cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Evolution of the afterglow optical spectral shape of GRB 201015A in the first hour: evidence for dust destruction
Creators: name: Komesh, Toktarkhan
name: Grossan, Bruce
name: Maksut, Zhanat
name: Abdikamalov, Ernazar
name: Krugov, Maxim
name: Smoot, George F.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Instruments such as the ROTSE, TORTORA, Pi of the Sky, MASTER-net, and others have recorded single-band optical flux measurements of gamma-ray bursts starting as early as $\thicksim$ 10 seconds after gamma-ray trigger. The earliest measurements of optical spectral shape have been made only much later, typically on hour time scales, never starting less than a minute after trigger, until now. Beginning only 58 seconds after the \emph{Swift} BAT triggerred on GRB201015A, we observed a sharp rise in optical flux to a peak, followed by a power law temporal decay, $\propto t^{-0.81 \pm 0.03}$. Flux was measured simultaneously in three optical bands, g\p, r\p, and i\p, using our Burst Simultaneous Three-channel Imager (BSTI) on the NUTTelA-TAO telescope. Our data during the decay show strong colour evolution from red to blue, with a change in the optical log slope of $+0.72 \pm 0.14$; during this time the X-ray log slope remained constant. We did not find evidence for a two-component jet structure or a transition from reverse to forward shock or a prompt emission component that would explain this change in slope. We find that the majority of the optical spectral slope evolution is consistent with a monotonic decay of extinction, evidence of dust destruction. Assuming a constant source spectral slope and an SMC-like extinction curve, we derive a change in the local extinction $A_\mathrm{v}^\mathrm{local}$ from $\thicksim$0.8 mag to 0.3 mag in $\thicksim$2500 seconds. This work shows that significant information about the early emission phase is being missed without such early observations with simultaneous multi-band instruments.
description: 7 pages, 3 figures. MNRAS: Accepted 2023 February 15. Received 2023 February 14; in original form 2022 November 3
पशुपोषण का गोवंश प्रजनन व उत्पादन में महत्व
Creators: name: डॉ. राहुल चौहाण1, डॉ. देवांगिनी पंड्या2 एवं डॉ. प्रचण्ड प्रताप सिंह3.
Publisher: name: veterinary today
Year: 2024

description: किसानों को अच्छी नस्ल एवं उच्च गुणवत्ता वाले पशुओं में अक्सर प्रजनन व उत्पादन सम्बन्धित समस्याओं से सामना करना ही पड़ता है। प्रायः यह देखा गया है कि किसान अपने पास उपलब्ध सभी प्रकार के दाने व चारे पशुओं को उपलब्ध तो करवाता है परन्तु अपने सीमित ज्ञान के अनुसार ही खिलाई-पिलाई करने के कारण इनमें प्रजनन (रिप्रोडक्शन) क्षमता की कमी बनी रहती है। यह भी देखने में आया है कि उपयुक्त संसाधन सम्पन्न और सक्षम पशुपालक भी, पशुओं की प्रजनन सम्बन्धित समस्याओं से जूझते रहते हैं और काफी धन व्यय करने के उपरान्त भी पशु से उचित उत्पादकता प्राप्त नहीं कर पाते। पशुओं के प्रजनन व उत्पादन क्षमता में कमी के निम्नलिखित प्रमुख कारण हैं-
Genistein effects on stromal cells determines epithelial proliferation in endometrial co-cultures
Creators: name: Lewis, Terrence D.
name: Sampey, Brante P.
name: Barbier, Claire S.
name: Makowski, Liza
name: Kaufman, David G.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Estrogen is the leading etiologic factor for endometrial cancer. Estrogen-induced proliferation of endometrial epithelial cells normally requires paracrine growth factors produced by stromal cells. Epidemiologic evidence indicates that dietary soy prevents endometrial cancer, and implicates the phytoestrogen genistein in this effect. However, results from previous studies are conflicting regarding the effects of genistein on hormone responsive cancers.
Upper-division student difficulties with the Dirac delta function
Creators: name: Wilcox, Bethany R.
name: Pollock, Steven J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Physics Education (physics.ed-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The Dirac delta function is a standard mathematical tool that appears repeatedly in the undergraduate physics curriculum in multiple topical areas including electrostatics, and quantum mechanics. While Dirac delta functions are often introduced in order to simplify a problem mathematically, students still struggle to manipulate and interpret them. To characterize student difficulties with the delta function at the upper-division level, we examined students' responses to traditional exam questions and a standardized conceptual assessment, and conducted think-aloud interviews. Our analysis was guided by an analytical framework that focuses on how students activate, construct, execute, and reflect on the Dirac delta function in the context of problem solving in physics. Here, we focus on student difficulties using the delta function to express charge distributions in the context of junior-level electrostatics. Common challenges included: invoking the delta function spontaneously, translating a description of a charge distribution into a mathematical expression using delta functions, integrating 3D or non-Cartesian delta function expressions, and recognizing that the delta function can have units. We also briefly discuss implications of these difficulties for instruction.
