cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Quadrupedal Spine Control Strategies: Exploring Correlations Between System Dynamic Responses and Human Perspectives
Creators: name: Hafner, Nicholas
name: Liu, Chaoran
name: Ishi, Carlos
name: Ishiguro, Hiroshi
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: Robotics (cs.RO)
subject: Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC)
subject: Systems and Control (eess.SY)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering

description: Unlike their biological cousins, the majority of existing quadrupedal robots are constructed with rigid chassis. This results in motion that is either beetle-like or distinctly robotic, lacking the natural fluidity characteristic of mammalian movements. Existing literature on quadrupedal robots with spinal configurations primarily focuses on energy efficiency and does not consider the effects in human-robot interaction scenarios. Our contributions include an initial investigation into various trajectory generation strategies for a quadrupedal robot with a four degree of freedom spine, and an analysis on the effect that such methods have on human perception of gait naturalness compared to a fixed spine baseline. The strategies were evaluated using videos of walking, trotting and turning simulations. Among the four different strategies developed, the optimised time varying and the foot-tracking strategies were perceived to be more natural than the baseline in a randomised trial with 50 participants. Although none of the strategies demonstrated any energy efficiency improvements over the no-spine baseline, some showed greater footfall consistency at higher speeds. Given the greater likeability drawn from the more natural locomotion patterns, this type of robot displays potential for applications in social robot scenarios such as elderly care, where energy efficiency is not a primary concern.
description: 27 pages, 13 figures
Regulatory Elements, Protein Function and Evolution of the Actinodin Genes
Creators: name: Moses, Daniel
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: fin fold
actinotrichia
enhancers
fusion protein
synteny
development
evolution

description: Small fibrils termed actinotrichia are involved with the growth and structure of the fin fold during fin development in fish. The actinodin (and) genes are required for actinotrichia formation, and the loss of these genes from the genomes of tetrapods has been implicated in the tetrapod-specific loss of actinotrichia, loss of a fin fold and the concurrent evolution of paired fins into limbs. This study focuses on the function of the and genes and their role in actinotrichia formation. The results reveal cis-acting regulatory elements required for and1 expression in the fin epithelium. Furthermore, it is shown that the And proteins display similarities to the secreted signaling molecule, Ecrg4, implying a possible role in cell differentiation during fin fold development. In the final section of this report, I use a genomic analysis to show that the and genes were lost from otherwise well-conserved syntenic loci in fish and tetrapod genomes. These results suggest possible causes for the evolutionary loss of and genes and the associated developmental changes that may have permitted fin to limb evolution.
The Effect of Progressive Heat Acclimation on Change in Body Heat Content
Creators: name: Poirier, Martin
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Heat acclimation
Direct calorimetry
Body heat content
Thermoregulation

description: Heat acclimation increases the local heat loss responses of sweating and skin blood flow which is thought to persist for up to 3 weeks post-acclimation. However, the extent to which increases in local heat loss affect whole-body heat loss as a function of increasing levels of heat stress remains unresolved. Using direct calorimetry, we examined changes in whole-body evaporative heat loss (EHL) during progressive increases in metabolic heat production 1) prior to (Day 0), during (Day 7) and following a 14-day heat acclimation protocol (Day 14) – Induction phase, and; 2) at the end of a 1-week (Day 21) and 2-week decay period (Day 28) – Decay phase. Ten males performed intermittent exercise (3 x 30-min (min) bouts of cycling at 300 (Ex1), 350 (Ex2), and 400 watts•meters2 (W•m2) (Ex3) separated by 10 and 20 min rest periods, respectively). During the induction period, EHL at Day 7 was increased at each of the three exercise bouts (Ex1: + 6%; Ex2 +8%; Ex3: +13%, all p≤0.05) relative to Day 0 (EHL at Ex1: 529 W; Ex2: 625 W; Ex3: 666 W). At Day 14, EHL was increased for all three exercise bouts compared to Day 0 (Ex1: 9%; Ex2: 12%; Ex3: 18%, all p≤0.05). As a result, a lower cumulative change in body heat content (ΔHb) was measured at Day 7 (-30%, p≤0.001) and Day 14 (-47%, p≤0.001). During the decay phase, EHL at Day 21 and 28 was only reduced in Ex 3 (p≤0.05) compared to Day 14. In parallel, ΔHb increased by 39% (p=0.003) and 57% (p≤0.001) on Day 21 and Day 28 relative to Day 14, respectively. When Day 28 was compared to Day 0, EHL remained elevated in each of the exercise bouts (p≤0.05). As such, ΔHb remained significantly lower on Day 28 compared to Day 0 (-16%, p=0.042). We show that 14 days of heat acclimation increases whole-body EHL during exercise in the heat which is maintained 14 days post-acclimation.
Impact of Transceiver Selection on Synchronization Accuracy in White Rabbit Networks
Creators: name: Špaček, Michal
name: Vojtěch, Josef
name: Roztočil, Jaroslav
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: Systems and Control (eess.SY)
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering

