cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Development and Clinical Application of a New Two-Dimensional in vivo Dosimetry by Electronic Portal Imaging
Creators: name: Peca, Stefano
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Oncology
subject: Physics--Radiation
subject: Engineering--Biomedical
subject: Radiation Therapy
subject: In vivo dosimetry
subject: Portal dosimetry

description: In vivo dosimetry (IVD) in radiotherapy refers to direct measurement of dose deposited in the patient during treatment. IVD can be of great use in early detection of harmful errors, for assessment of patient setup and anatomy changes, and to guide adaptive radiotherapy. Routine IVD is hindered by the costs and complexities associated with most systems, and thus has not obtained widespread application. In this thesis I describe a novel method of using the electronic portal imaging device (EPID) for IVD. Images are measured through phantoms/patients making use of treatment beams. From these, 2D dose maps at isocentre depth are calculated from signal-to-dose correlation ratios. Convolution by optimized multi-Gaussian kernels, specific to direction (cross-plane, in-plane), field size, and attenuator thickness, allows dose modelling in the whole plane. The EPID-calculated dose map is compared to that predicted by the treatment planning system (TPS) by pixel-wise comparison, gamma analysis, and a novel approach of morphological connected component analysis. Tests with off-reference values of phantom thickness, field size, and monitor units showed good agreement, with the great majority of points within ±3% of TPS dose. The method was evaluated on 20 patients, spanning multiple body sites and treatment techniques (334 fields). Excluding lung treatments, the mean dose difference at isocentre had good accuracy at 1.5±6.6 %. The large standard deviation is due to both algorithm limitations and true differences, mainly anatomical changes and setup variability. In the isocentre plane, the median area that passed 10% / 3 mm gamma analysis was 96.1%. In three of ten rectal cancer patients, soft tissue differences resulting from suboptimal setup and immobilization devices caused up to 2% overdose to the small bowel. Results suggest that connected component analysis may be as good or superior to gamma analysis for detection of specific dose differences. Further work is necessary before clinical implementation, but EPID IVD by correlation ratios has enormous potential for error detection, process quality assurance, and adaptive treatment guidance, thus increasing safety and quality of radiotherapy.
Christopher Alexander. The need for rationality
Creators: name: Pisano, Carlo
name: Lucchesi, Fabio
Publisher: name: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti
Year: 2020

description: Contesti dedicates the Readings section of this issue to the introduction of Christopher Alexander’s book Notes on the synthesis of form published in English by Harvard University Press in 1964 and translated into Italian in 1967 and included in the Saggiatore’s series entitled Urban structure and form founded in that same year by Giancarlo De Carlo. In Notes on the synthesis of form Alexander pursues the ambitious task of proposing an alternative design method, not linked to individual intuition, a position heavily criticized in the introduction, but based on deductive reflection assisted by the use of the electronic calculator.
description: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, No. 1 (2020)
El debat impossible entre Lamarck i Quentin Durward a la revista La Renaxensa els anys 1872 i 1873
Creators: name: Camós, Agustí
Publisher: name: Anuari Verdaguer
Year: 2019

description: S’analitza la controvèrsia originada pels articles publicats a la revista La Renaxensa durant els anys 1872 i 1873 per dos autors que signàvem com F. de Lamark i Q. Durward. És comprova que moltes de les idees que apareixen fan referència a les concepcions del naturalista francès J. B. Lamarck, i que Q. Durward era un personatge extret d’una novel·la de Walter Scott que s’enfrontava a William de La Mark. S’analitza l’autoria dels articles per part de Felip Saleta i probablement de Joan Planas. Finalment es relacionen els articles amb l’arribada a Catalunya de les idees i les obres de Lamarck i de Walter Scott destacant-ne el paper d’Antoni Bergnes de las Casas.
description: Anuari Verdaguer, 2018: Núm.: 26
Altmetrics and open peer review module at DIGITAL.CSIC
Creators: name: Bernal, Isabel
Publisher: name: Digital.CSIC
Year: 2016
Subjects: Altmetrics
Open peer review module
Overlay services at DIGITAL.CSIC
Value-added services for researchers
Open Science

description: Presentation used to deliver an EIFL/COAR/OpenAire/DIGITAL.CSIC webinar on June 23, 2016. Recording available at http://www.instantpresenter.com/eifl/EB58DF888347.
Genetic Variability of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus in Persistently Infected Cattle
Creators: name: Dow, Natalie
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Virology
subject: BVDV
subject: Molecular
subject: Epidemiology

description: Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is an economically significant pathogen of cattle worldwide. The primary propagators of the virus are immunotolerant persistently infected (PI) cattle, which constantly shed large quantities of virus throughout life. The current study has characterized the viral variability in multiple body compartments of PI cattle through analysis of E2 and NS5B sequences. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that BVDV exists as a quasispecies distribution within PI cattle. Viral variants were not strictly compartmentalized, although the central nervous system was implicated as an important viral reservoir that may play a role in the emergence of neurovirulent strains. Additionally, vertical transmission of PI resulted in a genetic bottleneck, which is likely followed by generation of diversity by polymerase infidelity and selection processes thereafter. The identification of quasispecies within PI cattle exemplifies the role of this host in viral propagation and highlights the complex dynamics of BVDV pathogenesis, transmission, and evolution.
Advance smart cities through digital twins: expanding the knowledge and management capacity of public buildings stock for energy efficiency rehabilitations
Creators: name: Trombadore, Antonella
name: Calcagno, Gisella
name: Pierucci, Giacomo
Publisher: name: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti
Year: 2020

