Modelling of molecules on surfaces and thin-film photovoltaic absorbers
Creators: name: Czekala, Piotr
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2014

description: In this thesis a range of phenomena related to molecular adsorption on silicon surfaces is investigated. The majority of the studies are performed in response to experimental results, where, using newly developed methods within the framework of density functional theory, we aim to elucidate some of the underlying physics as well as test the performance of the chosen methodology. The studies cover a range of subjects such as molecularly mediated pinning of surface geometry, single molecular adsorptions, molecule migration via exited states and finally an analysis of coverage dependent adsorption phenomena, where interactions between molecules are mediated by the surface or enacted via dipole interactions. The main molecules of our simulations were water, ethylene, acetylene, and benzene, as well as halogenated hydrocarbons. We studied processes at two different surfaces, the Si(111)-7 x 7 surface, and the Si(100)-c(4 x 2) surface. Finally we simulated and characterized one type of grain boundary observed experimentally for a set of photovoltaic absorbers (CuInSe_{2}) and kesterite and stannite(Cu_{2}ZnSnSe_{4} or Cu_{2}ZnSnS_{4}) in order to resolve the open question of how these grain boundaries influence efficiencies of the photovoltaic device.
Uncover the intermediate period gap at the fully convective boundary
Creators: name: Lu, Yuxi
name: Curtis, Jason
name: Angus, Ruth
name: David, Trevor
name: Hattori, Soichiro
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023

description: The intermediate period gap, discovered by Kepler, is an observed dearth of stellar rotation periods in the temperature-period diagram at ~20 days for G dwarfs and up to ~30 days for early-M dwarfs. However, because Kepler mainly targeted solar-like stars, there is a lack of measured periods for M dwarfs, especially those at the fully convective limit. Therefore it is unclear if the intermediate period gap exists for mid- to late-M dwarfs. Here, we present a period catalog containing 40,553 rotation periods (9535 periods >10 days), measured using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). To measure these periods, we developed a simple pipeline that improves directly on the ZTF archival light curves and reduces the photometric scatter by 26%, on average. This new catalog spans a range of stellar temperatures that connect samples from Kepler with MEarth, a ground-based time-domain survey of bright M dwarfs, and reveals that the intermediate period gap closes at the theoretically predicted location of the fully convective boundary (G BP - G RP ~ 2.45 mag). This result supports the hypothesis that the gap is caused by core-envelope interactions. Using gyro-kinematic ages, we also find a potential rapid spin-down of stars across this period gap.
Metformin and Rapamycin Reduce Pancreatic Cancer Growth in Obese Prediabetic Mice by Distinct MicroRNA-Regulated Mechanisms
Creators: name: Dunlap, Sarah M.
name: Kaaks, Rudolf
name: Huang, Jennifer
name: Hursting, Stephen D.
name: Pollak, Michael N.
name: Cifarelli, Vincenza
name: Lashinger, Laura M.
name: Devlin, Kaylyn L.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2015