description: Achieving optimal synchronization accuracy between two White Rabbit devices hinges on the proper selection of transceivers, which act as electro-optical converters connecting WR devices to the optical network infrastructure. The correct choice of transceivers can significantly improve resilience to changes in the time offset between WR devices due to temperature fluctuations in the connecting optical fiber. To compare the performance of BiDi WDM and DWDM transceivers, an experimental setup was established under laboratory conditions to simulate a real optical network used for distributing precise time and frequency between two remote locations. The optical connection was emulated by integrating a 20 km G.652.D optical fiber into a climatic chamber, which provided variable environmental conditions similar to those experienced in real applications. The study compared BiDi WDM 1310/1550 nm transceivers with DWDM Ch33/Ch34 transceivers. Results showed that DWDM transceivers exhibited nearly thirteen times less sensitivity to temperature-induced changes in the optical connection, leading to a smaller time offset. Therefore, for achieving the highest accuracy in synchronizing WR devices in practical applications, DWDM transceiver technology is essential.
description: 5 pages, 4 figures, conference paper
Les grands dilemmes des journalistes mexicains dans le contexte de la couverture du crime organisé
Creators: name: Gauthier, Sébastien
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Mexique
journalistes
dilemmes
impunité
violence
corruption
journaliste
dilemme
mexicain
mexicains

description: Le Mexique est reconnu comme étant l’un des endroits le plus dangereux au monde pour exercer la profession de journaliste. Depuis 2000, plus de 80 journalistes y ont été tués. Cette violence est en partie attribuable à la lutte au narcotrafic que mène le gouvernement mexicain. Cette guerre au crime organisé est particulièrement intense depuis 2006, date de l’arrivée au pouvoir du gouvernement de Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. Pris au centre d’un véritable feu croisé, voire triangulé, les journalistes subissent les pressions exercées par le crime organisé, les médias qui les emploient et les autorités gouvernementales. Afin de comprendre la situation dans laquelle ils se trouvent, une étude qualitative, par le tranchement d’entrevues et de questionnaires, a permis d’identifier et de mieux comprendre les dilemmes auxquels les journalistes font face. L’étude révèle que le journaliste mexicain est avant tout préoccupé par sa santé, la protection de sa vie, de son intégrité physique ou celle de ses proches. Les dilemmes auxquels ils font face sont aussi d’ordre économique, éthique et moral.
Review of Recent Electronic Manufacturing Schemes Announced by MeitY and COVID-19 Pandemic
Creators: name: Kumar, Amit
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: 150303 Corporate Governance and Stakeholder Engagement
subject: FOS: Economics and business
subject: 150304 Entrepreneurship
subject: 150314 Small Business Management

description: Global Economic Order in the Post-Covid-19 Era: Challenges, Opportunities and Strategies, ISBN: 978-81-942547-3-7.
Publisher: Maharaja Agrasen University Publication, New Delhi
Determinants of Bone Mineral Density Changes in Women Transitioning to Menopause: A MONET Group Study
Creators: name: Elnefily, Rasha
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Menopausal
bone mineral density
body composition
physical activity
dietary calcium
vitamin D

description: Menopause is an important period for bone health in women. Objective: To assess the determinants of bone mineral density (BMD) changes in women transitioning to menopause. Method: A secondary data analysis of the MONET (Montreal-Ottawa New Emerging Team) study. Outcome measures included yearly assessment of menopause status, body composition, BMD, physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) and dietary calcium and vitamin D intakes. Results: 84 of the original 102 women had complete data for the purpose of the present study. Repeated measures analysis revealed significant decreases in lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD (P< 0.01). Regression analysis revealed that baseline femoral neck BMD, changes in PAEE and trunk fat explained 31% of the variation of BMD changes at the femoral neck, while changes in both PAEE and trunk fat account for 27% of BMD change at lumbar spine. Conclusion: Baseline femoral neck and changes in physical activity energy expenditure and trunk fat are determinants of the reduction of bone mineral density in women transitioning to menopause.
Multiracial Identity Recognition - Why Not? A Comparison Between Multiracialism in the United States and Brazil
Creators: name: Gouveia, Ana Carolina Miguel
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2015
Subjects: Multiracial Identity
Census
Affirmative Action
United States
Brazil

description: Scholars debate the importance of multiracial identity recognition as the increasing number of self-identified multiracial individuals challenges traditional racial categories. Two reasons justify the count of multiracial individuals on censuses. One is the right to self-identification, derived from personal autonomy. The other is social: the category allows governments to accurately assess affirmative action programs’ results and society’s acceptance of multiracialism. Critical Race Theory and Critical Mixed-Race Studies serve as basis for my analysis over multiracial identity formation and its recognition. Comparing multiracialism in America and Brazil, I verify that both countries are in different stages regarding categorization and social acceptance of multiracial identity. Neither uses multiracial data for social programs, though. I conclude that the growth of mixed-race individuals makes the identification of race-based social programs’ beneficiaries difficult, which demands the use of diverse criteria. Moreover, official recognition can serve to improve the way society deals with race.
Disordering 'Order'; Learning How to Eat in Recovery from an Eating Disorder
Creators: name: Plant, Angela
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2014
Subjects: Eating Disorder
Recovery
Nutrition
Learning