description: 9 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research
Impact of Inflammation and Psychosocial Stress on White Matter and Cognition in Older African Americans
Creators: name: Boots, Elizabeth A
Publisher: name: University of Illinois at Chicago
Year: 2022
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: Inflammation has been implicated in the pathogenic process of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) including detrimental changes to white matter integrity and cognition. Inflammation has also been associated with psychosocial stressors in older African Americans. Few studies have investigated inflammation, psychosocial stressors, and brain-behavior longitudinally within this population despite increased risk for ADRD. We examined associations between changes in inflammation and changes in cognition and white matter integrity over time, and whether psychosocial stressors modify these relationships in older African Americans. 114 participants without dementia at baseline (mean age=75.69 years; 85.1% female) completed blood draws, cognitive testing, questionnaires of discrimination and early life adversity, and MRI at two or more time points (mean follow-up: cognitive=5.42 years; MRI=3.72 years). Blood serum from two time points was assayed using ELISA for interleukin-6 (IL-6), c-reactive protein (CRP), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and a change score was created for each inflammatory marker. Raw scores from 19 neuropsychological tests were z-scored and combined to create a global cognition composite and five cognitive domain scores. Neuroimaging metrics including white matter hyperintensities; diffusion tensor imaging indices of fractional anisotropy, trace, radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity (AD); and R2 quantified white matter integrity. In linear mixed models adjusted for relevant covariates, there were no significant associations between any inflammatory change scores and cognition or white matter integrity indices longitudinally. Discrimination was associated with change in IL-6 over time, and significantly modified the association between CRP and cognitive change where participants with increasing CRP and higher levels of discrimination demonstrated steeper declines in perceptual speed. Discrimination significantly modified associations between TNF-α and AD where higher discrimination and increasing TNF-α resulted in increases in AD over time. Higher levels of discrimination and early life adversity coupled with increasing CRP resulted in RD and AD decreases over time, as well. Together, findings indicate that considering the combined effect of inflammation and psychosocial stressors on white matter integrity and cognition in longitudinal studies of older African Americans may be an important combination for identifying risk and resilience factors in a population with increased risk for ADRD.
Structure and elasticity of model disordered, polydisperse and defect-free polymer networks
Creators: name: Sorichetti, Valerio
name: Ninarello, Andrea
name: Ruiz-Franco, José
name: Hugouvieux, Virginie
name: Zaccarelli, Emanuela
name: Micheletti, Cristian
name: Kob, Walter
name: Rovigatti, Lorenzo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
subject: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The elasticity of disordered and polydisperse polymer networks is a fundamental problem of soft matter physics that is still open. Here, we self-assemble polymer networks via simulations of a mixture of bivalent and tri- or tetravalent patchy particles, which result in an exponential strand length distribution analogous to that of experimental randomly crosslinked systems. After assembly, the network connectivity and topology are frozen and the resulting system is characterized. We find that the fractal structure of the network depends on the number density at which the assembly has been carried out, but that systems with the same mean valence and same assembly density have the same structural properties. Moreover, we compute the long-time limit of the mean-squared displacement, also known as the (squared) localization length, of the crosslinks and of the middle monomers of the strands, showing that the dynamics of long strands is well described by the tube model. Finally, we find a relation connecting these two localization lengths at high density, and connect the crosslink localization length to the shear modulus of the system.
description: 37 pages, 12 figures; fixed equation at pag. 24 and typos
Benchmark for Models Predicting Human Behavior in Gap Acceptance Scenarios
Creators: name: Schumann, Julian Frederik
name: Kober, Jens
name: Zgonnikov, Arkady
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Robotics (cs.RO)
subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Autonomous vehicles currently suffer from a time-inefficient driving style caused by uncertainty about human behavior in traffic interactions. Accurate and reliable prediction models enabling more efficient trajectory planning could make autonomous vehicles more assertive in such interactions. However, the evaluation of such models is commonly oversimplistic, ignoring the asymmetric importance of prediction errors and the heterogeneity of the datasets used for testing. We examine the potential of recasting interactions between vehicles as gap acceptance scenarios and evaluating models in this structured environment. To that end, we develop a framework aiming to facilitate the evaluation of any model, by any metric, and in any scenario. We then apply this framework to state-of-the-art prediction models, which all show themselves to be unreliable in the most safety-critical situations.
