cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Gestational Bisphenol-A Exposure Lowers the Threshold for Autoimmunity in a Multiple Sclerosis Model in Adult Mice
Creators: name: Rogers, James
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Neuroscience
subject: multiple sclerosis
subject: Neuroscience
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Neuroimmunology
subject: Neuroinflammation
subject: G-CSF
subject: Inflammation
subject: macrophage
subject: Neutrophils

description: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) with pathology that includes inflammation, demyelination and axonal injury. Peripheral adaptive and innate immune cells enter the CNS to help elicit damage. Several hormonal and environmental factors are implicated in dysregulation of immune responses in individuals with MS. Bisphenol-A (BPA) is an environmental contaminant with endocrine disrupting capabilities and a high prevalence of human exposure. Studies have demonstrated that during early life animals are more susceptible to lasting effects of BPA. To investigate a possible role for BPA in MS we began in vitro investigations and demonstrated minute changes in CD4+ T lymphocyte responses relevant in MS and the animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). On examination in vivo we observed limited effects with adult exposure in EAE mice to BPA; however, exposure during and limited to the gestational period resulted in lasting immune alterations whereby macrophages from gestational BPA-exposed male mice have greater propensity to be activated in culture to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α and G-CSF. Next, we subjected gestational BPA-exposed mice that had reached adulthood to a sub-optimal EAE-inducing paradigm that was devoid of pertussis toxin (PTx). In agreement with reports in the literature, few control mice (no gestational exposure) or gestational vehicle-exposed mice developed EAE without PTx; in contrast, males that were gestational BPA-exposed showed a significant increase in disease incidence but females did not. While CD4+ T lymphocyte alterations were found to be minor, we observed increased circulating G-CSF early after immunization in adult male mice accompanied by increased circulating neutrophils, which was not observed in females. Blocking G-CSF activity eliminated the increased susceptibility to EAE observed in adult male mice that had gestational BPA exposure. Finally we found that similarly to neutrophils in MS patients, neutrophils in male mice gestationally exposed to BPA have an increased pro-inflammatory phenotype. These results suggest that male mice gestationally exposed to BPA have increased future susceptibility to EAE through dysregulation of innate immunity. This thesis highlights a new environmental factor and mechanism that may predispose some individuals to MS.
Bulk Intergrowth of a Topological Insulator with a Room Temperature Ferromagnet
Creators: name: Ji, Huiwen
name: Allred, J. M.
name: Ni, Ni
name: Tao, Jing
name: Neupane, M.
name: Wray, A.
name: Xu, S.
name: Hasan, M. Z.
name: Cava, R. J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We demonstrate that the layered room temperature ferromagnet Fe7Se8 and the topological insulator Bi2Se3 form crystallographically oriented bulk composite intergrowth crystals. The morphology of the intergrowth in real space and reciprocal space is described. Critically, the basal planes of Bi2Se3 and Fe7Se8 are parallel and hence the good cleavage inherent in the bulk phases is retained. The intergrowth is on the micron scale. Both phases in the intergrowth crystals display their intrinsic bulk properties: the ferromagnetism of the Fe7Se8 is anisotropic, with magnetization easy axis in the plane of the crystals, and ARPES characterization shows that the topological surface states remain present on the Bi2Se3. Analogous behavior is found for what has been called "Fe-doped Bi2Se3."
Distribution of Staphylococcus non-aureus isolated from bovine milk in Canadian herds
Creators: name: Condas, Larissa
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Agriculture
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Veterinary Science
subject: Epidemiology
subject: Dairy
subject: mastitis
subject: intramammary infection
subject: coagulase negative-staphylcococci
subject: staphylococci non-aureus
subject: Prevalence
subject: Distribution