description: This ethnographic study explores the everyday experiences of recovery from an eating disorder. The fieldwork took place in Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada over a 4 month period in 2013. It involved interviews and participant observation with 12 women who were in various stages of recovery, as well as a reflexive component based on the researcher’s own experiences of recovery. The aim of the study was to uncover what it meant to recover from an eating disorder in terms of everyday eating. Specifically, “How did those in recovery learn to eat?” and “Were they learning to eat in an ‘ordered’ way?” The findings reveal there is a complex and challenging route to ‘ordered’ eating in Canadian society. Contemporary dietary practices compete for authority and popularity while simultaneously offering completely different ways of relating to and knowing food. Those in recovery are therefore lost in a maze of options telling them how to eat ‘right’ which further isolates them. The study shows however that learning to eat in recovery is not about eating in an ‘ordered’ way but more so about situating one’s self in contexts and within relationships; moving with food. It suggests that a way of moving forward in recovery is to let go of the correct ‘order’ to eating and to move forward in its continual making and unmaking.
Moral neutralization: Nurses’ evolution in unethical climate workplaces
Creators: name: Hakimi, Hamideh
name: Joolaee, Soodabeh
name: Ashghali Farahani, Mansoureh
name: Rodney, Patricia
name: Ranjbar, Hadi
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2020

description: Introduction: Good quality of care is dependent on nurses’ strong clinical skills and moral competencies, as well. While most nurses work with high moral standards, the moral performance of some nurses in some organizations shows a deterioration in their moral sensitivity and actions. The study reported in this paper aimed to explore the experiences of nurses regarding negative changes in their moral practice. Materials and methods: This was a qualitative study utilizing an inductive thematic analysis approach, which was conducted from February 2017 to September 2019. Twenty-five nurses participated in semi-structured interviews. Results: The main theme that emerged from our analysis was one of moral neutralization in the context of an unethical moral climate. We found five sub-themes, including: (1) feeling discouraged; (2) normalization; (3) giving up; (4) becoming a justifier; and (5) moral indifference. Conclusions: Unethical moral climates in health organizations can result in deterioration of morality in nurses which can harm both patients and health systems. Some unethical behaviors in nurses can be explained by this process.
Supplementary document for Super-efficient control of angular momentum and mode conversion in snake-type fiber resonators - 5423900.pdf
Creators: name: Alexeyev, C.
name: Aliyeva, Selime
name: Barshak, Elena
name: Lapin, Boris
name: Yavorsky, Maxim
Publisher: name: Optica Publishing Group
Year: 2021
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: Supplement formulas
Data mining in psychological research: the application of statistical and data mining techniques to the anxiety online platform
Creators: name: AL-Asadi, Ali M.
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Advanced data mining techniques were applied to the Anxiety Online Platform to investigate pre-treatment-assessment, during-treatment, and post-treatment-assessment attritions and predictors, the efficacy of online therapy, and multiple and structural comorbidities. Results help with developing methods for improving engagement with online interventions, and provide for more efficient assessment. Establishing the efficacy of online intervention and the trans-diagnostic and trans-treatment applications will have a significant impact on online intervention programs. Establishing multiple comorbidities and comorbidity structure of 21 psychological disorders and their relationships with psycho-social variables using online assessment is a new area that will have a significant impact on treatment outcomes.
Non-Invasive High Precision (Stereotactic) Microwave Ablation
Creators: name: R, Naveen Kumar
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: 110702 Applied Immunology (incl. Antibody Engineering, Xenotransplantation and T-cell Therapies)
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Biomarkers
subject: 111204 Cancer Therapy (excl. Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy)
subject: Health Care
subject: 111208 Radiation Therapy
subject: 110323 Surgery
subject: 110709 Tumour Immunology

description: Non-Invasive High Precision (Stereotactic) Microwave Ablation
Benefits of Anthocyanin-Rich Black Rice Fraction and Wood Sterols to Control Plasma and Tissue Lipid Concentrations in Wistar Kyoto Rats Fed an Atherogenic Diet
Creators: name: Kopeć, Aneta
name: Zawistowski, Jerzy
name: Kitts, David D.
Publisher: name: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Year: 2020

