cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
title: Observations on the onset of delayed type hypersensitivity reactions to Dermatophilus congolensis in rats and guinea-pigs
Creators: name: Higgins, Andrew
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 1983
Subjects: subject: Annexe MSc Digitisation Project 2022 Block 51
subject: Dermatophilus congolensis
subject: Hypersensitivity
subject: D.N.C.B. (l-chloro-2, 4-dinitrobenzene)
subject: Rats and guinea-pigs
subject: Cell mediated response

description: Dermatophilus congolensis infections applied to areas of skin which are already showing a cell mediated response to l-chloro-2, 4—dinitrobenzene (D.N.C.B.) give rise to lesions in laboratory animals, from which zoospores may be recovered over significantly longer periods and in larger numbers than in control animals. Such an increased chronicity had been suggested as an important step in the search for a laboratory model of the economically and clinically significant chronic field condition. This project investigated the / hypothesis that a delay in the onset of cell mediated responses to D. congolensis infections is caused by the preexisting hypersensitive reaction to D.N.C.B. at the site of infection. Any such delay could support this explanation for the increased recovery period of D. congolensis zoospores. Experiments were carried out on groups of both rats and guinea- pigs, both D.N.C.B. sensitised and control animals. In guinea-pigs skin tests were used to monitor the cell mediated response to D. congolensis antigen. Skin tests proved unsatisfactory in rats and a direct Macrophage Migrations Inhibition test was developed and used in their place. In neither species did the D.N.C.B. sensitisation have a significant effect on the course of the onset of cell mediated responses to D. congolensis antigens. It was however recorded that the lesions induced by scarification of the skin sites showing an hyperimmune response to D.N.C.B. were grossly more severe than those in control animals. Delay in cell mediated responses to D. congolensis does not appear to be a factor in the increased "chronicity" of zoospore recovery from infection sites showing a hyperimmune response to D.N.C.B..
Recovering Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Signals with Machine Learning
Creators: name: Yan, Ye-Peng
name: Wang, Guo-Jian
name: Li, Si-Yu
name: Xia, Jun-Qing
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Primordial B-mode detection is one of the main goals of current and future cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. However, the weak B-mode signal is overshadowed by several Galactic polarized emissions, such as thermal dust emission and synchrotron radiation. Subtracting foreground components from CMB observations is one of the key challenges in searching for the primordial B-mode signal. Here, we construct a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) model, called \texttt{CMBFSCNN} (Cosmic Microwave Background Foreground Subtraction with CNN), which can cleanly remove various foreground components from simulated CMB observational maps at the sensitivity of the CMB-S4 experiment. Noisy CMB Q (or U) maps are recovered with a mean absolute difference of $0.018 \pm 0.023\ μ$K (or $0.021 \pm 0.028\ μ$K). To remove the residual instrumental noise from the foreground-cleaned map, inspired by the needlet internal linear combination method, we divide the whole data set into two ``half-split maps,'' which share the same sky signal, but have uncorrelated noise, and perform a cross-correlation technique to reduce the instrumental noise effects at the power spectrum level. We find that the CMB EE and BB power spectra can be precisely recovered with significantly reduced noise effects. Finally, we apply this pipeline to current Planck observations. As expected, various foregrounds are cleanly removed from the Planck observational maps, with the recovered EE and BB power spectra being in good agreement with the official Planck results.
description: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 table
Education Matters, but Who Can Attain It? Attitudes towards Education and Educational Attainment in Estonia
Creators: name: Täht, Kadri
name: Paškov, Marii
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2013
Subjects: educational inequality; value of education; access to education; social status; Estonia.

description: Education is one of the most important determinants of socio-economic success in modern societies, but educational inequality remains an important societal problem. The aim of this study was to look at public attitudes towards the value of education and views on the opportunities to access education in Estonia. Using data from the Estonian Social Equality and Inequality Study (2010), the findings of the current study suggested that education is highly valued in Estonia, but the public also tends to think that access to education is not equally available to everybody. Furthermore, we found that there is a social-status-based structure in the views of the value of education and access to education. Lower social status groups tend to value education as less important for success in life, and these lower social status groups are also more likely to think that chances to access higher education are not equal for everybody, but that wealth, gender, ethnicity and social status matter. Similarly, inequality of opportunity is also felt more strongly within the ethnic minority group, the non-Estonians, than it is amongst Estonians.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 5, No 2 (2013)
Bi(111) thin film with insulating interior but metallic surfaces
Creators: name: Xiao, Shunhao
name: Wei, Dahai
name: Jin, Xiaofeng
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The electrical conductance of molecular beam epitaxial Bi on BaF2(111) was measured as a function of both film thickness (4-540 nm) and temperature (5-300 K). Unlike bulk Bi as a prototype semimetal, the Bi thin films up to 90 nm are found to be insulating in the interiors but metallic on the surfaces. This result has not only resolved unambiguously the long controversy about the existence of semimetal-semiconductor transition in Bi thin film but also provided a straightforward interpretation for the long-puzzled temperature dependence of the resistivity of Bi thin films, which in turn might suggest some potential applications in spintronics.
What Influences the Rate of Entry into Motherhood of Women Enrolled in Full-Time Education? A Difference-in-Differences Analysis of the Effect of the German Unification
Creators: name: Blossfeld, Gwendolin J.
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2013
Subjects: educational enrolment; young motherhood; fertility; German unification.