description: The Staphylococci non-aureus (SNA) species are among the most prevalent isolated from bovine milk. However, the role of each species within the SNA group still needs to be fully understood. Knowing which SNA species are most common in bovine intramammary infections (IMI), as well as their epidemiology, is essential to the improvement of udder health on dairy farms worldwide. This thesis is comprised of two studies on the epidemiology of SNA species in bovine milk, and used molecular methods to identify of isolates obtained from the Canadian Bovine Mastitis and Milk Quality Research Network. The first study focused on the prevalence of SNA species on Canadian dairy farms and potential associations of SNA positive mammary quarters with bulk milk somatic cell count (BMSCC), barn type, parity, month of lactation and quarter location. Overall SNA represented 9% of the isolates from culture positive mammary quarters and the most common species were S. chromogenes, S. simulans, S. xylosus, S. haemolyticus, and S. epidermidis. Province and barn type were associated with SNA species distribution; Albertan bedded-packs were mostly affected by S. chromogenes, Maritimes free-stall herds by S. epidermidis, and Ontario and Quebec tie-stalls by S. xylosus. Staphylococcus arlettae, S. cohnii, and S. gallinarum were isolated from quarters of herds with high BMSCC. Fresh heifers and cows in later lactation were most frequently infected by S. chromogenes. The second study focused on the distribution of the same species in SNA positive-quarters according to udder inflammation status, classified according to low and high SCC and clinical mastitis. Average somatic cell count (SCC) for the SNA as a group was 70,000 cells/mL, driven mostly by S. chromogenes, S. haemolyticus, S. xylosus and S. epidermidis. Species-specific prevalence of SNA-positive quarters was higher in high (≥ 200,000 cells/mL) than in low SCC (< 200,000 cells/mL) samples for the 11 most frequently isolated SNA species. Staphylococcus sciuri was more frequently isolated from clinical mastitis samples. Considering SNA as a group will misrepresent the role of individual species on farms. Ultimately, adopting molecular identification of SNA species along with future research in species-specific risk factors are necessary to fully elucidate the importance of of the different SNA species on udder health and possible species-specific interventions.
Corporate Reputation and Its Implications for Corporate Alliances and Foreign Direct Investment
Creators: name: Liu, Xiaoyu
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Business Administration--Management
subject: Corporate Reputation
subject: Corporate Alliances
subject: Foreign Direct Investment
subject: Management Control

description: My dissertation includes four essays representing the starting point of my interests in corporate reputation, the microfoundations of corporate reputation and the empirical applications of corporate reputation in corporate alliances and international business fields. I explain the origination of my research interest in corporate reputation in essay one. I explore the concept of corporate reputation, its antecedents, moderators and consequences with a meta-analysis method in essay two. Building on the results of the meta-analysis, I further investigate the applications and implications of corporate reputation in corporate alliances, specifically in US joint ventures from a relational and a network point of view in essay three. Enlightening with the limitation identified by essay three and based on the research gap identified by essay one, I extend my research to an international business setting to investigate the implications of corporate reputation on a firm’s foreign direct investment (FDI) strategies. My dissertation includes different methodologies including meta-analysis, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regressions and qualitative case studies. I cover three major topics of international business, corporate reputation and corporate alliances in the field of strategy. I investigate the theories of transaction cost economics (TCE), resource-based view (RBV), dynamic capabilities theory, bargaining power theory, social capital theory, the relational view of the firm and the network view of the firm. I conclude that corporate reputation is a multi-dimensional concept which is a valuable factor to influence the corporate performance in strategic alliances and to determine the development of the international entry strategies for a firm. This dissertation not only lays a foundation to understand corporate reputation by bringing together various streams of literature in international business, corporate alliances and sustainability, but also provides valuable insights on the future directions of the research on corporate reputation.
THE ETHICAL DIMENSIONS OF REWARD-DRIVEN INFORMATION REPORTING
Creators: name: Wei Zhang
Publisher: name: SADI journals
Year: 2023
Subjects: online bounty
information behavior
digital reporting
collective moral criticism
cyberspace

description: Online bounty reporting behavior represents a complex phenomenon emerging within the digital realm, encompassing various information-related actions like human flesh searches, online surveillance, whistleblowing, seeking assistance, and asserting rights. Rooted in a collective moral critique framework, this behavior integrates economic incentives with information-sharing capabilities afforded by cyberspace, encouraging individuals to track, disclose, and take "defensive actions" against acquaintances, culminating in a distinct form of online reporting. This study delves into the intricacies of this behavior, shedding light on its evolution and characteristics within the contemporary digital landscape.
Informal Learning Using Tablet Computers and Apps: A Multi-Method Study of Older Adults Self-Managing Diabetes
Creators: name: Seabrook, Heather Jane
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Education
subject: Education--Health
subject: Education--Technology
subject: tablet computers
subject: mobile apps
subject: informal learning
subject: aged
subject: Self-management
subject: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2