description: Background: This study reports on the relative effects of administrating a cyanidin-3-O-glucoside-rich black rice fraction (BRF), a standardized wood sterol mixture (WS), and a combination of both to lower plasma and target tissue lipid concentrations in Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats fed atherogenic diets. Methods: Male WKY (n = 40) rats were randomly divided into five groups, which included a nonatherogenic control diet and atherogenic diets that included a positive control and atherogenic diets supplemented with BRF or WS, respectively, and a combination of both BRF + WS. Plasma and target tissue liver, heart and aorta cholesterol, and triacylglycerides (TAG) content were also measured. Results: Rats fed atherogenic diets exhibited elevated hyperlipidemia compared to counterparts fed nonatherogenic diets (p < 0.001); this effect was mitigated by supplementing the atherogenic diets with BRF and WS, respectively (p < 0.05). Combining BRF with WS to enrich the supplement lowered cholesterol similar to the WS effect (p < 0.05) and lowered TAG characteristic to the BRF effect (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Rats fed diets containing BRF or WS effectively mitigate the hypercholesterolemia and elevated TAG induced by feeding an atherogenic diet. The benefit of adding BRF + WS together is relevant to the lipid parameter measured and is target tissue-specific.
Sensor Medium Access Control Protocol-Based Epilepsy Patients Monitoring System
Creators: name: Otoum, Safa
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2015
Subjects: Epilepsy Patients Monitoring System
Sensor Medium Access Control
Wireless Sensor Networks

description: This thesis focuses on using Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for monitoring applications on epilepsy patients (EPs). With the increase of these types of patients and the necessity of continuous daily monitoring and the need for an immediate response to their seizures, the main objective of this thesis is to decrease the response time in order to save them from severe consequences, as well as to make them comfortable with the monitoring procedure. Our proposed Epilepsy Patients Monitoring System (EPMS) consists of five ordinary nodes distributed over the patient’s body, as well as a coordinator node and a receive node. These nodes detect the seizures and forward the data to the coordinator, which, in turn, collects the data and transmits it to the receiver, triggering an alarm concerning the seizure occurrence. We focus on the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, using the Sensor Medium Access Control (SMAC) protocol to decrease the generated delay, and the Carrier Sense Multiple Access/ Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) scheme to prevent collisions that can prolong the response time.
Le problème philosophique des transferts épistémiques entre les sciences naturelles et les théories sociales et politiques
Creators: name: Lorange-Millette, Jonathan
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2015
Subjects: épistémologie
science politique
philosophie des sciences
sciences sociales
sciences naturelles

description: Cette thèse a pour objectif d’étudier les origines et les conséquences de l’usage par plusieurs chercheurs en sciences sociales de divers concepts et théories originellement formulés dans le champ des sciences naturelles. Il s’agira de modéliser cette pratique par l’élaboration du concept de « transfert épistémique ». La modélisation du transfert épistémique permettra de mettre en évidence les processus cognitifs qui sous-tendent cette pratique, en plus de donner des indications sur ses implications à l’endroit des sciences sociales. Il sera démontré que les transferts épistémiques ne permettent pas de tenir compte du caractère réflexif de la recherche sociale ou de l’importance de la question du libre arbitre. Afin d’illustrer notre propos, une attention particulière sera accordée à la théorie réaliste des relations internationales au regard des liens qu’elle entretient avec la biologie et la physique. Pour ce faire, il faudra analyser le programme de recherche biopolitique en tenant compte de ses origines sociobiologiques, pour ensuite s’intéresser aux similarités remarquables que l’on retrouve entre le réalisme et la physique classique.
Systems Regulating and Inducing Dopaminergic Cell Death in Parkinson’s Disease: an Analysis of Signalling Associated with Parkinson's Disease Models
Creators: name: Mount, Matthew P.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2015
Subjects: Parkinson's disease
MPTP
Dopamine
Neurons
Microglia
Interferon-gamma
Nur77
Mice

description: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by the progressive loss of dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). Mechanisms regulating this neurodegeneration, however, are unclear. Evidence from PD pathology and models of PD, indicate mitochondrial disfunction triggers several death signalling pathways. Accordingly, in vivo and in vitro mitochondrial stress models of PD were employed to explore the role of two divergent molecular influences on dopaminergic neuronal survival. We examined neuroinflammatory and death signalling pathways arising from MPTP-induced mitochondrial stress. Interferon-gamma (IFN-ɣ) is a cytokine known to activate cellular components of inflammation, including microglia of the central nervous system (CNS). Results of a screen for cytokines in PD patient plasma revealed elevated levels of IFN-ɣ, suggesting a correlation between IFN-ɣ and PD associated DA cell death. In an MPTP mouse model of PD, germline deletion of IFN-ɣ improved survival of DA neurons and the nigrostriatal system, along with a reduction in microglia activation. Employing a survival co-culture system of neurons and microglia, it was found that neutralizing IFN-ɣ reduced DA cell loss induced by the mitochondrial complex I inhibitor, rotenone. DA cell death required localized microglia, activated through the IFN-ɣ-receptor (IFN-ɣ-R), with DA survival inversely proportional to IFN-ɣ expression, found to be up-regulated following rotenone. Investigation of the calpain-Cdk5-MEF2 signalling pathway in the MPTP model of DA cell death, motivated an examination of the nuclear orphan receptor, Nur77, following a review of potential MEF2 regulatory targets. MPTP induced a reduction in Nur77 mRNA from basal ii levels in SNc tissue, further regulated by ectopic Nur77 expression. These results strengthened our new model of MEF2 Nur77 regulation in DA neurons. In MPP+/MPTP DA survival experiments, loss in germline Nur77 expression presented an elevation in DA neuronal death both in vitro and in vivo, with a greater impairment in the nigrostriatal circuitry in comparison with normal expressing animals and cells. Dopaminergic supersensitivity related to Nur77 deficiency was attenuated with the ectopic expression of AV-Nur77 in vivo. These opposing mediators of survival yield new mechanisms by which DA neurons die, suggesting a mutitargeting approach to halt the progression of DA cell death.
Open science builds scholarly commons (plural) across the planet
Creators: name: Caron, Bruce
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Anthropology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Sociology