description: The purpose of this paper is to study the entry into motherhood of women in full-time education in East and West Germany before and after German unification. Using longitudinal data from the ‘National Educational Panel Study’ (NEPS), we have conducted a difference-in-differences analysis and apply multivariate methods. Our longitudinal analysis demonstrated that the conflict between the sequencing norm and the age norm is dependent on women’s age, social origin, and pro-natalist state support for women in full-time education. Women who are enrolled in education enter motherhood more often as age increases, since the pressure coming from the normative timing of motherhood is increasing, although with a declining slope. To avoid the jeopardizing consequences of motherhood on educational success, families from higher social origins have a stronger desire that women should first finish education before they have their first baby. The results of our analysis also demonstrate that the fertility behaviour of young East German women who are enrolled in full-time education has changed with German unification.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 5, No 2 (2013)
Theories of Postcommunist Transformation. Approaches, Debates, and Problems of Theory Building in the Second Decade of Research
Creators: name: Kollmorgen, Raj
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2013
Subjects: postcommunism; transformation; transition; social theory; Central and Eastern Europe.

description: The article explores the current theoretical debates on postcommunist transformations. After identifying important novel or reinvigorated approaches, three of them are critically discussed: the postcommunism approach, the governance approach, and the Europeanisation approach. The examination leads to the result that, indeed, a ‘second generation’ has emerged. It has largely overcome universalistic assumptions and gained explanatory power by more complex theoretical architectures as well as systematic time-space-embeddings or contextualisations. A final consideration makes the case for interdisciplinary and general theories of societal transformations as a necessary step in the advancement of the debate.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 5, No 2 (2013)
AR3n: A Reinforcement Learning-based Assist-As-Needed Controller for Robotic Rehabilitation
Creators: name: Pareek, Shrey
name: Nisar, Harris
name: Kesavadas, Thenkurussi
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Robotics (cs.RO)
subject: Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: In this paper, we present AR3n (pronounced as Aaron), an assist-as-needed (AAN) controller that utilizes reinforcement learning to supply adaptive assistance during a robot assisted handwriting rehabilitation task. Unlike previous AAN controllers, our method does not rely on patient specific controller parameters or physical models. We propose the use of a virtual patient model to generalize AR3n across multiple subjects. The system modulates robotic assistance in realtime based on a subject's tracking error, while minimizing the amount of robotic assistance. The controller is experimentally validated through a set of simulations and human subject experiments. Finally, a comparative study with a traditional rule-based controller is conducted to analyze differences in assistance mechanisms of the two controllers.
description: 8 pages, 9 figures, IEEE RA-M
Dipole-Quadrupole Theory of Surface Enhanced Infrared Absorption and Appearance of Forbidden Lines in the SEIRA Spectra of Symmetrical Molecules
Creators: name: Polubotko, A. M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The paper presents main aspects of the Dipole-Quadrupole theory of Surface Enhanced Infrared Absorption (SEIRA). It is pointed out the possibility of appearance of the lines, caused by totally symmetric vibrations transforming after the unit irreducible representation, which are forbidden in usual infrared absorption spectra in molecules with sufficiently high symmetry. Observation of such lines in the SEIRA spectra of diprotonated and ethylene, adsorbed on and on mordenites is pointed out. The results well agree with our ideas about surface enhanced optical processes, based on the conception of a strong quadrupole light-molecule interaction, which allows us to develop the SERS and SEHRS theories.
description: 15 pages,3 figures, 1 table
Analysis of Traffic Crash Data in Kentucky (2005 - 2009)
Creators: name: Green, Eric R.
name: Agent, Kenneth R.
name: Pigman, Jerry G.
Publisher: name: Kentucky Transportation Center, University of Kentucky
Year: 2010
Subjects: subject: Transportation Engineering