description: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted by in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles, 2023
FedLesScan: Mitigating Stragglers in Serverless Federated Learning
Creators: name: Elzohairy, Mohamed
name: Chadha, Mohak
name: Jindal, Anshul
name: Grafberger, Andreas
name: Gu, Jianfeng
name: Gerndt, Michael
name: Abboud, Osama
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing (cs.DC)
subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Federated Learning (FL) is a machine learning paradigm that enables the training of a shared global model across distributed clients while keeping the training data local. While most prior work on designing systems for FL has focused on using stateful always running components, recent work has shown that components in an FL system can greatly benefit from the usage of serverless computing and Function-as-a-Service technologies. To this end, distributed training of models with serverless FL systems can be more resource-efficient and cheaper than conventional FL systems. However, serverless FL systems still suffer from the presence of stragglers, i.e., slow clients due to their resource and statistical heterogeneity. While several strategies have been proposed for mitigating stragglers in FL, most methodologies do not account for the particular characteristics of serverless environments, i.e., cold-starts, performance variations, and the ephemeral stateless nature of the function instances. Towards this, we propose FedLesScan, a novel clustering-based semi-asynchronous training strategy, specifically tailored for serverless FL. FedLesScan dynamically adapts to the behaviour of clients and minimizes the effect of stragglers on the overall system. We implement our strategy by extending an open-source serverless FL system called FedLess. Moreover, we comprehensively evaluate our strategy using the 2nd generation Google Cloud Functions with four datasets and varying percentages of stragglers. Results from our experiments show that compared to other approaches FedLesScan reduces training time and cost by an average of 8% and 20% respectively while utilizing clients better with an average increase in the effective update ratio of 17.75%.
description: IEEE BigData 2022
Interrelationships in Urban Infrastructure Use: Transport, Electricity, Water, and Gas
Creators: name: Movahedi, Ali
Publisher: name: University of Illinois at Chicago
Year: 2022
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: As cities keep growing worldwide, so does the demand for key resources such as electricity, gas, water, and transportation. Meeting the demand for these resources can be challenging and it requires an understanding of their usage patterns. The analysis of available infrastructure use data in relation to other components of the infrastructure can help better understand demand patterns of infrastructure to eventually enhance their sustainability and resilience. The main goal of the dissertation is to better understand the interrelations and interdependencies between urban infrastructure systems, both in terms of supply and demand. In chapter 2, I apply extreme gradient boosting to develop three models: electricity, gas, and water consumption in large-scale buildings in New York City, and I use SHapley Additive exPlanation to interpret the results. I find seven major findings that are summarized at the end of the chapter. Overall, I find that electricity, gas, and water consumptions are highly interrelated, but the interrelationships are complex and not universal. In chapter 3, I apply self-organizing map (SOM) to cluster daily electricity consumption patterns in Chicago before and during the COVID-19 pandemic to gain a deeper understanding of electricity consumption patterns and to study how electricity consumption patterns have changed during the pandemic. In chapter 4, I study the relationships between travel demand and electricity consumption using Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) networks. Specifically, I predict electricity consumption in zip codes around Chicago using traffic volume as the only independent variable. In total, I developed and analyzed the results of over 250 models and identify complex temporal and spatial relationships. Overall, the dissertation contributes to the urban metabolism literature that ultimately aims to gain a fundamental understanding of how energy and resources are consumed and interrelated in cities.
State-independent Nonadiabatic Geometric Quantum Gates
Creators: name: Liang, Yan
name: Shen, Pu
name: Ji, Li-Na
name: Xue, Zheng Yuan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Quantum computation has demonstrated advantages over classical computation for special hard problems, where a set of universal quantum gates is essential. Geometric phases, which have built-in resilience to local noise, have been used to construct quantum gates with excellent performance. However, this advantage has been smeared in previous schemes. Here, we propose a state-independent nonadiabatic geometric quantum-gate scheme that is able to realize a more fully geometric gate than previous approaches, allowing for the cancelation of dynamical phases accumulated by an arbitrary state. Numerical simulations demonstrate that our scheme has significantly stronger gate robustness than the previous geometric and dynamical ones. Meanwhile, we give a detailed physical implementation of our scheme with the Rydberg atom system based on the Rydberg blockade effect, specifically for multiqubit control-phase gates, which exceeds the fault-tolerance threshold of multiqubit quantum gates within the considered error range. Therefore, our scheme provides a promising way for fault-tolerant quantum computation in atomic systems.
On the evaluation of solar wind's heating rates
Creators: name: Zaslavsky, Arnaud
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
subject: Space Physics (physics.space-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Solar wind heating rates have often been calculated by fitting plasma and magnetic field data with a set of model functions. In this letter, we show that the rates obtained by such an approach strongly depend on the rather arbitrary choice one makes for these model functions. An alternative approach, consisting in monitoring the radial evolution of the adiabatic invariants, based on locally and consistently measured plasma and magnetic field parameters, is free from such a flaw. We apply this technique to a recently released Helios proton dataset, and confirm the existence of a clear perpendicular heating of solar wind's protons. On the other hand, no significant change in the parallel adiabatic invariant is visible in the data. We conclude that to date, and in the distance range of 0.3 to 1 AU, no clear observation of a deviation of solar wind's protons from parallel adiabaticity has ever been made.