description: Background: Mobile software applications (apps) and online health information are a growing resource for diabetes self-management. Apps and online resources may confer benefits, yet a lack of relevant guidance continues to impede the design and implementation of effective interventions that use them. Alternative learning designs that align with older adults’ preference for informal learning and diverse needs could facilitate the continued learning and self-management essential to maintaining their well-being. Methods: Guided by the technology acceptance theory of Venkatesh and colleagues, Phase 1 of this study adapted a systematic review methodology to identify apps for self-management of diabetes and used principles to assess them. Phase 2 used a multi-case study approach in which older adults were provided personalized instruction to help them use the tablet computer and apps. Transcripts were analyzed to identify themes within and across cases. Results: In Phase 1, two apps were selected from 1,936 search results. Critical quality issues varied depending on an app’s purpose. Apps with self-management information neglected to reference their source (attribution). Apps that supported other self-management activities had safety and usability problems. In Phase 2, a conceptual model was developed in which participants’ self-perceived needs and preferences influenced use of the intervention and consequently their outcomes. Personalized training facilitated use. Participants benefitted from convenient, easy access to appropriate resources. They experienced challenges ranging from app-level usability issues to the system-level problems. Outcomes included review, problem-solving, data visualization, showing information face-to-face, and technology adoption. Conclusions: Few of the apps currently available are appropriate for use by older adults for diabetes self-management. Some means of ensuring access to a pool of vetted apps is recommended and there is a need for a decision-matrix for screening apps to ensure they are optimally selected for patient use. Detailed criteria and an approach are provided to further this work. The study also provides a new understanding of older adults’ use of tablet computers and apps to facilitate learning and self-management. The conceptual model and framework of design and implementation considerations could guide learning designers in developing effective interventions for older adults.
Alignment-based optically pumped magnetometer using a buffer gas cell
Creators: name: Rushton, L. M.
name: Elson, L.
name: Meraki, A.
name: Jensen, K.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Applied Physics (physics.app-ph)
subject: Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Alignment-based optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) are capable of measuring oscillating magnetic fields with high sensitivity in the fT/sqrt(Hz) range. Until now, alignment-based magnetometers have only used paraffin-coated vapour cells to extend the spin relaxation lifetimes of the alkali vapour. The drawback of these cells is that they are hand-blown and are therefore time-intensive, and somewhat unreliable, to produce. Buffer gas cells, on the other hand, can be manufactured on a mass scale using microfabrication techniques. We present the first demonstration of an alignment-based magnetometer using a buffer gas vapour cell containing caesium (Cs) alkali vapour and nitrogen (N2) buffer gas. The OPM is operated at 55 degrees C and we achieve a 325 fT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity to 10 kHz oscillating magnetic fields with an 800 Hz bandwidth. The alignment-based magnetometer uses a single laser beam for optical pumping and probing and could potentially allow for more rapid commercialisation of radio-frequency OPMs, due to the robustness of the one-beam geometry and the potential for mass-scale microfabrication of buffer gas cells.
description: 10 pages, 7 figures
Effect of Intensity Modulator Extinction on Practical Quantum Key Distribution System
Creators: name: Huang, Jing-Zheng
name: Yin, Zhen-Qiang
name: Wang, Shuang
name: Li, Hong-Wei
name: Chen, Wei
name: Han, Zheng-Fu
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study how the imperfection of intensity modulator effects on the security of a practical quantum key distribution system. The extinction ratio of the realistic intensity modulator is considered in our security analysis. We show that the secret key rate increases, under the practical assumption that the indeterminable noise introduced by the imperfect intensity modulator can not be controlled by the eavesdropper.
description: 6 pages, 5 figures. EPJD accepted
From English to More Languages: Parameter-Efficient Model Reprogramming for Cross-Lingual Speech Recognition
Creators: name: Yang, Chao-Han Huck
name: Li, Bo
name: Zhang, Yu
name: Chen, Nanxin
name: Prabhavalkar, Rohit
name: Sainath, Tara N.
name: Strohman, Trevor
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Sound (cs.SD)
subject: Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: Neural and Evolutionary Computing (cs.NE)
subject: Audio and Speech Processing (eess.AS)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering

description: In this work, we propose a new parameter-efficient learning framework based on neural model reprogramming for cross-lingual speech recognition, which can \textbf{re-purpose} well-trained English automatic speech recognition (ASR) models to recognize the other languages. We design different auxiliary neural architectures focusing on learnable pre-trained feature enhancement that, for the first time, empowers model reprogramming on ASR. Specifically, we investigate how to select trainable components (i.e., encoder) of a conformer-based RNN-Transducer, as a frozen pre-trained backbone. Experiments on a seven-language multilingual LibriSpeech speech (MLS) task show that model reprogramming only requires 4.2% (11M out of 270M) to 6.8% (45M out of 660M) of its original trainable parameters from a full ASR model to perform competitive results in a range of 11.9% to 8.1% WER averaged across different languages. In addition, we discover different setups to make large-scale pre-trained ASR succeed in both monolingual and multilingual speech recognition. Our methods outperform existing ASR tuning architectures and their extension with self-supervised losses (e.g., w2v-bert) in terms of lower WER and better training efficiency.
description: Submitted to ICASSP 2023. The project was initiated in May 2022 during a research internship at Google Research
Detection of high-frequency gravitational waves using high-energy pulsed lasers
Creators: name: Vacalis, Georgios
name: Marocco, Giacomo
name: Bamber, James
name: Bingham, Robert
name: Gregori, Gianluca
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We propose a new method for detecting high-frequency gravitational waves (GWs) using high-energy pulsed lasers. Through the inverse Gertsenshtein effect, the interaction between a GW and the laser beam results in the creation of an electromagnetic signal. The latter can be detected using single-photon counting techniques. We compute the minimal strain of a detectable GW which only depends on the laser parameters. We find that a resonance occurs in this process when the frequency of the GW is twice the frequency of the laser. With this method, the frequency range $10^{13}-10^{19} $ Hz is explored non-continuously for strains $h \gtrsim 10^{-20}$ for current laser systems and can be extended to $h \gtrsim 10^{-26}$ with future generation facilities.
description: 15 pages, 2 figures, v2 matches the published version
Magnetic Flux Transport by turbulent reconnection in astrophysical flows
Creators: name: Pino, Elisabete M. de Gouveia Dal
name: Leão, Márcia R. M.
name: Santos-Lima, Reinaldo
name: Guerrero, Gustavo
name: Kowal, Grzegorz
name: Lazarian, Alex
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The role of MHD turbulence in astrophysical environments is still highly debated. An important question that permeates this debate is the transport of magnetic flux. This is particularly important, for instance, in the context of star formation. When clouds collapse gravitationally to form stars, there must be some magnetic flux transport. otherwise the new born stars would have magnetic fields several orders of magnitude larger than the observed ones. Also, the magnetic flux that is dragged in the late stages of the formation of a star can remove all the rotational support from the accretion disk that grows around the protostar. The efficiency of the mechanism which is often invoked to allow the transport of magnetic fields in the different stages of star formation, namely, the ambipolar diffusion, has been lately put in check. We here discuss an alternative mechanism for magnetic flux transport which is based on turbulent fast magnetic reconnection. We review recent results obtained from 3D MHD numerical simulations that indicate that this mechanism is very efficient for decoupling and transport magnetic flux from the inner denser regions to the outskirts of collapsing clouds in the different stages of star formation. We also discuss this mechanism in the context of dynamo processes and speculate that it can play a role both in the solar dynamo and in accretion disk dynamo processes.
description: 10 pages, 2 figures, review submitted to Physica Scripta
Light-quark connected intermediate-window contributions to the muon $g-2$ hadronic vacuum polarization from lattice QCD
Creators: name: Bazavov, Alexei
name: Davies, Christine
name: DeTar, Carleton
name: El-Khadra, Aida X.
name: Gámiz, Elvira
name: Gottlieb, Steven
name: Jay, William I.
name: Jeong, Hwancheol
name: Kronfeld, Andreas S.
name: Lahert, Shaun
name: Lepage, G. Peter
name: Lynch, Michael
name: Lytle, Andrew T.
name: Mackenzie, Paul B.
name: McNeile, Craig
name: Neil, Ethan T.
name: Peterson, Curtis T.
name: Ray, Gaurav
name: Simone, James N.
name: Van de Water, Ruth S.
name: Vaquero, Alejandro
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a lattice-QCD calculation of the light-quark connected contribution to window observables associated with the leading-order hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, $a_μ^{\mathrm{HVP,LO}}$. We employ the MILC Collaboration's isospin-symmetric QCD gauge-field ensembles, which contain four flavors of dynamical highly-improved-staggered quarks with four lattice spacings between $a\approx 0.06$-$0.15$~fm and close-to-physical quark masses. We consider several effective-field-theory-based schemes for finite-volume and other lattice corrections and combine the results via Bayesian model averaging to obtain robust estimates of the associated systematic uncertainties. After unblinding, our final results for the intermediate and ``W2'' windows are $a^{ll,{\mathrm W}}_μ(\mathrm{conn.})=206.6(1.0) \times 10^{-10}$ and $a^{ll,\mathrm {W2}}_μ(\mathrm{conn.}) = 100.7(3.2)\times 10^{-10}$, respectively.
description: v3: Updated to reflect published version, which includes updates to the text in Sections II.B, III.C,D,E. Numerical results unchanged
Exploration of the Effectiveness of Online Learning for Engineering Professional Skills Development
Creators: name: Lumgair, Brendon
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Education--Teacher Training
subject: Education--Technology
subject: Engineering
subject: Engineering--Civil
subject: Engineering Education
subject: online learning
subject: professionalism
subject: ethics
subject: webinar
subject: web conferencing
subject: CEAB
subject: graduate attributes
subject: ABET
subject: synchronous
subject: distance education
subject: professional skills
subject: CDIO
subject: blended learning