description: This report documents an analysis of traffic crash data in Kentucky for the years of 2005 through 2009. A primary objective of this study was to determine average crash statistics for Kentucky highways. Average and critical numbers and rates of crashes were calculated for various types of highways in rural and urban areas. These data can be used in Kentucky’s procedure to identify locations that have abnormal rates or numbers of crashes.  The other primary objective of this study was to provide data that can be used in the preparation of the problem identification portion of Kentucky’s Annual Highway Safety Plan. County and city crash statistics were analyzed. A summary of results and recommendations in several problem identification areas is presented. These general areas include; alcohol involvement, occupant protection, speed, teenage drivers, pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, trucks, and vehicle defects. Other areas included in the analysis for which specific recommendations were not made include, school bus crashes and train crashes.  The crash data are contained in the Collision Report Analysis for Safer Highways (CRASH) data base. This data base is updated daily so the number of crashes in a given calendar year will continue to change for a substantial time after the end of that year.
Explaining cross-national variations in tax morality in the European Union: an exploratory analysis
Creators: name: Williams, Colin C.
name: Martínez, Álvaro
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2014
Subjects: informal economy; tax morality; taxation; neo-liberalism; social Europe

description: The aim of this paper is to conduct an exploratory analysis of factors that might explain the cross-national variations in the level tax morality across the European Union. In order to do this, three competing explanations for the cross-national variations in tax morality will be evaluated which variously view lower levels of tax morality to be a result of either: under-development (a modernisation explanation); high taxes, state corruption and too much state interference (a neo-liberal explanation), or too little state redistribution and intervention to protect citizens (a structuralist explanation). Evaluating the cross-national variations in tax morality reported in a 2007 Eurobarometer survey using multilevel econometric techniques, the finding is that the tax morality of a baseline European citizen is higher in more developed and less corrupt nations and in countries with higher levels of taxation, social protection and redistribution. The outcome is a call for a synthesis of the three explanations in the form of a new neo-modernisation explanation which, contrary to neo-liberal discourse, argues that developed nations with higher levels of taxation, greater levels of social protection and higher levels of redistribution have higher levels of tax morality. The tentative policy implications are then discussed.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 6, No 1 (2014)
Synchrotron Radiation Dominates the Extremely Bright GRB 221009A
Creators: name: Yang, Jun
name: Zhao, Xiao-Hong
name: Yan, Zhenyu
name: Wang, Xiangyu I.
name: Zhang, Yan-Qiu
name: An, Zheng-Hua
name: Cai, Ce
name: Li, Xin-Qiao
name: Li, Zihan
name: Liu, Jia-Cong
name: Liu, Zi-Ke
name: Ma, Xiang
name: Meng, Yan-Zhi
name: Peng, Wen-Xi
name: Qiao, Rui
name: Shao, Lang
name: Song, Li-Ming
name: Tan, Wen-Jun
name: Wang, Ping
name: Wang, Chen-Wei
name: Wen, Xiang-Yang
name: Xiao, Shuo
name: Xue, Wang-Chen
name: Yang, Yu-han
name: Yin, Yihan
name: Zhang, Bing
name: Zhang, Fan
name: Zhang, Shuai
name: Zhang, Shuang-Nan
name: Zheng, Chao
name: Zheng, Shi-Jie
name: Xiong, Shao-Lin
name: Zhang, Bin-Bin
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The brightest Gamma-ray burst, GRB 221009A, has spurred numerous theoretical investigations, with particular attention paid to the origins of ultra-high energy TeV photons during the prompt phase. However, analyzing the mechanism of radiation of photons in the $\sim$MeV range has been difficult because the high flux causes pile-up and saturation effects in most GRB detectors. In this letter, we present systematic modeling of the time-resolved spectra of the GRB using unsaturated data obtained from Fermi/GBM (precursor) and SATech-01/GECAM-C (main emission and flare). Our approach incorporates the synchrotron radiation model, which assumes an expanding emission region with relativistic speed and a global magnetic field that decays with radius, and successfully fits such a model to the observational data. Our results indicate that the spectra of the burst are fully in accordance with a synchrotron origin from relativistic electrons accelerated at a large emission radius. The lack of thermal emission in the prompt emission spectra supports a Poynting-flux-dominated jet composition.
description: 12 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJL
The Effects of the Saakashvili Era Reforms on Informal Practices in the Republic of Georgia
Creators: name: Aliyev, Huseyn
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2014
Subjects: informal practices; institutional reforms; Georgia; Rose Revolution; informal networks