description: In a new vision of smart cities, one of the ambitious challenges for Public Administrations is to expand the knowledge framework (smart data/smart governance) on public building stock supporting a new advanced management capacity for renovation and energy efficiency rehabilitation. The paper shares the experience of the international project Med-EcoSuRe (Mediterranean University as Catalyst for Eco-Sustainable Renovation), specially the methodology of Digital Twin experimented in the Pilot Project of Santa Verdiana, merging both the building performance with indoor environmental data and well-being characteristics. The vision of the project is very ambitious and aims to represent a comprehensive methodology and tool dedicated to PA for a sustainable and smart governance - programming, planning, managing - of energy in public buildings, supporting the evaluation of retrofitting scenarios, decision making on cost-effective and innovative energy rehabilitation actions in Med contexts.
description: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, No. 1 (2020)
Density-Functional Theory Study of Hydrogen Induced Platelets (HIPs) in Silicon
Creators: name: Bîlteanu, Liviu
name: Crocombette, Jean-Paul
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this contribution we present the results of Density-Functional Theory (DFT) calculations of platelets as modelled by infinite planar arrangements of hydrogen atoms and vacancies in (100) planes of silicon. From the observation of the relaxed platelet structures and the comparison of their energy with the one of hydrogen molecules dissolved in silicon we were able to evidence several features. A planar arrangement of hydrogen atoms inserted in the middle of Si-Si bonds proves unstable and Si bonds must be broken for the platelet to be stable. In the (100) plane the most stable configuration is the one with two Si-H bonds (a so-called SiH2 structure). It is possible to generate SiH3 structures which are more stable than hydrogen dissolved in Si bulk but less than SiH2 structures but SiH1 or SiH4 sometimes observed in experiments prove unstable.
description: 6 pages, 3 figures; MRS Proceedings, 1370, 2011
Digital Territories and energy transition: the limits to growth
Creators: name: Diguet, Cecile
name: Lopez, Fanny
Publisher: name: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti
Year: 2020

description: Internet is not magical territory in which flows circulate without any physicality, nothing consumes more space, energy and resources than digital technologies. The cornerstone of the digital technical system, data centers are present everywhere and their construction is accelerating. They are found in city centers, in suburbs, in rural territories, as well as isolated and deserted regions. Whether they are connected to the existing electricity networks, autonomous or incorporated into energy exchange circles with variable perimeters (block, neighborhood, city, territory), they redefine, each time, the energy project of the territories in which they are sited because their electricity consumption is very high. By the yardstick of a pioneering and flourishing American digital industry, but with a weakened energy system, field studies on the West Coast (Oregon, Silicon Valley) and the East Coast (New York) have enabled us to shed light on the challenge of integrating data centers into territorial energy systems in Europe. In this article we propose bringing the energy and spatial excess of the digital world back to the center of the debates on the subject. The article is divided into 3 parts which describe The data center siting strategies and its various location ; 2) How local public authorities grappling with a complex and opaque sector ; 3) The excessive energy consumption of data centers.
description: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, No. 1 (2020)
Bounds on Warped Extra Dimensions from a Standard Model-like Higgs Boson
Creators: name: Goertz, Florian
name: Haisch, Ulrich
name: Neubert, Matthias
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We point out that the discovery of a light Higgs boson in the γγ, ZZ and WW decay channels at the LHC, with cross sections not far from the predictions of the Standard Model, would have important implications for the parameters of warped extra-dimension models. Due to loop effects of Kaluza-Klein particles, these models predict a significant reduction of the Higgs production cross section via gluon-gluon fusion, combined with an enhancement of the ratio Br(h->γγ)/Br(h->ZZ). LHC measurements of these decays will probe Kaluza-Klein masses up to the 10 TeV range, exceeding by far the reach for direct production.
description: 6 pages, 2 figures
COM-Poisson Clustering of Correlated Bivariate Over- and Under-Dispersed Counts
Creators: name: Raz, Saifa
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Statistics
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Gaussian copula