description: 16 pages, 2 figures
The Relevance of Type in Semantic Analyses of Incremental Theme Predicates in English and Spanish
Creators: name: Anderson, Timothy L
Publisher: name: University of Illinois at Chicago
Year: 2022
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: The present study investigates the relevance of type in semantic analyses of incremental theme predicates (ITPs) with a specific focus on how type influences the availability of incompletion readings for accomplishment ITPs in both English and Spanish. To investigate this question, the present study employs techniques from experimental semantics. Two formal controlled experiments, one for each language of investigation, were conducted in which native speakers were asked to judge the acceptability of accomplishment ITPs of different types when modified by time adverbials to effect an aspectual shift to an incompletion activity reading. In English, incompletion readings of accomplishment ITPs were judged more acceptable on the whole for definite change ITPs than for creation and consumption ITPs, with no significant difference in acceptability observed between the latter two types. These results suggest that ITP type is a relevant factor and should be considered in formulating semantic analyses of ITPs. The results of the experiment involving Spanish corroborated the findings for English, albeit in a qualified way both because of the need to limit the types of ITPs investigated and because of a certain anomaly observed in the data believed to have arisen because of something related to the experimental design. By way of explanation of the results obtained in both experiments, the present study suggests that the observed differences in ITP behavior relate to fundamental essential differences between incremental themes undergoing definite change, as opposed to themes incrementally created or consumed.
Re-establishment of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) between human endometrial carcinomas by prostaglandin E2
Creators: name: Schlemmer, Scott R.
name: Kaufman, David G.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2012

description: Reduced intercellular communication via gap junctions is correlated with carcinogenesis. Gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC), between normal human endometrial epithelial cells is enhanced when endometrial stromal cells were present in culture. This enhancement of GJIC between normal epithelial cells also occurs when they are cultured in medium conditioned by stromal cells. This observation indicated that a soluble compound (or compounds) produced and secreted by stromal cells mediates GJIC in epithelial cells. Previous studies have shown that endometrial stromal cells release prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) under physiological conditions. When we evaluated the response of normal endometrial epithelial cells to various concentrations of PGE2, we found enhanced GJIC with 1 nM PGE2. This is a smaller increase in GJIC than that induced by medium conditioned by stromal cells. When the extracellular concentration of PGE2 was measured after incubation with stromal cells, it was found to be similar to the concentrations showing maximal GJIC between the normal epithelial cells. When indomethecin was used to inhibit prostaglandin synthesis by stromal cells, GJIC was reduced but not eliminated between normal endometrial epithelial cells. These observations suggest that although PGE2 secreted by stromal cells is an important mediator of GJIC between the epithelial cells, it is not the sole mediator. Transformed endometrial epithelial cells did not demonstrate GJIC even in the presence of stromal cells. However, we were able to re-establish GJIC in transformed epithelial cells when we added PGE2 to the cells. Our findings show that PGE2 may serve as an intercellular mediator between stromal and epithelial cells that regulates GJIC in normal and malignant epithelial cells. This suggests that maintenance of GJIC by preserving or replacing PGE2 secretion by endometrial stromal cells may have the potential to suppress carcinogenesis in endometrial epithelial cells.
The complex and quaternionic quantum bit from relativity of simultaneity on an interferometer
Creators: name: Garner, Andrew J. P.
name: Müller, Markus P.
name: Dahlsten, Oscar C. O.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The patterns of fringes produced by an interferometer have long been important testbeds for our best contemporary theories of physics. Historically, interference has been used to contrast quantum mechanics to classical physics, but recently experiments have been performed that test quantum theory against even more exotic alternatives. A physically motivated family of theories are those where the state space of a two-level system is given by a sphere of arbitrary dimension. This includes classical bits, and real, complex and quaternionic quantum theory. In this paper, we consider relativity of simultaneity (that observers may disagree about the order of events at different locations) as applied to a two-armed interferometer, and show that this forbids most interference phenomena more complicated than those of complex quantum theory. If interference must depend on some relational property of the setting (such as path difference), then relativity of simultaneity will limit state spaces to standard complex quantum theory, or a subspace thereof. If this relational assumption is relaxed, we find one additional theory compatible with relativity of simultaneity: quaternionic quantum theory. Our results have consequences for current laboratory interference experiments: they have to be designed carefully to avoid rendering beyond-quantum effects invisible by relativity of simultaneity.
description: Authors' accepted manuscript
Curvature dynamics in General Relativity
Creators: name: van Holten, Jan W.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: 83C05, 83C25

description: The equations of General Relativity are recast in the form of a wave equation for the Weyl tensor. This allows to reformulate gravitational wave theory in terms of curvature waves, rather than metric waves. The existence of two transverse polarization states for curvature waves is proven and in the linearized approximation the quadrupole formula is rederived. A perturbative scheme to extend the linearized result to the non-linear regime is outlined.