description: Since the 2003 Rose Revolution, the Georgian government implemented a number of major institutional reforms which have succeeded in modernising Georgia’s state institutions, reducing corruption and ‘formalising’ the public sector. While the effects of Saakashvili’s reforms on state and institution-building, corruption and the rule of law have been examined by a large and growing body of academic literature, there has been little discussion about the impact of institutional changes on the previously widespread culture of informality in Georgia. This article explores the effects of Georgian institution-building from such aspects of informality as the use of informal networks and connections in exchanges of favours, gift-giving and other types of informal activities. The findings of this study, based on the analysis of recent surveys and in-depth interviews, conclude that the reforms succeeded in undermining the overall importance of informal practices in dealings with state bureaucracy, education system, healthcare, law enforcement, judiciary and some other areas previously dominated by informality. However, the reliance on informality did not disappear, and informal networks are still employed as coping mechanisms and as social safety nets.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 6, No 1 (2014)
Genuine correlations in finite-size spin systems
Creators: name: Giorgi, Gian Luca
name: Busch, Thomas
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Genuine multipartite correlations in finite-size XY chains are studied as a function of the applied external magnetic field. We find that, for low temperatures, multipartite correlations are sensitive to the parity change in the Hamiltonian ground state, given that they exhibit a minimum every time that the ground state becomes degenerate. This implies that they can be used to detect the factorizing point, that is, the value of the external field such that, in the termodynamical limit, the ground state becomes the tensor product of single-spin states.
description: Submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys. B, special issue "Classical Vs Quantum correlations in composite systems" edited by L. Amico, S. Bose, V. Korepin and V. Vedral
Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of an Erupting Filament with SDO and STEREO Observations
Creators: name: Li, Ting
name: Zhang, Jun
name: Zhang, Yuzong
name: Yang, Shuhong
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: On 2010 August 1, a global solar event was launched involving almost the entire Earth-facing side of the Sun. This event mainly consisted of a C3.2 flare, a polar crown filament eruption and two Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) showed that all the activities were coupled together, suggesting a global character of the magnetic eruption. We reconstruct the three-dimensional geometry of the polar crown filament using observations from three different viewpoints (STEREO A, B and SDO) for the first time. The filament undergoes two eruption processes. Firstly, the main body of the filament rises up, while it also moves towards the low-latitude region with a change in inclination by 48 degree and expands only in the altitudinal and latitudinal direction in the field of view of Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. We investigate the true velocities and accelerations of different locations along the filament, and find that the highest location always has the largest acceleration during this eruption process. During the late phase of the first eruption, part of the filament material separates from the eastern leg. This material displays a projectile motion and moves towards the west at a constant velocity of 141.8 km/s. This may imply that the polar crown filament consists of at least two groups of magnetic systems.
description: 23 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
The spectral curve of the Eynard-Orantin recursion via the Laplace transform
Creators: name: Dumitrescu, Olivia
name: Mulase, Motohico
name: Safnuk, Brad
name: Sorkin, Adam
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Algebraic Geometry (math.AG)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: Combinatorics (math.CO)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: 14H15, 14N35, 05C30, 11P21 (Primary), 81T30 (Secondary)

description: The Eynard-Orantin recursion formula provides an effective tool for certain enumeration problems in geometry. The formula requires a spectral curve and the recursion kernel. We present a uniform construction of the spectral curve and the recursion kernel from the unstable geometries of the original counting problem. We examine this construction using four concrete examples: Grothendieck's dessins d'enfants (or higher-genus analogue of the Catalan numbers), the intersection numbers of tautological cotangent classes on the moduli stack of stable pointed curves, single Hurwitz numbers, and the stationary Gromov-Witten invariants of the complex projective line.
description: 49 pages, 7 figures
A Post-War Paradox of Informality in South Lebanon: Rebuilding Houses or Destroying Legitimacy
Creators: name: Mollica, Marcello
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2014
Subjects: South Lebanon; christian minorities; land transaction; Hizbullah; informal economy

description: Recent multiethnic Lebanese history has been characterised by a high degree of tension between sectarian groups and the state. In a number of cases, minority groups’ resistance to localised majority groups developed into a manifest attempt to limit the action of the central authority by embracing alternative loyalties, both transnational and interreligious. Makdisi (2000) argues that in a multiconfessional Lebanon the old-fashioned idea of longstanding violence between competing sects is unsustainable. However, political microanalysis based on empirical material collected in South Lebanon during and after the 2006 war shows that in situations where state and ethno-religious groups fail to establish a dialogue, tension leads citizens to view the state as alien and other groups as enemies.With reference to Christian minority group responses, this paper looks at the ways Hizbullah post-conflict strategies of reconstruction have been legitimated. Considering the Weberian notion of the state’s sole power and Prato’s (2000) analysis of citizen loyalties to the state as a welfare provider, and reassessing this notion with empirical data collected in conflictual loci, this paper examines the rise of a religion-driven movement in a scenario marked by dramatic economic transformation. The analysis suggests that group denial of the state’s role is most evident at a local level, where sectarian attitudes (e.g. concerning land or property issues) take precedence over nationally based loyalties and where this denial is the only perceptible means of survival for both the individual and his or her group.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 6, No 1 (2014)
Theories of Dictatorships: Sub-Types and Explanations
Creators: name: Lidén, Gustav
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2014
Subjects: dictatorship; comparative politics; political regimes; regime transitions