description: Ruan (2015) recently proposed using a finite mixture model with components modelled by Gaussian copula with Poisson margins (BP-GCD) as the basis for model-based clustering of bivariate correlated counts. Although the Poisson distribution is a useful model for modelling count data, the distribution is constrained by its equi-dispersion assumption. Motivated by this limitation, the thesis introduces a more flexible model, one with Gaussian copula models as components but with Conway-Maxwell Poisson (COM-Poisson) margins (BCOM-GCD) which allows the accounting of under- and over-dispersion in the correlated count data. We test our proposed method on a variety of simulated settings and on data from the Australian National Health Survey to explore the impact of ignoring the non-equidispersion. Our simulations and real-life data analysis indicate that using BCOM-GCDs as mixture components instead of BP-GCDs provides a better and more flexible approach for performing model-based clustering for under- or over-dispersed counts.
A note on the scale evolution of the ETQS function T_F(x,x)
Creators: name: Schäfer, Andreas
name: Zhou, Jian
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We reexamine the scale dependence of the ETQS (Efremov-Teryaev-Qiu-Sterman) twist-3 matrix element which has been studied already by the four different groups with conflicting results Ref.[1-4]. We find that we can in fact reproduce the results of Ref.[4] with the method Ref.[4] when we treat some subtleties with greater care, thus easing the mentioned conflict.
description: 6 pages, 1 figure
The sub-Saturn Mass Transiting Planet HAT-P-12b
Creators: name: Lee, Jae Woo
name: Youn, Jae-Hyuck
name: Kim, Seung-Lee
name: Lee, Chung-Uk
name: Hinse, Tobias Cornelius
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present new photometric data of the transiting planet HAT-P-12b observed in 2011. Our three transit curves are modelled using the JKTEBOP code and adopting the quadratic limb-darkening law. Including our measurements, 18 transit times spanning about 4.2 yr were used to determine the improved ephemeris with a transit epoch of 2,454,187.85560$\pm$0.00011 BJD and an orbital period of 3.21305961$\pm$0.00000035 d. The physical properties of the star-planet system are computed using empirical calibrations from eclipsing binary stars and stellar evolutionary models, combined with both our transit parameters and previously-known spectroscopic results. We found that the absolute dimensions of the host star are $M_{\rm A}$=0.73$\pm$0.02 M$_\odot$, $R_{\rm A}$=0.70$\pm$0.01 R$_\odot$, log $g_{\rm A}$=4.61$\pm$0.02, $ρ_{\rm A}$=2.10$\pm$0.09 $ρ_{\odot}$, and $L_{\rm A}$=0.21$\pm$0.01 L$_\odot$. The planetary companion has $M_{\rm b}$=0.21$\pm$0.01 M$_{\rm Jup}$, $R_{\rm b}$=0.94$\pm$0.01 R$_{\rm Jup}$, log $g_{\rm b}$=2.77$\pm$0.02, $ρ_{\rm b}$=0.24$\pm$0.01 $ρ_{\rm Jup}$, and $T_{\rm eq}$=960$\pm$14 K. Our results agree well with standard models of irradiated gas giants with a core mass of 11.3 M$_{\oplus}$.
description: 17 pages, including 5 figures and 5 tables, accepted for publication in AJ
Trade Effects of SPS Measures in Regional Trade Agreements
Creators: name: Santeramo, Fabio
name: Santeramo, Fabio
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2020
Subjects: International Relations/Trade

description: Trade negotiations in the agri-food sector have resulted in an exponential increase of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and a growing diffusion of regional trade agreements (RTAs). The combined trade effects of SPS measures and RTAs are difficult to ascertain: SPS measures may be either catalysts for or barriers to trade; RTAs also have a dual effect on trade, sometime favouring intra-bloc trade (i.e. among the signatories of the RTA), other times enhancing extra-bloc trade (i.e. among signatories and non-signatories of the RTA). Moreover, RTAs increasingly contain specific SPS commitments whose trade effects may vary according to the depth of the provisions. The joint effect of SPS measures and RTAs on trade is therefore an open empirical question. After assessing the general effects of SPS measures on agri-food trade, this study examines potential differences in SPS-specific effects between nonsignatories and signatories of RTAs. The study also explores whether the trade effects of SPS measures change when trading partners establish an RTA. Lastly, the study evaluates the extent to which RTAs go beyond WTO trade liberalization requirements. The results reveal that benefits to signatories of RTAs tend to be reduced by SPS measures that affect indiscriminately all trading partners and are not tailor made for a specific trade relationship. Overall, both SPS measures and RTAs are catalysts for trade. More importantly, if trading partners implement both types of policy interventions in a staggered fashion, the effects of one policy reinforces the impact of the other. RTAs potentially offer more versatile frameworks for negotiating SPS commitments that facilitate trade, creating conditions for signatory countries to satisfy each other’s requirements on adequate levels of safety, thus boosting trade. To conclude, SPS measures and RTAs tend to facilitate market access, the former by setting standards to ensure an adequate level of safety, the latter by setting a more versatile framework for negotiations related to SPS measures. Although the trade potential offered to RTA signatories seems obstructed by nondiscriminatory (multilateral) SPS measures, the entry into force of a trade agreement can help signatories meet stringent standards, further facilitating market access. This is allowed, in particular, by the provision of concrete commitments with respect to SPS measures within RTAs, the most promising of which are mutual recognition of standards and the institution of joint SPS committees to implement technical cooperation between signatories on SPS issues. Moving towards these solutions would stimulate trade among countries.
Development of an In Vitro Microelectric Cell Sensing Technique to Assess Cytotoxicity of Ocular Irritants
Creators: name: Berezowski, Kathryn L
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Toxicology
subject: Toxicology
subject: Alternative Method
subject: In Vitro method
subject: Ocular Toxicology
subject: Cytotoxicity