description: Online learning is revolutionizing post-secondary education where class sizes are already in the hundreds. Of the 12 Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board’s (CEAB) graduate attributes and 11 Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) student outcomes, about half are “technical” and half are “professional / soft skills”. Can engineering professional skills learning outcomes be effectively taught and assessed in a large online class without sacrificing the quality of teaching and learning and the rigour of assessment of a traditional in-person class? At the University of Calgary an undergraduate engineering course on professionalism, ethics and life-long learning was taught to 468 students purely online via synchronous webinars / web conferencing, asynchronous videos and a textbook. The average student preferred webinars and rated webinars as the most engaging and effective presentation format. The majority of the students reported that the online course was effective in their achieving the professional skills learning outcomes.
Fractional Integro-Differential Equations for Electromagnetic Waves in Dielectric Media
Creators: name: Tarasov, Vasily E.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We prove that the electromagnetic fields in dielectric media whose susceptibility follows a fractional power-law dependence in a wide frequency range can be described by differential equations with time derivatives of noninteger order. We obtain fractional integro-differential equations for electromagnetic waves in a dielectric. The electromagnetic fields in dielectrics demonstrate a fractional power-law relaxation. The fractional integro-differential equations for electromagnetic waves are common to a wide class of dielectric media regardless of the type of physical structure, the chemical composition, or the nature of the polarizing species (dipoles, electrons, or ions).
Approximate Hofstadter- and Kapit-Mueller-like parent Hamiltonians for Laughlin states on fractals
Creators: name: Jaworowski, Błażej
name: Iversen, Michael
name: Nielsen, Anne E. B.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn)
subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Recently, it was shown that fractional quantum Hall states can be defined on fractal lattices. Proposed exact parent Hamiltonians for these states are nonlocal and contain three-site terms. In this work, we look for simpler, approximate parent Hamiltonians for bosonic Laughlin states at half filling, which contain only onsite potentials and two-site hopping with the interaction generated implicitly by hardcore constraints (as in the Hofstadter and Kapit-Mueller models on periodic lattices). We use an ``inverse method'' to determine such Hamiltonians on finite-generation Sierpiński carpet and triangle lattices. The ground states of some of the resulting models display relatively high overlap with the model states if up to third neighbor hopping terms are considered, and by increasing the maximum hopping distance one can achieve nearly perfect overlaps. When the number of particles is reduced and additional potentials are introduced to trap quasiholes, the overlap with a model quasihole wavefunction is also high in some cases, especially for the nonlocal Hamiltonians. We also study how the small system size affects the braiding properties for the model quasihole wavefunctions and perform analogous computations for Hamiltonian models.
description: Version accepted in Phys. Rev. A. See the Ancillary Files for the Supplementary Material
Modelling Biogenic Coal Gas Processes
Creators: name: Batwara, Abhishek
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Engineering--Petroleum
subject: Geological model
subject: Reservoir simulation model
subject: Mannville
subject: Microbial stimulation
subject: Numerical Simulation
subject: Coalbed methane
subject: CBM reservoir model
subject: CBM geology model

description: The research documented in this thesis deals with geological and reservoir simulation modelling of coal bed methane recovery processes and biogenic coal gas processes. The target coal beds are too deep to be mined by conventional mining technologies but can be used to effectively and economically produce natural gas. With biogenic stimulation, there is potential that these reservoirs can produced additional gas – this would be useful to extend the life of coal bed methane wells. North America has huge coal reserves with reserves-to-production ratio of 250 years when compared to other fossil fuels. In Canada, most of these coal beds lies in deeper reservoirs therefore focus of this work is to perform the numerical simulation of recovery processes for deep coal beds and enhanced bioconversion of coal to gas. In the research done here, first, an ultrarefined coal bed geological model is constructed with input data derived from logs, core, core photos, adsorption isotherms, and gas composition analysis. This model reveals the structure of the underground coal beds and shows that they are heterogeneous with respect to their placement, size, and depth. These models inform on how to place wells for recovery process design. In the second part of the research, the geological model is converted into a reservoir simulation model which, after being calibrated against field data, is used to evaluate the ability to enhance gas rates by enhancing biogenic gas generation rates within the reservoir by injecting nutrient into the reservoir. The results show that the biogenic gas rates depend on the residence time of the injected nutrient – the larger the residence time, the greater the gas production rate.
Periodic Multi-Agent Path Planning
Creators: name: Kasaura, Kazumi
name: Yonetani, Ryo
name: Nishimura, Mai
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Multiagent Systems (cs.MA)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Multi-agent path planning (MAPP) is the problem of planning collision-free trajectories from start to goal locations for a team of agents. This work explores a relatively unexplored setting of MAPP where streams of agents have to go through the starts and goals with high throughput. We tackle this problem by formulating a new variant of MAPP called periodic MAPP in which the timing of agent appearances is periodic. The objective with periodic MAPP is to find a periodic plan, a set of collision-free trajectories that the agent streams can use repeatedly over periods, with periods that are as small as possible. To meet this objective, we propose a solution method that is based on constraint relaxation and optimization. We show that the periodic plans once found can be used for a more practical case in which agents in a stream can appear at random times. We confirm the effectiveness of our method compared with baseline methods in terms of throughput in several scenarios that abstract autonomous intersection management tasks.
description: 7 pages with 2 pages appendix and 2 pages reference, 8 figures and 2 tables, to be published in the proceedings of AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) 2023
Phase-driven interaction of widely separated nonlinear Schrödinger solitons
Creators: name: Holmer, Justin
name: Lin, Quanhui
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Analysis of PDEs (math.AP)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: We show that, for the 1d cubic NLS equation, widely separated equal amplitude in-phase solitons attract and opposite-phase solitons repel. Our result gives an exact description of the evolution of the two solitons valid until the solitons have moved a distance comparable to the logarithm of the initial separation. Our method does not use the inverse scattering theory and should be applicable to nonintegrable equations with local nonlinearities that support solitons with exponentially decaying tails. The result is presented as a special case of a general framework which also addresses, for example, the dynamics of single solitons subject to external forces.
Icosahedral Maps for a Multiresolution Representation of Earth Data
Creators: name: Jubair, Mohammad Imrul
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Atmospheric Science
subject: Computer Science
subject: Climate Models
subject: Mesh
subject: Data Structure
subject: Mapping Technique
subject: Multiresolution Analysis and Wavelets