description: Despite the third wave of democratisation, dictatorships are still a widespread global phenomenon. In recent years, comparative scholars have shown a renewed interest in such regimes, which has resulted in a significant increase in the volume of research that has been produced. However, such research is not always carried out in a cumulative fashion and, therefore, lacks the traits of a more holistic perspective. Hence, it is appropriate to review this research to try to create opportunities for more systematisation in future studies. This study does this by focusing on two approaches: that is providing definitions of non-democracies, but also developing a framework for empirical explanations of these regimes. Addressing the first approach reveals gaps in previous definitions of dictatorships, which is something that is managed by stating a theoretically founded conceptualisation. Moreover, scrutinising the typologies of dictatorships and their variants provided by previous research reveals some loosely connected or almost arbitrary alternatives. Such flaws are discussed and solutions are given. Regarding the second approach, this article discusses findings on how both the existence of and the transition to dictatorships and their variants can be systematised. The outcome is a framework that can be applied in future research. To conclude, there is still much that is unknown about both the description and the explanation of dictatorships, but by systematising recent research this article sets out a more unified strategy.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 6, No 1 (2014)
Geometric numerical schemes for the KdV equation
Creators: name: Dutykh, Denys
name: Chhay, Marx
name: Fedele, Francesco
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Classical Physics (physics.class-ph)
subject: Numerical Analysis (math.NA)
subject: Pattern Formation and Solitons (nlin.PS)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: Geometric discretizations that preserve certain Hamiltonian structures at the discrete level has been proven to enhance the accuracy of numerical schemes. In particular, numerous symplectic and multi-symplectic schemes have been proposed to solve numerically the celebrated Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. In this work, we show that geometrical schemes are as much robust and accurate as Fourier-type pseudo-spectral methods for computing the long-time KdV dynamics, and thus more suitable to model complex nonlinear wave phenomena.
description: 22 pages, 14 figures, 74 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.lama.univ-savoie.fr/~dutykh/
Transient interactions between bubbles and a high-speed cylinder in underwater launches: An experimental and numerical study
Creators: name: Zhang, Sai
name: Chen, Qihang
name: Liu, Chang
name: Zhang, A-Man
name: Li, Shuai
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The underwater launch of high-speed vehicles involves complex bubble-structure interactions, which are not currently well understood. In this study, two small-scale experiments are carried out involving transient bubble-cylinder interactions. We adopt the underwater electric discharge method to generate a high-pressure bubble that drives a cylinder to a maximum velocity of about 25 m/s within 1 ms. A tail bubble forms as the cylinder is ejected from the launch tube. Moreover, we observe a shoulder cavity around the head of the cylinder due to the pressure reduction in the flow. To better understand the complex interaction between bubbles and the high-speed cylinder, we use the boundary element method to establish a bubble-structure interaction model. Our numerical model reproduces the experimental observations quite well, including the cylinder motion and the transient evolution of the bubbles. Thereafter, a systematic study is carried out to reveal the dependence of the bubble-cylinder interactions on the initial pressure of the tail bubble P0. We obtain a scaling law for the maximum velocity of the cylinder with respect to P0. The findings from this study may provide a reference for subsequent research into underwater launches.
Effects of Chloride Contamination on Coatings Performance
Creators: name: Meade, Bobby W.
name: Palle, Sidhir
name: Hopwood, Theodore
name: Younce, Rick
Publisher: name: Kentucky Transportation Center, University of Kentucky
Year: 2010
Subjects: subject: Transportation Engineering