description: In this study, a novel alternative in vitro method for assessing ocular irritancy was developed. This was completed by evaluating the cytotoxicity of nine compounds exposed to a panel of three cell lines using a microelectric cell sensing technology, the xCELLigenceTM RTCA MP. With this novel method, it was successfully demonstrated that the cell lines used in the study were able to show different responses to irritants and non-irritants, but depending on the compounds tested and measures of cytotoxicity used, it was inconclusive if one particular cell line or measure was superior for ranking the test compounds. This study also served to elucidate the difficulties that surround the complex problem of developing alternative methods to the current gold standard in vivo Draize test.
Snap4City: A big data platform for smart cities
Creators: name: Nesi, Paolo
name: Paolucci, Michela
name: Zamperlin, Paola
Publisher: name: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti
Year: 2020

description: Since the idea of smart city has become a practice to be implemented, urban planners and policy makers have needed tools that would allow them to exploit the information potential of the amount of data that the city itself produced in order to understand and manage its growing complexity. This article, after examining the close relationship between good governance based on a data-driven approach and the economic and social development of a city, describes the Snap4City Open Source solution, a Big Data Smart City Platform, adopted in European cities and region (Antwerp, Florence, Pisa, Santiago, France, Belgium, Finland, Tuscany, Sardinia, Croatia, Greece, etc.). Snap4City is GDPR compliant and designed to support city planners, combining strong tools for data integration, analytics, forecasting and visualization with the possibility of set Living Labs to enhance the collaboration among operators. Four scenarios have been selected and described (a. Florence Smart City Control Room; b. Traffic Flow Reconstruction and Air Quality predictions in Firenze, Pisa, Livorno; c. Air Quality in Helsinki for the citizens; d. People flows in Antwerp). The main KPIs have been briefly exposed, in order to evaluate the Snap4city impact in Smart City planning.
description: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, No. 1 (2020)
The Darkroom Series: Constituting Place Through Camera-Phone Photography
Creators: name: Lee, Christine Yunkyung
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Mass Communications
subject: place
subject: cameraphone photography
subject: mobile phone
subject: Instagram
subject: Photography

description: This research project explores how the social and creative practices of camera-phone photography are implicated in the constitution of place. From 2012 to 2014, there was a series of exhibits in Seattle, entitled the Darkroom Series, showcasing Instagram photos taken by Pacific Northwest residents. A mixed methods approach was adopted to capture the picturing and viewing practices of Instagram users at multiple on- and offline sites across various Darkroom Series-related activities. Camera-phone practices are considered in the contexts of earlier amateur photography traditions and contemporary developments in networked mobility and communication. Drawing upon concepts from tourism studies of embodied performances of place enacted through photography, the personal, social, digital and sensory experiences of individual camera-phone photographers are seen to contribute to public, collective representations of regional identity and the configuration of place.
A refined waste flow mapping method.
Creators: name: Furlan, Cecilia
name: Wandl, Alexander
name: Geldermans, Bob
name: Sileryte, Rusne
Publisher: name: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti
Year: 2020

description: Fundamental changes in the societal use of biophysical resources are required for a sustainable transformation. Current (urban) metabolism research traces flows of energy and materials and products to capture resource use along value chains from resource extraction to production and consumption and the discharge of wastes and emissions. However, spatial relation, local carrying capacity and qualitative characteristics of the urban landscape are only featured in very few studies, even if they are becoming crucial elements towards future sustainable development. Simultaneously, spatial studies tend to neglect the dimension of processes of flows and the generated stocks that influence the construction and performance of space. Big data and GIS technologies have the potential to leverage the integration between the two fields of knowledge. Therefore, the article explores the development of an innovative method - Activity-based Spatial Material Flow Analysis - that integrates qualitative and quantitative flow specifications in material content and geographical space, starting from the analysis of waste flows relative to the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (NL). Lastly, the article reflects on the results of the application of the AS-MFA method, namely a series of flow maps. Each flow map is a significant data-based network representation of a part of the urban metabolism within the AMA in a specific period of time.
description: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, No. 1 (2020)
Women like us : a critical and creative examination of a ‘mail-order bride’ experience
Creators: name: Guseva, Olena
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: This thesis examines issues related to “mail-order brides” as these pertain to my mother who emigrated from Ukraine as a “mail-order bride” in August of 1998. This thesis incorporates both critical and creative analyze of the topic of “mail-order brides” and international dating industries. The problematic term “mail-order bride” implies a specific ‘type’ of woman who is often represented as domestic, subservient and affectionate. The consumers of the “mail-order” industry are fed images that are essentializations of the Eastern European woman and her habits. By ‘selling’ traditional values to Western male consumers, mail-order sites reinforce stereotypes associated with Eastern European women and create an unrealistic image of a hyper-feminine woman that is problematic to both “mail-order brides” and to the men that seek them. In this critical and creative essay, I examine my mother’s letters as testaments to the unrealistic expectations placed on her through the stereotypes created by the “mail-order” industries. This thesis also examines the so-called “mail-order brides” in light of Western feminism and problematizes the perceived lack of agency associated with “mail-order brides.” Furthermore, I will analyze the commoditization of the female body as is seen through the international dating agencies. This thesis argues that it is through the capitalist mentality projected by the “mail-order” agencies that the female body becomes trafficable and accessible to the Western male consumer.
Smart and resilient cities: How can big data inform spatial design and planning for urban resilience?
Creators: name: Forgaci, Claudiu
Publisher: name: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti
Year: 2020