description: Metformin treatment is associated with a decreased risk and better prognosis of pancreatic cancer (PC) in patients with type 2 diabetes, but the mechanism of metformin’s PC growth inhibition in the context of a prediabetic state is unknown. We used a Panc02 pancreatic tumor cell transplant model in diet-induced obese (DIO) C57BL/6 mice to compare the effects of metformin and the direct mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor rapamycin on PC growth, glucose regulation, mTOR pathway signaling, and candidate microRNA (miR) expression. In DIO/prediabetic mice, metformin and rapamycin significantly reduced pancreatic tumor growth and mTOR-related signaling. The rapamycin effects centered on decreased mTOR-regulated growth and survival signaling, including increased expression of let-7b and cell cycle–regulating miRs. Metformin (but not rapamycin) reduced glucose and insulin levels and expression of miR-34a and its direct targets Notch, Slug, and Snail. Metformin also reduced the number and size of Panc02 tumor spheres in vitro and inhibited the expression of Notch in spheroids. Our results suggest that metformin and rapamycin can both inhibit pancreatic tumor growth in obese, prediabetic mice through shared and distinct mechanisms. Metformin and direct mTOR inhibitors, alone or possibly in combination, represent promising intervention strategies for breaking the diabetes-PC link.
Transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) polymorphism and context-specific risk of impaired fasting glucose in African American and Caucasian adults: the atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study
Creators: name: Boerwinkle, Eric
name: Yan, Yu
name: Klein, Ronald
name: Girman, Cynthia J.
name: Brancati, Frederick L.
name: Lange, Ethan M.
name: Pankow, James S.
name: Heiss, Gerardo
name: North, Kari E.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: Although variants in the transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene are consistently associated with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) in Caucasians, data from large population-based studies of African Americans are lacking. Moreover, few studies have investigated the effects of TCF7L2 on IFG in the context of metabolic risk factors for diabetes.
Faster quantum mixing for slowly evolving sequences of Markov chains
Creators: name: Orsucci, Davide
name: Briegel, Hans J.
name: Dunjko, Vedran
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
subject: Data Structures and Algorithms (cs.DS)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Markov chain methods are remarkably successful in computational physics, machine learning, and combinatorial optimization. The cost of such methods often reduces to the mixing time, i.e., the time required to reach the steady state of the Markov chain, which scales as $δ^{-1}$, the inverse of the spectral gap. It has long been conjectured that quantum computers offer nearly generic quadratic improvements for mixing problems. However, except in special cases, quantum algorithms achieve a run-time of $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{δ^{-1}} \sqrt{N})$, which introduces a costly dependence on the Markov chain size $N,$ not present in the classical case. Here, we re-address the problem of mixing of Markov chains when these form a slowly evolving sequence. This setting is akin to the simulated annealing setting and is commonly encountered in physics, material sciences and machine learning. We provide a quantum memory-efficient algorithm with a run-time of $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{δ^{-1}} \sqrt[4]{N})$, neglecting logarithmic terms, which is an important improvement for large state spaces. Moreover, our algorithms output quantum encodings of distributions, which has advantages over classical outputs. Finally, we discuss the run-time bounds of mixing algorithms and show that, under certain assumptions, our algorithms are optimal.
description: 20 pages, 2 figures
The combined influence of genetic factors and sedentary activity on body mass changes from adolescence to young adulthood: the National Longitudinal Adolescent Health Study
Creators: name: Graff, M.
name: Gordon-Larsen, P.
name: Guo, G.
name: Monda, K. L.
name: Lange, E. M.
name: North, K. E.
name: Lange, L. A.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Relatively few studies have interrogated gene-by sedentary behavior interactions on obesity phenotypes. Increasing sedentary behaviors (e.g., screen time: television, video, and computer use), have paralleled declines in physical activity in the United States and may play an important role in weight gain. Our purpose in this paper is to examine the possible influence of screen time during adolescence on the additive genetic variance of body mass change during a critical point in the lifecycle, the transition from adolescence to young adulthood.
Sex differences in mobility recovery after hip fracture: a time series analysis
Creators: name: Jansen, Carl-Philipp
name: Engdal, Monika
name: Peter, Raphael S.
name: Helbostad, Jorunn L.
name: Taraldsen, Kristin
name: Vereijken, Beatrix
name: Pfeiffer, Klaus
name: Becker, Clemens
name: Klenk, Jochen
Publisher: name: Universität Ulm
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Sex differences
subject: Digital mobility outcomes
subject: Real-world walking
subject: Hip fracture
subject: Mobility
subject: DDC 610 / Medicine & health