description: Research indicates that chloride concentration as determined by currently available field test methods does not reliably predict protective coating performance on KYTC bridges. Laboratory testing of chloride charged panels also failed to relate chloride concentration to coating performance. The coatings industry provides recommendations for acceptable chloride levels for various exposure conditions but bridges are different than other structural steel and the exposure conditions for bridges are not adequately addressed. Effective chloride remediation strategies and protective coatings that perform best in the presence of chlorides need to be identified.
Hiding task-oriented programming complexity: an industrial case study
Creators: name: Villagrossi, Enrico
name: Delledonne, Michele
name: Faroni, Marco
name: Beschi, Manuel
name: Pedrocchi, Nicola
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Robotics (cs.RO)
subject: Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: The ease of use of robot programming interfaces represents a barrier to robot adoption in several manufacturing sectors because of the need for more expertise from the end-users. Current robot programming methods are mostly the past heritage, with robot programmers reluctant to adopt new programming paradigms. This work aims to evaluate the impact on non-expert users of introducing a new task-oriented programming interface that hides the complexity of a programming framework based on ROS. The paper compares the programming performance of such an interface with a classic robot-oriented programming method based on a state-of-the-art robot teach pendant. An experimental campaign involved 22 non-expert users working on the programming of two industrial tasks. Task-oriented and robot-oriented programming showed comparable learning time, programming time and the number of questions raised during the programming phases, highlighting the possibility of a smooth introduction to task-oriented programming even to non-expert users.
description: This article has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, published by Taylor & Francis
Nondestructive Testing of Defective ASTM A 514 Steel on the I ‐ 275 Combs‐Hehl Twin Bridges over the Ohio River in Campbell County, Kentucky
Creators: name: Hopwood, Theodore
name: Palle, Sidhir
Publisher: name: Kentucky Transportation Center, University of Kentucky
Year: 2010
Subjects: subject: Transportation Engineering

description: Three defective ASTM A 514 steel splice plates were discovered on the I-275 Combs-Hehl twin bridges over the Ohio River. A follow-on in-depth field inspection of 1,356 A 514 steel plates on the bridges revealed 14 additional defective gusset and splice plates. The A 514 steel was improperly heat-treated resulting in a brittle crack-prone microstructure. Ultrasonic and impact hardness tests were used to identify the defective steel. Subsequently, the defective steel plates were either removed or lapped with additional steel plates.
Investigating the origin of the long range pseudo rapidity correlation in 2d di-hadron measurements from STAR
Creators: name: De Silva, L. C.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Angular di-hadron correlations reveal novel structures in central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{S_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. One of them, known as the ridge, is elongated in pseudo rapidity and peaks on the near side ($Δϕ$ $\approx$ 0). Investigating the origin of the ridge structure helps to understand the hot dense matter that is created in ultra relativistic heavy ion collisions. Results showing the $$ dependence of the ridge structure are presented. Evidence for possible jet and non-jet contributions to the ridge structure will be discussed.
description: Proceedings for the Strangeness of Quark Matter conference held in Cracow, Poland, September 2011. 6 pages and 5 figures
A Systematic Approach to Automotive Security
Creators: name: Ebrahimi, Masoud
name: Marksteiner, Stefan
name: Ničković, Dejan
name: Bloem, Roderick
name: Schögler, David
name: Eisner, Philipp
name: Sprung, Samuel
name: Schober, Thomas
name: Chlup, Sebastian
name: Schmittner, Christoph
name: König, Sandra
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: We propose a holistic methodology for designing automotivesystems that consider security a central concern at every design stage.During the concept design, we model the system architecture and definethe security attributes of its components. We perform threat analysis onthe system model to identify structural security issues. From that analysis,we derive attack trees that define recipes describing steps to successfullyattack the system's assets and propose threat prevention measures.The attack tree allows us to derive a verification and validation (V&V)plan, which prioritizes the testing effort. In particular, we advocate usinglearning for testing approaches for the black-box components. It consistsof inferring a finite state model of the black-box component from its executiontraces. This model can then be used to generate new relevanttests, model check it against requirements, and compare two differentimplementations of the same protocol. We illustrate the methodologywith an automotive infotainment system example. Using the advocated approach, we could also document unexpected and potentially criticalbehavior in our example systems.
description: Presented at Formal Methods 2023 25th International Symposium (FM'23). 12 pages, 5 figures
Monitoring Fluid Saturation in Reservoirs Using Time-Lapse Full-Waveform Inversion
Creators: name: Mardan, Amir
name: Giroux, Bernard
name: Fabien-Ouellet, Gabriel
name: Saberi, Mohammad Reza
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Geophysics (physics.geo-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Monitoring the rock-physics properties of the subsurface is of great importance for reservoir management. For either oil and gas applications or CO2 storage, seismic data are a valuable source of information for tracking changes in elastic properties which can be related to fluids saturation and pressure changes within the reservoir. Changes in elastic properties can be estimated with time-lapse full-waveform inversion. Monitoring rock-physics properties, such as saturation, with time-lapse full-waveform inversion is usually a two-step process: first, elastic properties are estimated with full-waveform inversion, then, the rock-physics properties are estimated with rock-physics inversion. However, multiparameter time-lapse full-waveform inversion is prone to crosstalk between parameter classes across different vintages. This leads to leakage from one parameter class to another, which, in turn, can introduce large errors in the estimated rock-physics parameters. To avoid inaccuracies caused by crosstalk and the two-step inversion strategy, we reformulate time-lapse full-waveform inversion to estimate directly the changes in the rock-physics properties. Using Gassmann's model, we adopt a new parameterization containing porosity, clay content, and water saturation. In the context of reservoir monitoring, changes are assumed to be induced by fluid substitution only. The porosity and clay content can thus be kept constant during time-lapse inversion. We compare this parameterization with the usual density-velocity parameterization for different benchmark models. Results indicate that the proposed parameterization eliminates crosstalk between parameters of different vintages, leading to more accurate estimation of saturation changes. We also show that using the parameterization based on porosity, clay content, and water saturation, the elastic changes can be monitored more accurately.
A MDA approach for defining WS-Policy semantic non-functional properties
Creators: name: Belouadha, Fatima-Zahra
name: Omrana, Hajar
name: Roudies, Ounsa
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Software Engineering (cs.SE)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: A lot of works has been especially interested to the functional aspect of Web services. Nevertheless, it is necessary to describe their non-functional properties such as the security characteristics and the quality of service. The WS-Policy standard was recommended in 2007 to describe Web services policies including the non-functional properties. However, it doesn't provide any information of their meaning necessary for automatic processes. In this paper, we propose a Model Driven Architecture approach founded on W3C standards to generate WSDL language based files including semantic policies. We use a package of WSDL and WS-Policy profiles and transformations rules to generate Web services interfaces files including policies. We extend a XML schema profile according to SAWSDL standard to define semantic non-functional properties domains. This work contributes to minimize the development cost of Web services including semantic policies. Moreover, the generated services can be automatically processed in discovery, selection and negotiation tasks.
description: 8 pages, 4 figures
Kennedy Interchange Crash Study
Creators: name: Green, Eric R.
name: Agent, Kenneth R.
name: Pigman, Jerry G.
Publisher: name: Kentucky Transportation Center, University of Kentucky
Year: 2010
Subjects: subject: Transportation Engineering