description: Amongst other vectors of change, the development of cities as complex socio-technical-environmental systems is influenced by two notable driving forces: the accelerated development of smart city technologies enabled by the abundance pervasiveness of Big Data and the challenge of resilience to an increasing number of shocks and stresses driven by climate change and urbanisation. Recognising potential synergies between these two driving forces, the paper explores ways in which Big Data can contribute to the translation of systemic resilience targets into principles of spatial transformation and, as a result, to a better evidence base for urban design and planning decisions. To that end, the paper discusses the relationship between Big Data, urban design and planning, and urban resilience. It highlights how resilience-building is enabled by Big Data through, such as evidence-based design, spatial data visualisation and cross-scalar design. The paper also provides an overview of challenges that are brough by Big Data to urban resilience-building. The discussion ends with how Big-Data-driven urban resilience can be an approach that is complementary rather than alternative to traditional practices.
description: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, No. 1 (2020)
Self-dual Spectral Singularities and Coherent Perfect Absorbing Lasers without PT-symmetry
Creators: name: Mostafazadeh, Ali
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A PT-symmetric optically active medium that lases at the threshold gain also acts as a complete perfect absorber at the laser wavelength. This is because spectral singularities of PT-symmetric complex potentials are always accompanied by their time-reversal dual. We investigate the significance of PT-symmetry for the appearance of these self-dual spectral singularities. In particular, using a realistic optical system we show that self-dual spectral singularities can emerge also for non-PT-symmetric configurations. This signifies the existence of non-PT-symmetric CPA-lasers.
description: 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in J. Phys. A
Twin digital cities: la vera “Intelligenza” della città digitale nel XXI secolo
Creators: name: Pennacchia, Elisa
name: Cinquepalmi, Federico
Publisher: name: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti
Year: 2020

description: Cities are ‘living’ organisms that born, grow, change rapidly and age (Pagani, Chiesa 2016); they are increasingly complex systems linked to changing demographic, economic and environmental changes. Urban complexity therefore requires planning capable of rapidly providing suitable responses to the constantly evolving human needs. The Big Data revolution offers an active innovative approach to building processes and urban and territorial planners, making them able to face the fluidity of contemporary urban spaces and the urgent challenges related to sustainable development. This essay is part of this debate by offering a survey on how Big Data relate to human activities and the built environment and by producing a qualitative change, supporting on the one hand planning and on the other hand a regenerative impact on the development of urban settlements.
description: Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, No. 1 (2020)
Tailoring Perovskite- and Fluorite-Type Oxides for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs)
Creators: name: Singh, Kalpana
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Education--Physical
subject: Education--Sciences
subject: Anthropology--Physical
subject: Energy
subject: Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, Perovskites, Fluorites

description: A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a high temperature solid state energy conversion device that directly converts the chemical energy of fuels into electrical energy at high efficiency. The objective of thesis is to develop and tune fluorite- and perovskite-type metal oxides that serve as alternate anodes, electrolytes, and cathodes for intermediate temperature SOFCs. Here, the chemical reactivity between a fluorite-based Ce0.7RE0.2Mo0.1O2 (RE = Y, Sm) anode and 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte was evaluated at 1000 ºC. The electrical conductivity of the reaction product Ce1-x-y-zRExZrYMozO2 in air and wet H2 was found to be lower than that of Ce0.7RE0.2Mo0.1O2, due to the formation of defect associates and a decrease in concentration of charge carriers. The effect of A-and B-site co-doping on the chemical and electrical properties of potential perovskite-type Ba0.5Sr0.5Ce1-x-y-zZrxGdyYzO3-δ (0 < x < 0.5; y = 0, 0.1, 0.15; z = 0.1, 0.2) proton conducting electrolyte was evaluated. Excellent chemical stability under water vapor for 24 h at 90 ºC was observed for all compositions. The electrical conductivity measurements under dry and humid atmospheres revealed the proton conductivity in these oxides. Among the samples investigated, Ba0.5Sr0.5Ce0.6Zr0.2Gd0.1Y0.1O3-δ showed the highest proton conductivity of 10-3 S/cm at 600 ºC in humid air and H2. The effect of sintering temperature on the proton dynamics of Ba0.5Sr0.5Ce0.6Zr0.2Gd0.1Y0.1O3-δ was evaluated by establishing a correlation between the grain boundary space charge effect, electrical conductivity, and dielectric loss of the samples sintered at 1300, 1400, and 1550 ºC. The proton dynamics in local motion and long-range motion appears to be different due to the difference seen in the relaxation time and activation energy of protons in local motion and bulk conduction properties. Furthermore, the electrochemical performance of the layered perovskite-type Gd0.5Pr0.5BaCo2O5+δ and Ba0.5Sr0.5Ce0.6Zr0.2Gd0.1Y0.1O3-δ composite cathode, and Ni and Ba0.5Sr0.5Ce0.6Zr0.2Gd0.1Y0.1O3-δ composite anode for proton conducting SOFCs was evaluated through symmetrical cell studies. The symmetrical cell of Gd0.5Pr0.5BaCo2O5+δ-Ba0.5Sr0.5Ce0.6Zr0.2Gd0.1Y0.1O3-δ composite cathode showed an area specific polarization resistance of 2.4 and 1.9 Ω.cm2 at 700 ºC for oxygen reduction reaction in the air and wet air, respectively, and exhibited an activation energy of 1.2 eV in both atmospheres.
HIV prevention cascades to improve programmes and interventions
Creators: name: Schaefer, Robin Maximilian
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2019