description: The icosahedral non-hydrostatic (ICON) model is a climate model based on an icosahedral representation of the Earth and is used for numerical weather prediction. In this thesis, we investigate the unstructured representation of different cells in ICON and undertake the task of designing a technique that converts it to a common structured representation. We introduce icosahedral maps, data structures that are designed to fit the geometry of cells in the ICON model irrespective of their types. These maps represent the connectivity information in ICON in a highly structured two-dimensional hexagonal representation that provides explicit neighborhood information. Our maps facilitate the execution of a multiresolution analysis on the ICON model. We demonstrate this by applying a hexagonal version of the discrete wavelet transform in conjunction with our icosahedral maps to decompose ICON data to different levels of detail and to compress it via a thresholding of the wavelet coefficients.
Itinerari da e verso la Liguria: notai ed ecclesiastici (secoli XII-XIV)
Creators: name: Mangini, Marta Luigina
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Notaries
Church
Liguria
Mobility

description: The aim of this paper is to study migrant notaries during the 12th-15th centuries following clerics from and towards Liguria. This mobility – still little recognized and studied – generates possibilities of meeting and cohabitation not only in relatively large areas (such as the so-called “monastic Corsica”), but also in small job contexts (e.g. the archiepiscopal curie of Genoa and Milan) between different cultures and documentary practices, whose outcomes aren’t easily and uniquely classifiable as contamination, opposition or passive adoption.
Gait Analysis for Pedestrian Navigation Using MEMS Handheld Devices
Creators: name: Susi, Melania
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Engineering
subject: MEMS
subject: Sensors
subject: pedestrian navigation