description: The Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges project is a construction and reconstruction project being undertaken to address long-term transportation needs in the Louisville metropolitan area. Partial justification for construction of the new downtown bridge and reconstruction of the Kennedy interchange is the existing safety issues and the potential for improved safety. Crash rates for the interchange area have not been fully documented to establish the existing level of safety and degree of the problem relative to state and national statistics. The objective of this study was to analyze and evaluate crash data for the Kennedy Interchange area of Louisville and southern Indiana. The analysis included three interstate corridors in Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky ("Kennedy Interchange corridors") and three similar corridors in Louisville-Jefferson County and Floyd and Clark Counties in Indiana ("adjacent corridors"). Results from the analysis included the following:      The sections of interstate representing the "Kennedy Interchange corridors" have a high total and injury crash rate as compared to statewide urban interstate crash rates. The resulting Critical Rate Factor (CRF) was approximately 2.0 for total crashes and injury crashes.     The fatal crash rate for the "Kennedy Interchange corridors" is slightly higher than national rates and is greater than the statewide average; however, the CRF is less than 1.0.     Overall, the crash rates for the "Kennedy Interchange corridors" are higher than the crash rates for the "adjacent corridors."     Results indicated that there were substantial costs associated with crashes in the two analysis areas.
Census-linked study on ethnic fertility differentials in Lithuania
Creators: name: Jasilioniene, Aiva
name: Stankuniene, Vlada
name: Jasilionis, Domantas
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2014
Subjects: ethnic differences, fertility; birth order; census-linked; Lithuania