description: Most countries will miss the UNAIDS target of reducing new HIV infections by 75% by 2020 compared to 2010. HIV prevention cascades have been proposed to assist in the advocacy for and planning, monitoring, and improved delivery of HIV prevention programmes and interventions by identifying gaps in effective use of prevention methods, similar to treatment cascades. The overarching aim of this thesis was to develop and pilot-test a generic HIV prevention cascade framework that can be used for different populations, prevention methods, and purposes. This proposed prevention cascade consists of three steps of motivation to use a prevention method, access to it, and effective use in a priority population. Characterising reasons underlying gaps across motivation, access, and effective use creates a comprehensive framework. To develop this framework, I conducted consultations and data analyses. In a study of data from eastern and southern Africa, I demonstrated increases in both non-regular partnerships and condom use, exemplifying complexities of population-level HIV risks and challenges in defining priority populations for prevention cascades. As it has previously been proposed as the first step in prevention cascades, I analysed HIV risk perception using longitudinal data from Manicaland, Zimbabwe. Results suggest that 1) risk perception can be accurate as there were associations between perceptions and actual HIV acquisition but there were considerable gaps in risk perception and 2) increasing risk perception was associated with condom use but fractions of condom use attributable to risk perception were small, highlighting that HIV prevention behaviour is influenced by a range of factors. The importance of structural factors for HIV prevention was underlined by analyses of cash transfers and HIV prevention in Manicaland. Finally, I operationalised the proposed HIV prevention cascade framework using newly collected data from Manicaland, demonstrating the utility of the concept for identifying gaps in prevention.
Patient Experience Living with Split Thickness Skin Grafts
Creators: name: Burnett, Lindsay Nicole
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Nursing
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: Split Thickness Skin Grafts
subject: Scars
subject: Patient Experience

description: There is a lack of research exploring the experiences of those living with split thickness skin grafts (STSG). The qualitative methodology of interpretive description (Thorne, 2008) was employed. The process included a single patient interview, coding, describing, and interpreting the data. Participants were selected through purposive sampling and data was collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Data was coded into themes for analysis. Eight male patients and four female patients 20-62 years old ranging 2-29 months post STSG were interviewed. The most significant concerns voiced by patients were identified and organized into five themes: a new normal, split thickness skin graft symptoms, appearance of new skin, coping, and preference to participate in future clinical trials. Patients discussed problems associated with their STSG; these concerns were significant enough to motivate them to participate in future clinical trials using human stem cells.
Decoding speech comprehension from continuous EEG recordings
Creators: name: Weissbart, Hugo
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2019