description: Advances in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology play a central role in the design of new generation of smartphones. Indeed MEMS sensors, such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, are currently embedded in most smart devices in order to augment their capabilities. In the near future, it is expected that these sensors will be further exploited for pedestrian navigation purposes. However, the processing of signals from MEMS sensors cannot provide accurate navigation solutions without external aiding, e.g. from GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) signals, since their signals deteriorate due to significant errors, principally biases and drift which requires frequent sensor resets. When GNSS is not available and the sensors are mounted on the user’s foot, periodic zero velocity updates can be performed during the identified stance phases of the foot, namely the periods when the foot is flat on the ground. In the case of handheld devices, this approach cannot be adopted, since zero velocity periods are not present. Furthermore, when the sensors are held in a hand, the sensed motion can be decoupled from the global user’s motion rendering the situation much more complex to deal with. For this reason previous studies on pedestrian navigation are mainly focused on the body fixed sensor case. In this thesis, algorithms for characterizing the gait cycle of a pedestrian holding an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) in hand are proposed but without constraining the user in its behaviour and thus taking into account several sensor carrying modes. In view of the variety and complexity of human motions, the recognition of the user’s global motion from handheld devices is first thoroughly examined. A classifier able to recognize several different motion modes, including standing, walking, running, climbing and descending the stairs, is designed and implemented. Then an algorithm for evaluating the linear displacement of a pedestrian walking on a flat plane using only a handheld IMU is proposed. The complete algorithm comprises the following three modules: (1) Characterization of the user's activity and recognition of the sensor carrying mode, (2) Step detection and (3) Step length evaluation. The analysis leads to a novel step length model combining the user’s height, the step frequency and a set of three constants. First a universal model is proposed where the three constants have been trained with 12 different test subjects. Then, the same model is used for 10 different subjects to calibrate individually the set of constants. The validity of both universal and calibrated models is assessed in position domain using the above 10 test subjects. The fitted solution achieves an error between 2.5 and 5 % of the travelled distance, which is comparable with the performance of models proposed in the literature for body fixed sensors.
Continual Learning for Predictive Maintenance: Overview and Challenges
Creators: name: Hurtado, Julio
name: Salvati, Dario
name: Semola, Rudy
name: Bosio, Mattia
name: Lomonaco, Vincenzo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Deep learning techniques have become one of the main propellers for solving engineering problems effectively and efficiently. For instance, Predictive Maintenance methods have been used to improve predictions of when maintenance is needed on different machines and operative contexts. However, deep learning methods are not without limitations, as these models are normally trained on a fixed distribution that only reflects the current state of the problem. Due to internal or external factors, the state of the problem can change, and the performance decreases due to the lack of generalization and adaptation. Contrary to this stationary training set, real-world applications change their environments constantly, creating the need to constantly adapt the model to evolving scenarios. To aid in this endeavor, Continual Learning methods propose ways to constantly adapt prediction models and incorporate new knowledge after deployment. Despite the advantages of these techniques, there are still challenges to applying them to real-world problems. In this work, we present a brief introduction to predictive maintenance, non-stationary environments, and continual learning, together with an extensive review of the current state of applying continual learning in real-world applications and specifically in predictive maintenance. We then discuss the current challenges of both predictive maintenance and continual learning, proposing future directions at the intersection of both areas. Finally, we propose a novel way to create benchmarks that favor the application of continuous learning methods in more realistic environments, giving specific examples of predictive maintenance.
Finding the mighty whales : eighteenth century Nantucket whaling and the development of environmental knowledge
Creators: name: Adams, Nathan Tristin
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: When Nantucket whalemen moved from a shore based fishery to one prosecuted on the high seas, they had to devise a system to locate whale populations. To do this, the whalemen systematically recorded their observations of the ocean and whales and developed a knowledge of the environment. This knowledge was rooted in new scientific ideas rather than traditional knowledge forms. As a result, when whale populations diminished over the eighteenth century Nantucket whalemen were able to adapt and find new whaling grounds expanding from the North Atlantic south to the Azores, of the coast of Brazil and Guinea, and eventually into the Pacific. This public scientific approach to their work catapulted a small island into the forefront of the global whaling industry and underpinned the remarkable prosperity Nantucket enjoyed in the golden age of American whaling.
Corbino magnetoresistance in neutral graphene
Creators: name: Gall, Vanessa
name: Narozhny, Boris N.
name: Gornyi, Igor V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other)
subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We explore the magnetohydrodynamics of Dirac fermions in neutral graphene in the Corbino geometry. Based on the fully consistent hydrodynamic description derived from a microscopic framework and taking into account all peculiarities of graphene-specific hydrodynamics, we report the results of a comprehensive study of the interplay of viscosity, disorder-induced scattering, recombination, energy relaxation, and interface-induced dissipation. In the clean limit, magnetoresistance of a Corbino sample is determined by viscosity. Hence the Corbino geometry could be used to measure the viscosity coefficient in neutral graphene.
description: 13 pages, 11 figures
Four decades of collective leadership: The connection between leadership theories of action and student achievement
Creators: name: Nordengren, Chase
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: educational leadership
distributed leadership
instructional leadership
teacher leadership

description: This chapter’s purpose is to identify themes in recent educational leadership literature that cross boundaries between models of educational leadership, with an emphasis on new ways of thinking about how informal and formal leaders work together in schools. In doing so, it hopes to provide an introduction to recent scholarship in this arena, and also advance a conversation about how to better integrate models of leadership across diverse authors and contexts. It asks: In literature on educational leadership written since the rise to prominence of collective models of educational leadership (roughly, the year 2000), how do authors conceptually understand leaders, leadership tasks, and student outcomes? What are common “theories of action” in these literatures linking leadership tasks with changes in instruction and in student outcomes? What are common features of these theories of action across leadership models?
Quantum Walk Schemes for Universal Quantum Computation
Creators: name: Underwood, Michael S.
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Physics--Theory
subject: quantum walks
subject: Quantum computation