description: Starting points toward commoning in open science · Science is intensely personal. Scientists are already engaged in their own struggle with the unknowns of nature in the infinite game. Science — their intellectual disease — is fortunately incurable, and likely pandemic.· Science is already social. Just in the US, several thousand workshops a year evidence the scientific need/desire to build collective knowledge. · Science is cultural. Self-governed science communities can use intentional cultural practices to help scientists prepare to work together in virtual organizations with shared norms and resources. · Commoning communities open up arenas for online collaboration. Online conversation-driven collectives supported by virtual communities on internet platforms can replace expensive in-person workshops and massive annual meetings, and enable scientists to share knowledge and solve problems today across the globe. · These communities need to consider themselves as commons to replace institutions that have been twisted by the three dimensions of external goods and influence (hierarchy, intellectual property, and neoliberal economics). Commons can address the many intellectual property wrongs that plague the academy today. · Each commons needs to work locally, attuned to its local situation within science domains and academic institutions. · The academy needs to harness the internet and technology platforms to knit together localized science/data commons into a global web of open shared resources and collective intelligence.
The real question is how to rescue (or re-place) current academic institutions using commons-based societies and economics. The commons is not an alt-academy, it needs to refactor existing organizations, where possible, and spin up new ones as required. How can we help move this process forward? If commoning is the “WD40” to release science for the sclerotic hold of its 19th Century institutions (See: Is my learned society obsolete?), internet-based technology is the duct tape needed to help these hundreds and thousands of commons communities work in concert across the globe. The internet holds the future of science. Shared resource platforms, such as Zenodo can operate at a global scale when needed, and support thousands of small teams as required. For commoning to gain traction in the academy, we must explore commoner-owned online platform cooperatives (Smichowski, 2016) as a generative practice for open science. The first step is culture change: we need to unleash a more profound understanding of the circumstances of scholarly commoning by building up new open practices, informed by fierce equality (Fierce Equality) and demand sharing (Demand Sharing). These efforts will be localized and applied as needed to yank local institutions away from hierarchy, intellectual property wrongs, and the pull of the margin that preempts ethical decisions and norms.
Stochastic Search Genetic Algorithm Approximation of Input Signals in Native Neuronal Networks
Creators: name: Anisenia, Andrei
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: stochastic search
Genetic Algorithm
neuronal networks
neuron
signals
graph algoritms

description: The present work investigates the applicability of Genetic Algorithms (GA) to the problem of signal propagation in Native Neuronal Networks (NNNs). These networks are comprised of neurons, some of which receive input signals. The signals propagate though the network by transmission between neurons. The research focuses on the regeneration of the output signal of the network without knowing the original input signal. The computational complexity of the problem is prohibitive for the exact computation. We propose to use a heuristic approach called Genetic Algorithm. Three algorithms are developed, based on the GA technique. The developed algorithms are tested on two different networks with varying input signals. The results obtained from the testing indicate significantly better performance of the developed algorithms compared to the Uniform Random Search (URS) technique, which is used as a control group. The importance of the research is in the demonstration of the ability of GA-based algorithms to successfully solve the problem at hand.
Mitchell, Murdoch and me
Creators: name: Brent, Peter
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: When I answered the phone on 11 July 2007 it was Chris Mitchell's personal assistant on the line. It turned out to be a courtesy call from the Australian's editor-in-chief to inform me that I would be starring in the next day's editorial - and not pleasantly. It would consist of a demolition of online critics of the newspaper - mostly me, complete with photo - in retaliation for the horrid things I'd written on my website about how the paper reported its fortnightly opinion poll, Newspoll. This wasn't the first phone conversation I'd had with Mitchell. That had been the previous December, after I'd emailed him out of the blue about a Newspoll pitting a hypothetical Kevin Rudd-Julia Gillard Labor leadership team against the incumbents, Kim Beazley and Jenny Macklin (why were there no figures on voting intentions?). That email had resulted, to my surprise, in an hour-long chat, in which Mitchell schmoozed and flattered and tried to get me to see things his way. He obviously spent a lot of time reading online opinions about his newspaper. Any dividends from that December charm offensive were short-term, because here we were eight months later. Rudd was leading Labor and rampaging against the Howard government in the polls, and the Oz was still clutching at Newspoll straws. You can read the comments that sparked the call online; scroll up for subsequent developments.
Haunting the Domestic Foam: A Political Spherology of Contemporary Haunted House Films
Creators: name: Grillo, Carmen M.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Haunted House Films
Politics
Gender
Masculinity Crisis
Domestic Space
Spherology
Peter Sloterdijk