description: 13 pages plus tittle page and abstract; revised version [v2]: small changes in text, acknowledgement and references added; [v3]: equation (22) simplified, appendix added
Magnetotransport induced by anomalous Hall effect
Creators: name: Zhao, Jiaji
name: Jiang, Bingyan
name: Yang, Jinying
name: Wang, Lujunyu
name: Shi, Hengjie
name: Tian, Guang
name: Li, Zhilin
name: Liu, Enke
name: Wu, Xiaosong
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In a magnetic metal, the Hall resistance is generally taken to be the sum of the ordinary Hall resistance and the anomalous Hall resistance. Here it is shown that this empirical relation is no longer valid when either the ordinary Hall angle or the anomalous Hall angle is not small. Using the proper conductivity relation, we reveal an unexpected magnetoresistance (MR) induced by the anomalous Hall effect (AHE). A $B$-linear MR arises and the sign of the slope depends on the sign of the anomalous Hall angle, giving rise to a characteristic bowtie shape. The Hall resistance in a single-band system can exhibit a nonlinearity which is usually considered as a characteristic of a two-band system. A $B$-symmetric component appears in the Hall. These effects reflect the fundamental difference between the ordinary Hall effect and the AHE. Furthermore, we experimentally reproduce the unusual MR and Hall reported before in Co$_3$Sn$_2$S$_2$ and show that these observations can be well explained by the proposed mechanism. MR often observed in quantum anomalous Hall insulators provides further confirmation of the picture. The effect may also account for the large MR observed in non-magnetic three-dimensional topological Dirac semimetals.
description: 17 pages, 4 figures. Featured as a PRB Editor's Suggestion
A Comprehensive Analysis of the Magnetic Standard Star HD 94660: Host of a Massive Compact Companion?
Creators: name: Bailey, J. D.
name: Grunhut, J.
name: Landstreet, J. D.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Detailed information about the magnetic geometry, atmospheric abundances and radial velocity variations has been obtained for the magnetic standard star HD 94660 based on high-dispersion spectroscopic and spectropolarimetric observations from the UVES, HARPSpol and ESPaDOnS instruments. We perform a detailed chemical abundance analysis using the spectrum synthesis code zeeman for a total of 17 elements. Using both line-of-sight and surface magnetic field measurements, we derive a simple magnetic field model that consists of dipole, quadrupole and octupole components. The observed magnetic field variations of HD 94660 are complex and suggest an inhomogeneous distribution of chemical elements over the stellar surface. This inhomogeneity is not reflected in the abundance analysis, from which all available spectra are modelled, but only a mean abundance is reported for each element. The derived abundances are mostly non-solar, with striking overabundances of Fe-peak and rare-earth elements. Of note are the clear signatures of vertical chemical stratification throughout the stellar atmosphere, most notably for the Fe-peak elements. We also report on the detection of radial velocity variations with a total range of 35 km/s in the spectra of HD 94660. A preliminary analysis shows the most likely period of these variations to be of order 840 d and, based on the derived orbital parameters of this star, suggests the first detection of a massive compact companion for a main sequence magnetic star. HD 94660 exhibits interestingly complex magnetic field variations and remarkable radial velocity variations. Long term monitoring is necessary to provide further constraints on the nature of these radial velocity variations. Detection of a companion will help establish the role of binarity in the origin of magnetism in stars with radiative envelopes.
description: 12 pages, Accepted for publication in A&A
Maestro: Stories
Creators: name: Jok, Laura Mary
Publisher: name: University of Illinois at Chicago
Year: 2022
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: Maestro, a collection of thematically linked short fiction about expertise, intimacy, and music, flouts boundaries between authority and uncertainty, the individual and the other, through the title story’s conductor, who must perform a competence beyond any one person’s capacity—imagining how it feels to voice each character and play every instrument—to orchestrate a concerted effort. The experiments in perspective across the collection are influenced by nineteenth-century omniscience in which the authorial narrator exhibits a distinct personality at once human and knowing. The heightened formal effects of second-person point of view or free indirect discourse emphasize the virtuosic suspension of disbelief and the etudes in empathy and authority that all fiction demands; for a moment, the readers inhabit the characters and assume the position of the maestro.
Adverse effect of mild temperature hyperthermia combined with hexamethylenetetramine compared to its effect combined with tirapazamine in the treatment of solid tumors
Creators: name: MASUNAGA, SHIN-ICHIRO
name: TANO, KEIZO
name: KASHINO, GENRO
name: ONO, KOJI
name: KINASHI, YUKO
name: NAKAMURA, JUN
name: SUZUKI, MINORU
name: WATANABE, MASAMI
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: This study aimed to assess the effect on solid tumors of mild temperature hyperthermia (MTH) combined with hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) or tirapazamine (TPZ). Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC VII) tumor-bearing mice were continuously administered 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) to label intratumor proliferating (P) cells. Mice received HMTA or TPZ through intraperitoneal single or subcutaneous continuous administration, with or without MTH (40°C, 60 min), followed or not by γ-ray irradiation or cisplatin treatment. After HMTA or TPZ administration without γ-ray irradiation or cisplatin treatment, immediately after γ-ray irradiation, or 1 h after cisplatin treatment, the response of quiescent (Q) cells was assessed in terms of micronucleus frequency using immunofluorescence staining for BrdU. The response of the total (P + Q) tumor cells was determined based on a comparison with non-BrdU-treated tumors. Without MTH, HMTA and TPZ had a nearly equal radiosensitizing and cisplatin sensitivity-enhancing effect on both total and Q cells. With MTH, radio- and cisplatin-sensitizing effects by HMTA were reduced, particularly in the Q cells. In contrast, the enhancing effects of TPZ were increased, particularly in the Q cells. Continuous administration of HMTA and TPZ resulted in higher radio- and cisplatin-sensitizing effects than intraperitoneal single administration. In terms of tumor cytotoxicity as a whole, including Q cells, the administration of γ-ray irradiation or cisplatin treatment combined with continuous HMTA administration is promising, taking into account the clinical use of HMTA. However, MTH should not be combined with HMTA administration.