description: Human language is a remarkable manifestation of our cognitive abilities which is unique to our species. It is key to communication, but also to our faculty of generating complex thoughts. We organise, conceptualise, and share ideas through language. Neuroscience has shed insightful lights on our understanding of how language is processed by the brain although the exact neural organisation, structural or functional, underpinning this processing remains poorly known. This project aims to employ new methodology to understand speech comprehension during naturalistic listening condition. One achievement of this thesis lies in bringing evidence towards putative predictive processing mechanisms for language comprehension and confront those with rule-based grammar processing. Namely, we looked on the one hand at cortical responses to information-theoretic measures that are relevant for predictive coding in the context of language processing and on the other hand to the response to syntactic tree structures. We successfully recorded responses to linguistic features from continuous EEG recordings during naturalistic speech listening. The use of ecologically valid stimuli allowed us to embed neural response in the context in which they naturally occur when hearing speech. This fostered the development of new analysis tools adapted for such experimental designs. Finally, we demonstrate the ability to decode comprehension from the EEG signals of participants with above-chance accuracy. This could be used as a better indicator of the severity and specificity of language disorders, and also to assess if a patient in a vegetative state understands speech without the need for any behavioural response. Hence a primary outcome is our contribution to the neurobiology of language comprehension. Furthermore, our results pave the way to the development of a new range of diagnostic tools to measure speech comprehension of patients with language impairment.
Transition of credit institutions : theory and evidence
Creators: name: Mukherjee, Anirban
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: Economic development is characterized by the expansion of interpersonal trade which requires the institutions for contract enforcement. In order to sustain trade at a greater scale, a society needs to develop the formal institutions that can enforce contracts between strangers. Hence, economic development can be characterized by the development of formal institutions. My PhD dissertation seeks to identify factors that cause the transition from the kinship based or informal institutions to the law based or formal institutions. In order to compare the process of transition in a now developed country with that in a developing country, one case study from early modern England and one from colonial India are considered. In the context of early modern England, my thesis identifies such a transition in the credit and the legal institutions. I find that the increase in social heterogeneity in early modern England rendered the informal institutions ineffective and induced people to move to the formal institutions for resolving disputes. Consequently, formal institutions developed following a 'learning by doing' mechanism. I develop a theoretical model that attempts to capture the historical accounts of this process, and generates some testable implications which I test using the archival data from The National Archive, England. The historical evidence is consistent with my model's predictions. The study on early modern England, in my dissertation, is complemented by a study on Nattukottai Chettiars, a major banking caste from South India. In the first quarter of the twentieth century some of the Chettiar Bankers switched from caste based banking to joint stock banking. I analyze this transition using a theoretical model, and provide historical evidence in support of my analysis. A general pattern of transition emerges from the case studies. The informal institutions have advantage in processing information flowing through the community networks. A society moves from the informal to the formal institutions when the informal institutions lose that edge. In the English case, the informal institutions lost the edge because of increasing social heterogeneity while in the Indian case the improvements in communication technology caused the transition.
Relaxation rate of the reverse biased asymmetric exclusion process
Creators: name: de Gier, Jan
name: Finn, Caley
name: Sorrell, Mark
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We compute the exact relaxation rate of the partially asymmetric exclusion process with open boundaries, with boundary rates opposing the preferred direction of flow in the bulk. This reverse bias introduces a length scale in the system, at which we find a crossover between exponential and algebraic relaxation on the coexistence line. Our results follow from a careful analysis of the Bethe ansatz root structure.
description: 22 pages, 12 figures
Washington Post-University of Maryland Coronavirus Poll: Week 1
Creators: name: Democracy, Center For
name: Washington Post
Publisher: name: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
Year: 2020

description: Overall response to coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak (4); coronavirus as source of stress (1); financial hardship caused by coronavirus (3); concern about being infected by coronavirus (1); know anyone who has been diagnosed with coronavirus (2); know anyone who has died from coronavirus (1); wearing mask/face covering in public (1); when outbreak will be controlled enough that people can attend gatherings (1); United States economy will recover quickly/slowly when outbreak is under control (1); political partisanship (2); health insurance coverage (4); registered to vote (1).
El escritor liberal Manuel Antonio González Álvarez, El Turonense (1764-1819): sus últimos poemas desde la cárcel de Oviedo
Creators: name: Busto Cortina, Juan Carlos
Publisher: name: Anuari Verdaguer
Year: 2019

description: Es tractarà sobre el poeta i col· laborador en la premsa de Cadis durant el període constitucional Manuel Antonio González Álvarez (El Turonense) i es donaran notícies d’alguns poemes impresos com a anònims a Madrid abans de llavors i d’altres escrits a la presó d’Oviedo entre 1814 i 1818. S’aporten dades inèdites des del seu naixement en Turón (Astúries) i els anys viscuts a Madrid, fins a la seva participació en el cercle d’activistes liberals del Cafè d’Apol·lo a Cadis. Detingut a Oviedo després de ser publicat l’edicte de València (4 de maig de 1814) implorarà en els seus versos el perdó i la compassió de diversos personatges.
description: Anuari Verdaguer, 2018: Núm.: 26
Hedychridium roseum Rossi
Creators: name: Paukkunen, Juho
name: Rosa, Paolo
name: Soon, Villu
name: Johansson, Niklas
name: Ødegaard, Frode
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Chrysididae
Hedychridium
Hedychridium roseum