description: This thesis is focused on the intersection between horror, gender and politics in American haunted house films. Taking a “spherological” approach, the author argues that horror is evidence of a spherical breakdown, or a violation of existential space. Applying this approach to Hollywood haunted house films, the author demonstrates how those movies have, in the years since 2005, responded to a masculinity crisis discourse: by figuring haunting as a horrific disruption of paternal authority by violent masculine entities and powerful female ones, film-makers situate the movies in that discourse. By positing “security moms” (Grewal: 2006) and “paternal sovereigns” (Gunn: 2008) as responses to the crisis, the films construct a domestic space where women are militant mothers and men are sovereigns. Because the family is an important metaphor for the American nation (Lakoff: 2002), this construction can be seen as part of a paternalistic national politics. Cette thèse se concentre sur l’intersection de l’horreur, le genre et la politique dans des filmes américains de maison hantée. En prenant une approche “sphérologique,” l’auteur constate que l’éclatement d’une sphère existentielle s’accompagne du sentiment d’horreur. Concernant les films de maison hantée, l’auteur démontre comment ces objets-là se sont adressés, depuis 2005, au discours de la crise de masculinité: en figurant l’hantise comme la subversion de l’autorité du père par des menaces masculins et féminins, les réalisateurs mettent les films dans la trajectoire du discours de la crise. À fin de répondre à la crise, les films construisent l’espace doméstique de façon que les femmes soient des mères militantes (les “security moms”) (Grewal: 2006) et les pères soient souverains (les “souverains paternels”) (Gunn: 2008). Finalement, car la famille reste une métaphore importante de la nation Américaine (Lakoff: 2002), cette construction peut être vue comme partie de la paternalisme nationale.
A Qualitative Approach Using the Self Determination Theory To Understand Motivation Within the Concept of Physical Literacy
Creators: name: McClelland, Kathryn A.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: physical literacy
motivation
pre-adolescent youth

description: The relevance of motivation has saturated many physical literacy definitions (Mandigo et al., 2006); however, the study of motivation in this context has generated minimal attention. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore motivation with respect to physical literacy related to self-reported variety of physical activity engagement and predilection towards physical activity. Participants included 218 male and female students in grades 4-6. Deci and Ryan’s (1985) basic needs theory guided a thematic analysis of open-ended questions from the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy. Results indicated participants’ engagement in a variety of physical activities, and predilection towards physical activity was influenced by self-reported need satisfaction. Competence related more to engagement in a wide variety of physical activities while relatedness was found to relate more to predilection towards physical activity. Children who engaged in their physical activities for fun, and health benefits on average participated in a greater variety of physical activities.
Essays on the Economics of Increasing Public Naloxone Availability to Reduce Overdose Deaths
Creators: name: Dowd, William
Publisher: name: Lancaster University
Year: 2024
Subjects: opioid use disorder
naloxone
harm reduction
Health Economics

description: Between 2013 and 2022, the opioid overdose mortality rate in the United
 States more than tripled from 7.9 to 25.0 deaths per 100,000, claiming
 500,000 lives. This thesis is concerned with one intervention used to
 address this crisis: naloxone distribution to the public (i.e.,
 non-medical professionals). Naloxone is a medication that reverses the
 dangerous effects of an opioid overdose. However, some theoretical and
 empirical evidence suggests that the protective effect of naloxone might
 increase risk-taking related to opioid use. The thesis begins with a
 meta-analysis of studies that estimated the effect of naloxone
 distribution on fatal overdoses by exploiting variation in state laws
 designed to strengthen naloxone distribution (Chapter 2). Findings
 indicate that laws providing immunity to prescribers and dispensers had a
 statistically significant, reductive effect on fatal overdoses, while laws
 that protected recipients of naloxone or facilitated its distribution
 through pharmacies had no significant effect. The thesis then estimates
 the effectiveness of naloxone distribution based on two large-scale
 naloxone giveaway events held in Pennsylvania (Chapter 3).
 Difference-in-differences analyses revealed a large and statistically
 significant decrease in fatal overdoses immediately following the first
 giveaway but an increase following the second. The seemingly contradictory
 findings are explained by the changing composition of the opioid supply
 between the giveaways, specifically the presence of xylazine—a non-opioid
 tranquilizer for which naloxone is ineffective. Finally, an economic
 evaluation of Pennsylvania’s naloxone giveaways revealed that giveaways
 were cost-effective from a limited healthcare perspective and cost-saving
 from a broader societal perspective, but that cost-effectiveness was
 sensitive to increases in overdose risk (Chapter 4). Taken together, these
 findings suggest that naloxone distribution is a valuable tool to reduce
 opioid overdose deaths, but that policymakers must be aware of contextual
 factors (e.g., opioid supply composition) and should combine naloxone
 distribution with educational initiatives to prevent riskier opioid use.
Bright Ideas: a school-based program teaching optimistic thinking skills in pre-adolescence
Creators: name: Brandon, Cathy M.
name: Cunningham, Everarda
name: Frydenberg, Erica
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Research into the areas of depression and resilience suggests that an optimistic attributional style is a key factor in coping effectively with stressors and functioning adaptively despite adversity. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a program designed to increase positive thinking skills, through awareness and practice, to pre-adolescent children who have been identified as exhibiting a more pessimistic explanatory style. From a total of 110 Year 5 and 6 students, 38 students were selected to participate in the program because they exhibited a more pessimistic explanatory style. Program participants were administered the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) at pre-, post-, and 3-month post- program. Non-program participants completed the CASQ at pre- and 3-month post- program. Results indicated that program participants significantly improved their attributional style scores post program, and that these improvements were maintained at 3-month post-program follow-up. When attributional style difference scores at pre- and 3- month post program were compared, improved scores for program participants were significantly greater than changes in attributional style scores for those students who were not in the program. Given the links between attributional style, depression, and a range of behaviours, such promising results warrant further investigation into the effects of such a program on other outcome measures. The findings provide support for the benefits to be gained by developing positive attributional style during the pre-adolescent years.
Supplementary document for Imaging the dynamics of individual processes of microglia in the living retina in vivo - 5424288.pdf
Creators: name: Joseph, Aby
name: Power, Derek
name: Schallek, Jesse
Publisher: name: Optica Publishing Group
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biomedical Engineering not elsewhere classified
Computer Vision
Classical and Physical Optics
Vision Science