description: Introduction Sex differences are commonly reported for hip fracture incidence rates and recovery. Current knowledge about mobility recovery after hip fracture involves clinical assessments of physical capacity or patient-reported outcomes. Information on mobility performance during daily life is missing but relevant to evaluate patients’ recovery. Hence, it remains unclear whether sex differences exist in the longitudinal progression of mobility performance in hip fracture patients. To investigate this, we pooled data from four studies in Germany and Norway. Methods In all studies, real-world mobility was assessed continuously over 1 to 7 days using a sensor fixed to the unaffected frontal thigh. All studies assessed mobility at different time points that were allocated to three distinct phases: Acute and post-acute phase (week 1–6), extended recovery (7–26), and long-term recovery (27–52). Sex-specific continuous trajectories of the median (50th percentile) as well as the 1st (25th percentile) and 3rd quartile (75th percentile) were estimated using quantile regression models with splines for daily walking and standing duration; number of sit-to-stand-to-walk transfers and walking bouts; mean walking bout duration; maximum number of steps per walking bout. Results There were 5,900 valid observation days from n  = 717 participants (mean age = 83.4 years, SD 6.1). The majority was female (75.3%), with similar sex distribution across all studies. Demographics of both sexes were comparable, but a higher percentage of women was living alone (69.0% compared to 40.9% in men) and had experienced an indoor fall leading to the fracture (74.3% compared to 67.4% in men). There were clear sex differences in mobility recovery. Women improved their mobility faster than men, but men showed larger increases later in the year after surgery. At the end of the first year, both sexes reached comparable levels in almost all mobility parameters. Conclusion We identified varying aspects of mobility recovery between men and women, i.e., timely development of mobility recovery shows different patterns. Our findings support the consideration of sex differences in planning and implementing rehabilitation measures for hip fracture patients and highlight the need to provide adapted support at different time points. The underlying mechanisms of these sex differences need further investigation. © In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Quality of Diabetes Care in U.S. Academic Medical Centers: Low rates of medical regimen change
Creators: name: Grant, R. W.
name: Buse, J. B.
name: Meigs, J. B.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2005

description: To assess both standard and novel diabetes quality measures in a national sample of U.S. academic medical centers.
Association Between Maternal Diabetes in Utero and Age at Offspring's Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes
Creators: name: Beyer, J.
name: Liese, A. D.
name: Hillier, T. A.
name: Dolan, L. M.
name: Imperatore, G.
name: Pettitt, D. J.
name: Dabelea, D.
name: Linder, B.
name: Lawrence, J. M.
name: Loots, B.
name: Mayer-Davis, B.
name: Liu, L.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2008

description: OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to examine age of diabetes diagnosis in youth who have a parent with diabetes by diabetes type and whether the parent's diabetes was diagnosed before or after the youth's birth.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—The cohort comprised SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study participants (diabetes diagnosis 2001–2005) with a diabetic parent. SEARCH is a multicenter survey of youth with diabetes diagnosed before age 20 years.RESULTS—Youth with type 2 diabetes were more likely to have a parent with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes (mother 39.3%; father 21.2%) than youth with type 1 diabetes (5.3 and 6.7%, respectively, P < 0.001 for each). Type 2 diabetes was diagnosed 1.68 years earlier among those exposed to diabetes in utero (n = 174) than among those whose mothers’ diabetes was diagnosed later (P = 0.018, controlled for maternal diagnosis age, paternal diabetes, sex, and race/ethnicity). Age at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes for 269 youth with and without in utero exposure did not differ significantly (difference 0.96 year, P = 0.403 after adjustment). Controlled for the father's age of diagnosis, father's diabetes before the child's birth was not associated with age at diagnosis (P = 0.078 for type 1 diabetes; P = 0.140 for type 2 diabetes).CONCLUSIONS—Type 2 diabetes was diagnosed at younger ages among those exposed to hyperglycemia in utero. Among youth with type 1 diabetes, the effect of the intrauterine exposure was not significant when controlled for mother's age of diagnosis. This study helps explain why other studies have found higher age-specific rates of type 2 diabetes among offspring of women with diabetes.
title: Analysing how the Arabidopsis circadian network responds to temperature
Creators: name: Wareham, Benjamin
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2014