Frequency Spectra Analysis of Space and Time Averaged Quantum Stress Tensor Fluctuations
Creators: name: Wu, Peter
name: Ford, L. H.
name: Schiappacasse, Enrico D.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Observing physical effects of large quantum stress tensor fluctuations requires knowledge of the interactions between the probe and the particles of the underlying quantum fields. The quantum stress tensor operators must first be averaged in time alone or space and time to confer meaningful results, the details of which may correspond to the physical measurement process. We build on prior results to characterize the particle frequencies associated with quantum fluctuations of different magnitudes. For the square of time derivatives of the massless scalar field in a spherical cavity, we find that these frequencies are bounded above in a power law behavior. Our findings provide a way identify the largest quantum fluctuation that may be probed in experiments relying on frequency-dependent interactions.
description: 25 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. V2: updated to version published in Physical Review D
A Novel Regulatory Role of Tomosyn in HOPS-dependent Endo-lysosomal Function in C. elegans Coelomocytes
Creators: name: Gallik, Kristin
Publisher: name: University of Illinois at Chicago
Year: 2022
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: Intracellular membrane fusion events between endosomes, lysosomes, and autophagosomes are critical to maintaining cellular health. Dysfunction of these steps can lead to severe functional defects such as cognitive impairments and premature death. We previously identified VPS-39 as a binding partner of the WD40-repeat domains of C. elegans Tomosyn in a yeast two-hybrid assay. Tomosyn is a known inhibitor of exocytic membrane fusion and prevents excessive neurotransmitter release. VPS-39 is a member of the HOPS complex which is essential for mediating endomembrane fusion and embryonic survival. The interaction of these proteins revealed a potential novel role for Tomosyn in regulating endomembrane fusion. In this thesis, we characterize the novel relationship of VPS-39 and Tomosyn in regulating endomembrane fusion events in C. elegans coelomocytes. We hypothesized that Tomosyn and VPS-39 function together at the junction of late endosomes and lysosomes to regulate the fusion of these organelles. Our investigation of this hypothesis using fluorescence markers and ultrastructural data provides evidence to support our proposed mechanism. Additionally, this body of work provides the first reported analysis of entire coelomocytes using ultrathin serial sections, the first evidence that Tomosyn functions in regulating endomembrane fusion events, and that VPS-39 displays in vivo RAB-7 GEF activity.
Hongiella marincola Yoon, Yeo & Oh, 2004, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Yoon, Jung-Hoon
name: Soo-Hwan Yeo
name: Tae-Kwang Oh
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2004
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Bacteria
Bacteroidetes
Sphingobacteria
Sphingobacteriales
Hongiella
Hongiella marincola

description: Description of Hongiella marincola sp. nov. Hongiella marincola (ma.rin9co.la. L. gen. n. maris of the sea; L. n. incola inhabitant; N.L. n. marincola inhabitant of the sea). Cells are rods, 0·4–0·6×2·0–3·0 µm on MA. Non-motile. Colonies are circular, smooth, low convex, glistening, moderately reddish-orange in colour and 1·0–2·0 mm in diameter after 3 days incubation at 37 °C on MA. Optimal growth temperature is 37 °C. Growth occurs at 10 and 45 °C, but not at 4 °C or above 46 °C. Optimal pH for growth is between 6·5 and 7·5. Growth is observed at pH 5·5, but not at pH 5·0. Optimal growth occurs in the presence of 2–3 % (w/v) NaCl. No growth occurs in the presence of > 9 % (w/v) NaCl. Growth does not occur under anaerobic conditions on MA. Tyrosine is hydrolysed weakly. Hypoxanthine, xanthine and birchwood xylan are not hydrolysed. Acid is produced from D-xylose, melibiose, L-arabinose, D-melezitose, D-glucose, D-galactose, D-mannose, D-cellobiose, lactose, sucrose, maltose, D-trehalose and D-raffinose, but not from D-sorbitol, myo -inositol, D-ribose, D-mannitol, adonitol or L-rhamnose. Acid production from D-fructose is variable (positive for type strain). Formate is not utilized. The predominant isoprenoid quinone is MK-7. The major fatty acids are iso-C15: 0, iso-C17: 0 3 -OH, iso-C16: 0 and C16: 1ω7 c and/or iso-C15: 0 2 -OH. The DNA G + C content is 43 mol% (HPLC). Other phenotypic characteristics are given in Table 1. The type strain, SW-2T (= KCTC 12180T = DSM 16067T), was isolated from sea water of the East Sea of Korea. The reference strain is SW-26 (= KCTC 12181 = DSM 16068).