description: Random walks are a powerful tool for the efficient implementation of algorithms in classical computation. Their quantum-mechanical analogues, called quantum walks, hold similar promise. Quantum walks provide a model of quantum computation that has recently been shown to be equivalent in power to the standard circuit model. As in the classical case, quantum walks take place on graphs and can undergo discrete or continuous evolution, though quantum evolution is unitary and therefore deterministic until a measurement is made. This thesis considers the usefulness of continuous-time quantum walks to quantum computation from the perspectives of both their fundamental power under various formulations, and their applicability in practical experiments. In one extant scheme, logical gates are effected by scattering processes. The results of an exhaustive search for single-qubit operations in this model are presented. It is shown that the number of distinct operations increases exponentially with the number of vertices in the scattering graph. A catalogue of all graphs on up to nine vertices that implement single-qubit unitaries at a specific set of momenta is included in an appendix. I develop a novel scheme for universal quantum computation called the discontinuous quantum walk, in which a continuous-time quantum walker takes discrete steps of evolution via perfect quantum state transfer through small `widget' graphs. The discontinuous quantum-walk scheme requires an exponentially sized graph, as do prior discrete and continuous schemes. To eliminate the inefficient vertex resource requirement, a computation scheme based on multiple discontinuous walkers is presented. In this model, n interacting walkers inhabiting a graph with 2n vertices can implement an arbitrary quantum computation on an input of length n, an exponential savings over previous universal quantum walk schemes. This is the first quantum walk scheme that allows for the application of quantum error correction. The many-particle quantum walk can be viewed as a single quantum walk undergoing perfect state transfer on a larger weighted graph, obtained via equitable partitioning. I extend this formalism to non-simple graphs. Examples of the application of equitable partitioning to the analysis of quantum walks and many-particle quantum systems are discussed.
The Effects of High Sucrose or High Fat Diet on Brain Macrostructure, Cognition, and Expression of Phosphorylated Tau
Creators: name: Mackie, Yasmine Olga
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: Neuroscience

description: Consumption of sucrose-rich and fat-rich foods poses an in increased risk of obesity, and has been shown to be associated with cognitive decline, reduced cortical volume, and dementia. The goal of this thesis was to determine the effect of diet on metabolic measures, gut microbiota, brain macrostructure, cognitive function, and dementia biomarker expression in middle-aged female mice. In Chapter 2, high sucrose diet exposure did not alter metabolism, but increased liver triglyceride concentration and altered gut microbiota relative abundance. We also show that sucrose fed mice experienced a significant decrease in the volume of the parietal temporal cortex, and a deficit in cognitive flexibility. In Chapter 3, high fat diet exposure induced significant differences in weight, glucose sensitivity and plasma leptin levels, without altering the expressions of phosphorylated tau. Together, these studies demonstrate that diet, without affecting metabolic measures, can alter cortical volume and cognitive function.
Chrono-
Creators: name: Sarreshtehdari, Elmira
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Fine Arts
subject: Temporality
subject: Mind-Body
subject: Embodiment
subject: Creative art research
subject: Time
subject: Anxiety
subject: Performative multimedia art
subject: installation art

description: My artistic practice is mainly concerned with time, duration, temporality and the human psyche in the contemporary era. This research paper is a studio practice based investigation of this subject matter within five installation pieces made throughout two years of MFA program. Within these art pieces, I explore temporality of contemporary human being by using dichotomies of mind and body, time and space, still and motion, absence and presence, emotion and anxiety, viewer and embodiment as key components of my research process. These elements have developed through creative art practice of different mediums such as drawing, video, sound as well as performative multimedia art and installation.
Phonon Dynamics in the Generalized Kitaev Spin Liquid
Creators: name: Singh, Susmita
name: Stavropoulos, P. Peter
name: Perkins, Natalia B.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Candidate materials for the Kitaev spin liquid generically have residual interactions beyond the Kitaev coupling. It therefore becomes necessary to understand how signatures of the quantum spin liquid, e.g., fractionalization of the spin excitations, are affected by the presence of these interactions. Recently it was shown that phonon dynamics is an indirect but effective probe to study fractionalized excitations in the Kitaev spin liquid. Ultrasound experiments can measure sound attenuation, which should show characteristic temperature and angular dependence of the sound attenuation coefficient if the scattering of phonons happens predominantly on Majorana fermions. So far the computation of the sound attenuation was only done in the pure spin-phonon coupled Kitaev model, without taking into account residual interactions. In order to understand experimental signatures, here we present a mean-field study of the sound attenuation in the generalized $J$-$K$-$Γ$ model, which is relevant to candidate materials. Our findings show that as long as the system is in the spin liquid phase, characteristic features of the sound attenuation remain observable even in the presence of residual interactions.
description: 15 pages, 7 figures