description: Supplement 1, with Fig. S1 and S2
Development of a roadmap : Guiding Strategic Decision Making on R&D Investments in the BC Wine and Grape Industry
Creators: name: Pesme, Jacques-Olivier
name: Mooken, Malida
name: Valania, Marcela
name: Sugden, Roger
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2021

description: BCWGC is developing a research and development (R&D) roadmap to guide strategic decision making on R&D investments for the BC wine and grape industry. To enable its members to decide on the future of R&D in the BC wine industry, BCWGC asked our group to facilitate discussions about the roadmap. The final report describes the process, outputs, and recommendations. It provides a pool of ideas for people to think about, and act upon. The ideas draw on a survey and, in particular, discussion at a series of workshops for BCWGC members and stakeholders. Recommendations focus on funding new research and knowledge sharing, ways to share, R&D focal points, collaboration, BCWGC governance, and discussion across the industry of what is understood by “good quality”.
Initiating the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint Signal: Checkpoint Protein Mad1 Associates with Outer Kinetochore Protein Ndc80 in Budding Yeast
Creators: name: Weirich, Alexandra
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: protein purification
anaphase promoting complex
spindle assembly checkpoint
Mad1
Ndc80
Budding Yeast
mass spectrometry

description: The spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that delays the initiation of anaphase by inhibiting the Anaphase Promoting Complex (APC) until all kinetochores have achieved bipolar attachment on the mitotic spindle. Mad1-3, Bub1, and Bub3, components of the SAC, are conserved from yeast to humans. These proteins localize to unattached kinetochores, though it is unknown with which kinetochore proteins they interact and how these interactions transduce information about microtubule attachement. Here, purification of the checkpoint proteins from Saccharomyces cerevisiae suggests that Mad1 interacts with the outer kinetochore protein Ndc80 in a SAC, cell cycle, and DNA dependent manner. Ndc80 is thought to mediate attachment of kinetochores to microtubules so the interaction between Mad1 and Ndc80 suggests a mechanism by which cells sense kinetochore-microtubule attachment. The SAC is of special importance in some types of cancer where genetic damage and aneuploidy is correlated with mutated SAC genes. A better understanding of the SAC mechanism will aid in the development of targetted cancer therpeutics.
Silencing Proteins Sir3 and Sir4 have Distinct Roles in the Assembly of Silent Chromatin in Budding Yeast
Creators: name: Harding, Katherine
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2014
Subjects: SIR proteins
Budding Yeast