description: Published as part of Jung-Hoon Yoon, Soo-Hwan Yeo & Tae-Kwang Oh, 2004, Hongiella marincola sp. nov., isolated from sea water of the East Sea in Korea, pp. 1845-1848 in International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 54 on page 1848, DOI: 10.1099/ijs.0.63170-0
Induction chemotherapy with cetuximab, carboplatin and paclitaxel for the treatment of locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck
Creators: name: BAUMAN, JESSICA
name: MUTALE, FAITH
name: LIN, ALEXANDER
name: ALGAZY, KENNETH
name: QUON, HARRY
name: DESAI, ARATI
name: LANGER, COREY
name: WEISS, JARED
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: Although controversy exists in the management of locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (LA-SCCHN), clinicians often use induction chemotherapy for treatment of the most advanced cases. One promising regimen combines weekly cetuximab (400 mg/m2 loading dose followed by 250 mg/m2) with carboplatin (AUC of 2) and paclitaxel (90 mg/m2). We retrospectively evaluated patients treated with this regimen prior to definitive chemoradiation or surgery between May 2008 and December 2011. The primary endpoint used for this retrospective analysis was feasibility. Thirty consecutive, unselected patients were included. Median follow-up was 13.7 months (range, 5.0–38.7 months). All but one patient had stage IV SCCHN. Dose intensity was high for carboplatin (92%), paclitaxel (93%) and cetuximab (85%). Grade 3–4 toxicities occurred in <7% of the study population and were limited to rash, neutropenia and infusion reactions. Response rate (RR) to induction chemotherapy was 97% (30% complete response, 67% partial response). All patients completed subsequent chemoradiotherapy or surgery. Nineteen patients (63%) demonstrated a complete response and 11 patients (37%) demonstrated a partial response. Median overall survival and progression-free survival data are not yet mature. The RR to therapy in our off-protocol experience is at least comparable to that observed in the two phase II studies of this regimen and appears superior to that observed with docetaxel, cisplatin and fluorouracil (TPF).
title: Quantitative Analysis of Cell Behaviours underlying Tissue Dynamics during Chick Embryo Gastrulation
titleType: Other
Creators: name: Fitches, Molly J
Publisher: name: University of Dundee
Year: 2022

description: Gastrulation is an essential stage during the development of vertebrates that is characterised by the formation of a transient structure known as the primitive streak. Streak development relies on tightly controlled behaviour of tens of thousands of cells, leading to large scale tissue flows, that transport the mesoderm precursors into the midline of the epiblast.
Mechanics play an important role in early embryogenesis, driving cell shape change and regulation of biomechanical properties in tissues. In particular, the role of active myosin II cables to generate tension in cellular junctions has been linked to cell intercalations and axis elongation.
This thesis combines data from mechanical perturbation experiments, image analysis techniques, and computational modelling to investigate the role of mechanical properties in chick embryonic development.
Laser ablation experiments combined with the addition of myosin inhibitors show differences in regional levels of tension, which are strongly linked to the presences of myosin II cables. A high dependence of junctional recoil on biomechanical properties was highlighted by simulations using the vertex model, which highlights that an additional term for viscoelasticity is required to replicate empirical results. Finally, the response of myosin and actin dynamics to laser ablation is observed.
Together, these results offer insight into the spatial distribution of myosin II cables and their contribution to the mechanical regulation of morphogenesis in the chick.
Urban air pollution produces up-regulation of myocardial inflammatory genes and dark chocolate provides cardioprotection
Creators: name: Brooks, Diane
name: Torres-Jardón, Ricardo
name: Reed, William
name: Keefe, Sheyla
name: Villarreal-Calderon, Rodolfo
name: Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian
name: Palacios-Moreno, Juan
name: Herritt, Lou
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2012

description: Air pollution is a serious environmental problem. Elderly subjects show increased cardiac morbidity and mortality associated with air pollution exposure. Mexico City (MC) residents are chronically exposed to high concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and PM-associated lipopolysaccharides (PM-LPS). To test the hypothesis that chronic exposure to urban pollution produces myocardial inflammation, female Balb-c mice age 4 weeks were exposed for 16 months to two distinctly different polluted areas within MC: Southwest (SW) and Northwest (NW). SW mice were given either no treatment or chocolate 2g/9.5 mg polyphenols/3 times per week. Results were compared to mice kept in clean air. Key inflammatory mediator genes: cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and the LPS receptor CD14 (cluster of differentiation antigen 14) were measured by real time polymerase chain reaction. Also explored were target NFκB (Nuclear Factor κ B), oxidative stress and antioxidant defense genes.