description: 30. Hedychridium roseum (Rossi, 1790)
Chrysis carnea var. rosea Rossi 1790: 75. Type?; Italy (ZMB?).
Chrysis rufa Panzer 1800: 16. Type?; Germany (Mus?). Kawall 1866b: 160.
Chrysis Rosae Dahlbom 1829: 13–14. Syntypes; Sweden: Ostro-Gothia, Smolandia, Westro-Gothia [= Östergotland, Småland, Västergötland] (ZMUL). Boheman 1851: 185.
Chrysis Rosea: Dahlbom 1831: 31, Zetterstedt 1840: 434.
Hedychrum roseum: Dahlbom 1854: 93, Kawall 1864: 303, Thomson 1870: 104, Woldstedt 1875: 345, Nerén 1892: 102, Westerlund 1893: 30.
Elampus roseum: Sahlberg 1910: 98.
Holopyga rosea: Aurivillius 1911: 7.
Hedychridium roseum: Lundblad 1913: 213, Hellén 1920: 208, Forsius 1925: 184, Trautmann 1927: 57, Trautmann 1930: 494, Jansson 1934: 287, Hellén 1935: 8, Frey 1942: 267, Fahlander 1954: 254, Valkeila 1962: 64, Wengris 1962: 8, Tumšs & Maršakovs 1970: 90, Vikberg 1986b: 68, Hedström 1987: 156, Berglind 2003: 13, Söderman & Vikberg 2003: 44, Valtonen 2003: 25 (as Hedychrium roseum), Abenius & Larsson 2004, Soon 2004: 45, 18, Abenius & Larsson 2005, Hallin 2006: 11, Abenius & Hellqvist 2007: 66, Hallin 2007: 21, Larsson 2007: 22, Salminen 2007: 143, Karlsson 2008, Abenius 2009: 59, Franzén & Norén 2009: 40, Hallin 2009: 10, Johansson 2009, Allearter.dk 2010, Artsdatabanken 2010, Hansen et al. 2010: 338, Johansson 2010: 118, Orlovskytė et al. 2010: 146, Raekunnas 2010: 10, Ivarsson 2011: 43, Johansson 2011: 35, Ødegaard et al. 2011: 64, Appelqvist 2012: 21, Franzén et al. 2012: 27, Hallin 2012, Dyntaxa 2013, Johansson, in press.
Euchrum roseum: Erlandsson 1971: 88, Doronin 1996: 18, Kalniņš et al. 2007: 142.
Hedychridium roseum roseum: Arens 2010: 445, Rosa & Soon 2012.
Material examined. Denmark: LFM: Bavnehøj v. Vålse, 11.VIII.1916, 1 ex. (L. Jørgensen); SZ: Gjorslev, 20.VIII.1917, 1 ex. (L Jørgensen).
Distribution. Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Russian Fennoscandia.—Transpalearctic: from West Europe to Siberia, Manchuria and Russian Far East (Linsenmaier 1959, Kurzenko & Lelej 2007).
Remarks. The species has been recorded from all Nordic and Baltic countries, and it can be relatively abundant in warm sandy areas, where its crabronid host Astata boops occurs. In Norway it is rare and classified as near threatened (Hansen et al. 2010), and in Denmark only two individuals have been collected, in the southern part of the country (see data above).
description: Published as part of Paukkunen, Juho, Rosa, Paolo, Soon, Villu, Johansson, Niklas & Ødegaard, Frode, 2014, Faunistic review of the cuckoo wasps of Fennoscandia, Denmark and the Baltic countries (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae), pp. 1-67 in Zootaxa 3864 (1) on pages 24-25, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3864.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4930433
Literatures malsanes: neurastènia, ennui i decadència a l’imaginari simbolista de la fi de segle
Creators: name: Gras Valero, Irene
Publisher: name: Anuari Verdaguer
Year: 2019

description: El títol de la present comunicació, Literatures malsanes, correspon a un assaig publicat per Pompeu Gener l’any 1894, que pretenia denunciar i oposar-se a tot un seguit de tendències patològiques del moment, com ara el naturalisme, el decadentisme o el pessimisme europeus. El present estudi té com a objectiu, doncs, realitzar un recorregut literari per un dels temes destacats de l’imaginari simbolista decadent, la malaltia, manifestada a través d’estats anímics com ara l’ennui, l’spleen, la neurosi, l’egotisme, la tristesa, la malenconia o la degereneració.
description: Anuari Verdaguer, 2018: Núm.: 26
Introduction
Creators: name: Lahiri, P.
name: Slud, Eric
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Methodology (stat.ME)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: The Statistics Consortium at the University of Maryland, College Park, hosted a two-day workshop on Bayesian Methods that Frequentists Should Know during April 30--May 1, 2008. The event was co-sponsored by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), Office of Research and Methodology, National Center for Health Statistics, Survey Research Methods Section (SRMS) of the American Statistical Association, and Washington Statistical Society. The workshop was intended to bring out the positive features of Bayesian statistics in solving real-life problems, including complex problems in sample surveys and production of high-quality official statistics.
description: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-STS359 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)
A Canadian Space Odyssey: Canada, the Great Space Powers, and the Space Power Dilemma
Creators: name: McClelland, Kiernan
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: History--Canadian
subject: Military Studies
subject: Engineering--Aerospace
subject: Canada
subject: Military Power
subject: Outer Space
subject: Strategy

description: Canada, despite being the third country to launch an artificial satellite, was unable to develop into a space power commanding a long-term strategic presence in outer space during the Cold War. Whereas the "great space powers" of the period, the United States and Soviet Union, held a dominant position in the space environment, Canada's space power influence declined over the years. By analyzing declassified strategic documents and the strategic literature on space power, and by interviewing members of Canada's national space organizations, this thesis will compare the strategic, political and economic variables of space power to determine why Canada did not maintain space supremacy when compared with the United States and Soviet Union from 1957 to 1991. This thesis concludes that Canada did not develop into a space power during the Cold War because, opposite the great space powers, the country did not have a comprehensive space strategy, political leadership and support, or the economic resources that would allow for the development of a long-term satellite presence.