description: The Silent Information Regulator (SIR) complex is responsible for the formation of silent chromatin domains in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and consists of the NAD-dependent histone deacetylase Sir2, and histone binding proteins Sir3 and Sir4. The current model of silent chromatin assembly proposes that histone deacetylation by Sir2 is required to promote recruitment of Sir3 and Sir4, and assembly of full SIR complexes on chromatin. However, recent work has suggested unique roles for the histone binding proteins Sir3 and Sir4 in this process. Here we present data suggesting that Sir3 is primarily responsible for mediating the spreading of silent chromatin from sites of nucleation, while regulation of Sir4 abundance controls the rate of silencing establishment. We have also investigated a potential novel dimerization domain in Sir3, which may represent a conserved function in vertebrates. Investigations into the regulation of silent chromatin assembly in budding yeast will facilitate our understanding of the mechanisms that control heterochromatin-mediated gene repression in higher organisms.
Data Augmentation With Back translation for Low Resource languages: A case of English and Luganda
Creators: name: Kimera, Richard
name: Heo, Dongnyeong
name: Rim, Daniela N.
name: Choi, Heeyoul
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: Computation and Language (cs.CL)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: In this paper,we explore the application of Back translation (BT) as a semi-supervised technique to enhance Neural Machine Translation(NMT) models for the English-Luganda language pair, specifically addressing the challenges faced by low-resource languages. The purpose of our study is to demonstrate how BT can mitigate the scarcity of bilingual data by generating synthetic data from monolingual corpora. Our methodology involves developing custom NMT models using both publicly available and web-crawled data, and applying Iterative and Incremental Back translation techniques. We strategically select datasets for incremental back translation across multiple small datasets, which is a novel element of our approach. The results of our study show significant improvements, with translation performance for the English-Luganda pair exceeding previous benchmarks by more than 10 BLEU score units across all translation directions. Additionally, our evaluation incorporates comprehensive assessment metrics such as SacreBLEU, ChrF2, and TER, providing a nuanced understanding of translation quality. The conclusion drawn from our research confirms the efficacy of BT when strategically curated datasets are utilized, establishing new performance benchmarks and demonstrating the potential of BT in enhancing NMT models for low-resource languages.
description: NLPIR '24: Proceedings of the 2024 8th International Conference on Natural Language Processing and Information Retrieval
Adam Smith and the Problems of Eighteenth-Century Aesthetics
Creators: name: Siraki, Arby T.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Adam Smith
Eighteenth-Century Literature
Aesthetics
History of Ideas

description: This dissertation examines the aesthetics of Adam Smith. It argues that, despite appearances to the contrary, Smith not only articulated ideas on the subject and was engaged in the aesthetic debates of his time, but that he in many ways innovates on and challenges received opinion—he thus differs significantly from some of his better known contemporaries, including Edmund Burke and David Hume. For this reason, he is not merely a major thinker who happened to dabble in aesthetics; on the contrary, he considered the subject, which appears in nearly all his works, important, and often interrogates its issues in a more studied way. My project thus makes a case for Smith as a significant thinker in the history of aesthetics, one who merits renewed attention. This study does so by investigating the major aesthetic issues of the day, which Smith in fact discusses. It begins by examining Smith’s remarks on taste—the aesthetic issue of the century—which occur largely in Theory of Moral Sentiments. Though seemingly tangential, his discussion of taste is significant as it argues against the predominant eighteenth-century current that maintained the existence of a standard. He also challenges theorists such as Hume who made aesthetic experience classless and, especially via sympathy, disinterested. The study next investigates Smith’s aesthetic normativity and what are for him valid aesthetic judgments, which can be reconciled with his remarks problematizing taste. Here too, Smith appears to argue against the predominant impulse that sought to ground valid aesthetic experience in the immediate; in doing so, Smith demystifies and democratizes aesthetic experience. Finally, the dissertation investigates tragedy, by far the literary genre that most interested Smith, and which also drew attention from better known theorists. The paradox of tragedy—why readers and spectators are attracted to painful representations—was an aesthetic issue that vexed many thinkers of the century, and although Smith appears to ignore the issue, we have in his moral theory a solution to the paradox, one that is unique and more satisfying than those of his contemporaries. The project concludes by examining Smith’s relation to neoclassical dramatic theory. Though superficially appearing complacent in uncritically adopting neoclassical doctrine, Smith, even here, is being original.
Rapid variability and annual cycles in the characteristic timescale of the scintillating source PKS 1257-326
Creators: name: Bignall, Hayley E.
name: Jauncey, David L.
name: Lovell, James E.
name: Tzioumis, Anastasios K.
name: Kedziora-Chudczer, Lucyna L.
name: Macquart, Jean-Pierre
name: Tingay, Steven J.
name: Rayner, David P.
name: Clay, Roger W.
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Rapid radio intraday variability (IDV) has been discovered in the southern quasar PKS 1257-326. Flux density changes of up to 40% in as little as 45 minutes have been observed in this source, making it, along with PKS 0405-385 and J1819+3845, one of the three most rapid IDV sources known. We have monitored the IDV in this source with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at 4.8 and 8.6 GHz over the course of the last year and find a clear annual cycle in the characteristic timescale of variability. This annual cycle demonstrates unequivocally that interstellar scintillation is the cause of the rapid IDV at radio wavelengths observed in this source. We use the observed annual cycle to constrain the velocity of the scattering material and the angular size of the scintillating component of PKS 1257-326. We observe a time delay, which also shows an annual cycle, between the similar variability patterns at the two frequencies. We suggest that this is caused by a small (~10 µ as) offset between the centroids of the 4.8 and 8.6 GHz components and may be due to opacity effects in the source. The statistical properties of the observed scintillation thus enable us to resolve source structure on a scale of ~10 µ as, resolution orders of magnitude higher than current VLBI techniques allow. General implications of IDV for the physical properties of sources and the turbulent interstellar medium are discussed.