cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
USING INFLUENCE PRINCIPLES TO DETERMINE THE PERSUASIVE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF ONLINE COMMERCE USERS
Creators: name: Tobias, Jasmine Santos
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2014
Subjects: E-Commerce
Influence Principles
M-Commerce
Mobile and Stationary Web
Persuasion
Persuasive Technology

description: Influence strategies to persuade users in online commerce exist but we lack guidance on how to select effective strategies that lead to compliance of persuasive requests. Despite studies indicating differences in individual susceptibility to persuasion and device being important factors, little consideration is given to them. Using mock daily deal sites, we use five of Cialdini's influence principles (authority, reciprocity, scarcity, liking, and consensus) to determine which are more persuasive, explore individual differences in susceptibility to influence principles, and compare them against stationary and mobile devices. In the context of online commerce, we find that our users perceived themselves as being generally more susceptible to reciprocity and scarcity principles but when compared to actual product selections, were more susceptible to reciprocity and authority. We also find evidence that scarcity principles may be more effective on mobile devices due to their pervasiveness and ability to support just-in-time messaging for expiring deals.
A fast heuristic for finding the minimum weight triangulation
Creators: name: Beirouti, Ronald
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2009

description: No polynomial time algorithm is known to compute the minimum weight triangulation (MWT) of a point set. In this thesis we present an efficient implementation of the LMTskeleton heuristic. This heuristic computes a subgraph of the MWT of a point set from which the MWT can usually be completed. For uniformly distributed sets of tens of thousands of points our algorithm constructs the exact MWT in expected linear time and space. A fast heuristic, other than being usefull in areas such as stock cutting, finite element analysis, and terrain modeling, allows to experiment with different point sets in order to explore the complexity of the MWT problem. We present point sets constructed with this implementation such that the LMT-skeleton heuristic does not produce a complete graph and can not compute the MWT in polynomial time, or that can be used to prove the NP-Hardness of the MWT problem.
Excitonic Superfluid to pseudo-spin density wave transition in bilayer quantum Hall systems
Creators: name: Ye, Jinwu
name: Jiang, Longhua
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2006
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We construct a quantum Ginsburg-Landau theory to study the quantum phase transition from the excitonic superfluid (ESF) to a possible pseudo-spin density wave (PSDW) at some intermediate distances driven by the magneto-roton minimum collapsing at a finite wavevector. We analyze the properties of the PSDW and explicitly show that a square lattice is the favorite lattice. We suggest that correlated hopping of vacancies in the active and passive layers in the PSDW state leads to very large and temperature dependent drag consistent with the experimental data. Comparisons with previous microscopic numerical calculations are made. Further experimental implications are given.
description: 4+ pages, 2 figures. Final version to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett
Tensor-based Spatio-Temporal Outlier Detection in Large Datasets
Creators: name: Sun, Yanan
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2014
Subjects: Outlier detection
Spatio-temporal
Tensor