description: Fertility transformations observed since the early 1990s and their determinants have been rather thoroughly investigated in Lithuania. There are fairly numerous national and international studies devoted to this topic, mainly based on survey data. However, none of these studies looks into the effect of ethnicity on fertility. It is, to a large extent, caused by limitations of sample survey data. This study demonstrates potentials of census-linked fertility data to estimate robust and nationally representative parity-specific period fertility measures by ethnicity. The findings of this first systematic study of ethnicity-specific fertility differentials in Lithuania indicate that ethnicity does matter for fertility even in such ethnically homogenous country as Lithuania. Fertility among Lithuanians is higher than in the other ethnic groups, especially among Russians. Lower fertility in the Russian ethnic group is mainly explained by differences in the risk of having the second child. Importantly, this disadvantage remains significant even after controlling for selected compositional characteristics including urban-rural place of residence and education. The approach used in this study may be applied for Latvia and Estonia, where national minorities constitute substantial shares of the entire populations and significantly contribute to overall fertility levels.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 6, No 2 (2014)
DeWitt boundary condition in one-loop quantum cosmology
Creators: name: Esposito, Giampiero
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: DeWitt's suggestion that the wave function of the universe should vanish at the classical big-bang singularity is here considered within the framework of one-loop quantum cosmology. For pure gravity at one loop about a flat four-dimensional background bounded by a 3-sphere, three choices of boundary conditions are considered: vanishing of the linearized magnetic curvature when only transverse-traceless gravitational modes are quantized; a one-parameter family of mixed boundary conditions for gravitational and ghost modes; diffeomorphism invariant boundary conditions for metric perturbations and ghost modes. A positive zeta(0) value in these cases ensures that, when the 3-sphere boundary approaches zero, the resulting one-loop wave function approaches zero. This property may be interpreted by saying that, in the limit of small three-geometry, the resulting one-loop wave function describes a singularity-free universe. This property holds for one-loop functional integrals, which are not necessarily equivalent to solutions of the quantum constraint equations.
description: In the final version, the presentation has been improved
‘No, Facebook isn’t distracting me, I can study at night’ ICT habits and boundary management among Estonian secondary pupils
Creators: name: Persson, Marcus
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2014
Subjects: ICT; pupils; boundary theory; home-school life; Estonia

description: The topic of this article is the use of information and communication technologies (computers, tablets, and mobile phones) in adolescents and boundary management between mental domains (school and home domain). More specifically, how do Estonian secondary pupils perceive and manage mental boundaries between school work and leisure activities in environments with ubiquitous access to ICT. Building on a mixed methods study consisting of a web survey with structured, closed-ended questions and of focus groups, this study shows that the pupils use ICT for leisure and school work to a great extent, both at school and at home, enabling learning outside of schools as well as leisure activities within schools. The study also shows how the pupils use ICT to integrate and segment school work and leisure activities, at home and in school; and although shifting between mental domains and different genres of participation may have positive effects on pupils’ learning lives, the pupils’ problematic experiences of navigating between domains must be addressed to understand the complexity of living and learning in the e-society.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 6, No 2 (2014)
Sustainable Practices and Related Performance Measures at State Highway Agencies
Creators: name: O'Connell, Lenahan
Publisher: name: Kentucky Transportation Center, University of Kentucky
Year: 2010
Subjects: subject: Transportation Engineering

description: This report identifies seven ways in which an SHA can harm the environment: (1) excessive consumption of virgin materials; (2) unnecessary levels or amounts of storm water runoff; (3) release of environmental contaminants by SHA employees and contractors; (4) inadequate environmental training of employees and contractors; (5) wasteful use of energy by SHA employees and contractors; (6) the promotion of excessive driving by the public and concomitant release of green house gases; and (7) inadequate oversight mechanisms and procedures to prevent unsustainable practices. The report then identifies the sustainable practices and related performance measures SHAs can use to prevent or minimize each type of environmental harm and reduce its overall use of resources. SHAs are adopting many of these practices. Given the diversity of ways that the activities of a SHA can harm the environment, it is imperative that SHAs respond along a comprehensive front. A comprehensive program for sustainability will contain a number of specific policies and reforms. It will also incorporate specific mission mandates and possibly create a new organizational unit tasked with responsibility for training and oversight.
Measuring Sizes of Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies
Creators: name: Munoz, R. R.
name: Padmanabhan, N.
name: Geha, M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The discovery of Ultra-Faint Dwarf (UFD) galaxies in the halo of the Milky Way extends the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function to a few hundred solar luminosities. This extremely low luminosity regime poses a significant challenge for the photometric characterization of these systems. We present a suite of simulations aimed at understanding how different observational choices related to the properties of a low luminosity system impact our ability to determine its true structural parameters such as half-light radius and central surface brightness. We focus on estimating half-light radii (on which mass estimates depend linearly) and find that these numbers can have up to 100% uncertainties when relatively shallow photometric surveys, such as SDSS, are used. Our simulations suggest that to recover structural parameters within 10% or better of their true values: (a) the ratio of the field-of-view to the half-light radius of the satellite must be greater than three, (b) the total number of stars, including background objects should be larger than 1000, and (c) the central to background stellar density ratio must be higher than 20. If one or more of these criteria are not met, the accuracy of the resulting structural parameters can be significantly compromised. In the context of future surveys such as LSST, the latter condition will be closely tied to our ability to remove unresolved background galaxies. Assessing the reliability of measured structural parameters will become increasingly critical as the next generation of deep wide-field surveys detects UFDs beyond the reach of current spectroscopic limits.
description: Accepted for publication in ApJ