description: The circadian clock is an endogenous 24 hours oscillator found within many organisms. It is involved in controlling gene regulation so that different processes are activated at specific times of the day. The clock maintains regular cycles with a period of approximately 24 hours in a range of conditions such as changing environmental temperature. In the past decade, great steps forward have been made in understanding the network of genes that control the circadian clock, and how these are able to maintain their rhythm in a range of conditions. However, existing models are still limited by which conditions they can accurately simulate. Here it was shown that the topology of the circadian clock in Arabidopsis thaliana changes with changing environmental temperature. This was initially investigated using transcriptomic data from ATH1 arrays. This analysis showed that plant buffering to a changing environmental temperature is controlled at a systems level and are not just controlled by a few genes. These changes occur broadly across different biological functions. However, an in-depth analysis suggests temperature responses are primarily regulated by a balancing act between transcription, translation and protein degradation. Further analysis also identified 13 genes important for temperature compensation. This was confirmed using a delayed fluorescence screen to analysis the circadian rhythm it mutants where these genes had their expression knocked out. Using a large luciferase data set, it was demonstrated how circadian genes were expressed relative to each other. Initial cluster results suggested that whilst several genes were repeatedly clustered together at different temperatures, the clustering of many genes changed with temperature. This data was then used to create networks using network inference software, which mathematically predicts gene relationships. Network inference successfully recreated networks similar to existing models. However the networks produced for each temperature had significant differences.
Radiative Seesaw in Minimal 3-3-1 Model
Creators: name: Okada, Hiroshi
name: Okada, Nobuchika
name: Orikasa, Yuta
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the neutrino sector in a minimal $SU(3)_L\times U(1)_X$ model, in which its mass is generated at one-loop level with the charged lepton mass, and hence there exists a strong correlation between the charged-lepton mass and the neutrino mass. We identify the parameter region of this model to satisfy the current neutrino oscillation data as well as the constraints on lepton flavor violating processes. We also discuss a possibility to explain the muon anomalous magnetic moment.
description: 15 pages, 4 figures, 1 table: version accepted for publication in Physical Review D
Association of Intrauterine Exposure to Maternal Diabetes and Obesity With Type 2 Diabetes in Youth: The SEARCH Case-Control Study
Creators: name: Narayan, K.M. V.
name: Vehik, K. S.
name: Dabelea, D.
name: Liese, A. D.
name: D'Agostino, R. B.
name: Mayer-Davis, E. J.
name: Zeitler, P.
name: Hamman, R. F.
name: Lamichhane, A. P.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2008

description: Limited data exist on the association between in utero exposure to maternal diabetes and obesity and type 2 diabetes in diverse youth. These associations were explored in African-American, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white youth participating in the SEARCH Case-Control Study. A total of 79 youth with type 2 diabetes and 190 nondiabetic control youth aged 10-22 years attended a research visit. In utero exposures to maternal diabetes and obesity were recalled by biological mothers. Youth with type 2 diabetes were more likely to have been exposed to maternal diabetes or obesity in utero than were nondiabetic control youth (P < 0.0001 for each). After adjusting for offspring age, sex, and race/ethnicity, exposure to maternal diabetes (odds ratio [OR] 5.7 [95% CI 2.4-13.4]) and exposure to maternal obesity (2.8 [1.5-5.2]) were independently associated with type 2 diabetes. Adjustment for other perinatal and socioeconomic factors did not alter these associations. When offspring BMI was added, the OR for the association between in utero exposure to obesity and type 2 diabetes was attenuated toward the null (OR 1.1 [0.5-2.4]). Overall, 47.2% (95% CI 30.9-63.5) of type 2 diabetes in youth could be attributed to intrauterine exposure to maternal diabetes and obesity. Intrauterine exposures to maternal diabetes and obesity are strongly associated with type 2 diabetes in youth. Prevention efforts may need to target, in addition to childhood obesity, the increasing number of pregnancies complicated by obesity and diabetes.