Stance Detection on Social Media
Creators: name: Li, Yingjie
Publisher: name: University of Illinois at Chicago
Year: 2022
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: Nowadays, people often express their stances toward various targets (e.g., marijuana legalization, wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic or political figures) in social media. These stances in an aggregate can facilitate important tasks ranging from social media monitoring to predictions of presidential elections. The general goal of stance detection is to identify whether the opinion holder is in favor of, against or neutral to a specific target. Even though stance detection has attracted considerable attention, it is still far from satisfactory in real-world applications. Currently, the scarcity of annotated data has become a major challenge of stance detection. In this dissertation, we propose to address this data scarcity issue in four different ways. First, we propose two multi-task frameworks for stance detection, which aims to boost the performance of stance detection with the help of auxiliary tasks. Second, since data augmentation is an effective strategy for handling scarce data situations, we then propose two data augmentation methods to augment the stance datasets by generating target-relevant and label-compatible sentences. Third, we present P-Stance, a large stance detection dataset that makes it possible to perform large-scale evaluations. P-Stance dataset can serve as a new benchmark for stance detection and enable multiple stance detection tasks. At last, we evaluate two training strategies for stance detection and propose to further improve the task performance with knowledge distillation. We propose novel knowledge distillation methods that can be applied to not only stance detection, but also other NLP tasks.
An Hα Impression of Lyα Galaxies at $z\simeq6$ with Deep JWST/NIRCam Imaging
Creators: name: Ning, Yuanhang
name: Cai, Zheng
name: Jiang, Linhua
name: Lin, Xiaojing
name: Fu, Shuqi
name: Spinoso, Daniele
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a study of seven spectroscopically confirmed (Ly$α$ emitting) galaxies at redshift $z\simeq6$ using the $JWST$/NIRCam imaging data. These galaxies, with a wide range of Ly$α$ luminosities, were recently observed in a series of NIRCam broad- and medium-bands. We constrain the rest-frame UV/optical continua and measure the H$α$ line emission of the galaxies using the combination of the $JWST$/NIRCam and archival $HST$/WFC3 infrared photometry. We further estimate their escape fractions of Ly$α$ photons ($f_{\rm esc}^{\rm Lyα}$) and the production efficiency of ionizing photons ($ξ_{\rm ion}$). Among the sample, 6/7 galaxies have Ly$α$ escape fractions of ${\lesssim}10\%$, which might be the status for most of star-forming galaxies at $z\simeq6$. One UV-faint Ly$α$ galaxy with an extremely blue UV slope owns a large value of $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm Lyα}$ reaching ${\simeq}50\%$. These galaxies spread a broad range of $ξ_{\rm ion}$ over log$_{10}$ $ξ_{\rm ion, 0}$ (Hz erg$^{-1}$) $\sim25.0-26.5$. We find that UV-fainter galaxies with bluer UV continuum slopes likely have higher escape fractions of Ly$α$ photons. We also find that galaxies with higher Ly$α$ line emission tend to produce ionizing photons more efficiently. The most Ly$α$-luminous galaxy in the sample has a very high $ξ_{\rm ion, 0}$ of log$_{10}$ $ξ_{\rm ion, 0}$ (Hz erg$^{-1}$) $>26$. Our results support that Ly$α$ galaxies may have served as an important contributor to the cosmic reionization. Blue and bright Ly$α$ galaxies are excellent targets for $JWST$ follow-up spectroscopic observations.
description: Accepted by ApJL; an improved version
The impact of environmental metals in young urbanites’ brains
Creators: name: Smith, Donna
name: Serrano-Sierra, Alejandro
name: Torres-Jardón, Ricardo
name: Guilarte, Tomás R.
name: Delgado-Chávez, Ricardo
name: Cross, Janet V.
name: Medina-Cortina, Humberto
name: Zhu, Hongtu
name: Yuan, Ying
name: Kavanaugh, Michael
name: Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: Air pollution exposures are linked to cognitive and olfaction deficits, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration including frontal hyperphosphorilated tau and diffuse amyloid plaques in Mexico City children and young adults. Mexico City residents are chronically exposed to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations (containing toxic combustion and industrial metals) above the annual standard (15 μg/m3) and to contaminated water and soil. Here, we sought to address the brain-region-specific effects of metals and key neuroinflammatory and DNA repair responses in two air pollution targets: frontal lobe and olfactory bulb from 12 controls v 47 Mexico City children and young adults average age 33.06 ± 4.8 SE years. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (metal analysis) and real time PCR (for COX2, IL1β and DNA repair genes) in target tissues. Mexico City residents had higher concentrations of metals associated with PM: manganese (p=0.003), nickel and chromium (p=0.02) along with higher frontal COX2 mRNA (p=0.008) and IL1β (p=0.0002) and COX2 (p=0.005) olfactory bulb indicating neuroinflammation. Frontal metals correlated with olfactory bulb DNA repair genes and with frontal and hippocampal inflammatory genes. Frontal manganese, cobalt and selenium increased with age in exposed subjects.