description: Spatio-Temporal data is inherently large since each spatial node has spatial attributes and may also be associated with large amounts of measurement data captured over time. In such large and multi-dimensional data identifying anomalies can be a challenge due to the massive data size and relationships among spatial objects. Discovering anomalies in spatio-temporal data is relevant in several domains, such as detecting rare disease outbreaks, detecting oil spills, discovering regions with highway traffic congestion. Most existing techniques for discovering anomalies in spatio-temporal data may find the spatial outliers first and then identify the spatio-temporal anomalies from the data of that specific spatial location. Alternatively, some approaches may discover anomalous time periods and then discover the unusual spatial location in them. This may lead to identifying incorrect spatio-temporal outliers or missing important spatio-temporal phenomena due to the elimination of information after each step. Thus, there is a need to address capturing both space and time simultaneously. A tensor is a multi-dimensional array. It is considered as a powerful tool to manipulate multi-dimensional and multi-variate data. It has a concise mathematical framework for formulating and solving complex data problems efficiently. Tensors can handle complex relationship in spatio-temporal data and their mathematical framework can help us detect spatio-temporal outliers in an effective and efficient manner. Tensors multiplication can integrate spatial and temporal aspects in the data at the same time. In this dissertation, we present our novel approach addressing the key limitation of existing spatio-temporal outlier detection methods by using an efficient tensor based model that supports complex relationships in spatio-temporal data to detect outliers by looking at space and time simultaneously as well as handling the scalability issue when it comes to manipulating large datasets. In this dissertation, we are going to present our novel spatio-temporal tensor model. Based on the spatio-temporal tensor model, we present our clustering-based neighborhood discovery algorithm, neighborhood-based spatial, and spatio-temporal outlier detection algorithms to discover different types of spatio-temporal outliers namely point based and window based outliers. We discuss detailed experimental results for each of the algorithms proposed and also present comparative results.
Coupling losses and transverse resistivity of multifilament YBCO coated superconductors
Creators: name: Polak, M.
name: Krempasky, L.
name: Usak, E.
name: Jansak, L.
name: Demencik, E.
name: Levin, G. A.
name: Barnes, P. N.
name: Wehler, D.
name: Moenter, B.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2006
Subjects: subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We studied the magnetization losses of four different types of filamentary YBCO coated conductors. A 10 mm wide YBCO coated conductor was subdivided into 20 filaments by laser cutting. The separation of coupling loss from the total is possible because the energy loss per cycle in samples with electrically insulated filaments has a very small frequency dependence. We measured the frequency dependence of the total losses in the frequency range between 0.1 Hz and 500 Hz. The coupling loss was obtained from the total by subtracting the hysteresis loss. The latter was measured at low frequencies since only hysteresis loss is non-negligible at frequencies below 1 Hz. The transverse resistivity was determined from the coupling losses; it was assumed that the sample length is equal to half of the twist pitch. The values of transverse resistivity deduced from the loss data were compared with those obtained by the four-point measurements with current flowing perpendicular to the filaments. Preliminary results indicate that the current method of laser ablation creates electrical contacts between the superconducting filaments and the substrate. This was also confirmed by the Hall probe mapping of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the tape. The measured transverse resistivity was close to the resistivity of the substrate (Hastelloy).
description: This paper was presented at 2005 EUCAS Conference
An Inhomogeneous Transference Principle and Diophantine Approximation
Creators: name: Beresnevich, Victor
name: Velani, Sanju
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: Number Theory (math.NT)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: In a landmark paper, D.Y. Kleinbock and G.A. Margulis established the fundamental Baker-Sprindzuk conjecture on homogeneous Diophantine approximation on manifolds. Subsequently, there has been dramatic progress in this area of research. However, the techniques developed to date do not seem to be applicable to inhomogeneous approximation. Consequently, the theory of inhomogeneous Diophantine approximation on manifolds remains essentially non-existent. In this paper we develop an approach that enables us to transfer homogeneous statements to inhomogeneous ones. This is rather surprising as the inhomogeneous theory contains the homogeneous theory and so is more general. As a consequence, we establish the inhomogeneous analogue of the Baker-Sprindzuk conjecture. Furthermore, we prove a complete inhomogeneous version of the profound theorem of Kleinbock, Lindenstrauss & Weiss on the extremality of friendly measures. The results obtained in this paper constitute the first step towards developing a coherent inhomogeneous theory for manifolds in line with the homogeneous theory.
description: 37 pages: a final section on further developments has been added
Role of host haem biosynthetic enzymes in the Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte-stage
Creators: name: Yang, Hao
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2019

description: Plasmodium falciparum is a parasite that causes severe type of malaria, including cerebral malaria. Its growth and survival in erythrocytes relies on haem, an essential metabolic cofactor participating in various redox reactions of nearly all eukaryotic organisms. Research has therefore focused on interfering with the acquisition of haem by studying three ways parasite can access haem. The first way is through its own de novo haem synthetic pathway (HSP), in which succinyl-CoA and glycine are converted into haem through a series of eight enzymatic steps. The second and third ways are to scavenge either host haem biosynthetic enzymes or haem from haemoglobin degradation, or both, to meet its haem requirements. However, it remains unclear which is the essential way. A recent study has found that host red cells deficient in one of the HSP enzymes, ferrochelatase, gives rise to resistance to malarial infection (in mice) and parasite growth (in human erythropoietic protoporphyric cells), implying that Plasmodium at least requires host FECH enzyme for its growth (Smith, Jerkovic et al. 2015). This project aims to investigate if other host haem biosynthetic enzymes in addition to FECH are required for Plasmodium to infect and propagate in the erythrocyte. Here we conducted P. falciparum growth assays on human porphyric red blood cells to investigate the parasite requirement for these host haem enzymes. We tested 14 individual AIP patient blood samples; 13 samples showed significant parasite growth inhibitory effect. We also tested the growth of a previously generated P. falciparum HMBS knockout parasite line in normal red blood cells and found the knockout of the PfHmbs had no significant effect on the growth of parasite, which is consistent with a previous study (Sigala, Crowley et al. 2015). However, when cultured in the AIP red cells, the growth of PfHmbs-knockout parasite line was significantly impaired compared to the wild type parental parasite line. This suggests that the lack of PfHmbs may increase the parasite's reliance on the hHMBS. Whole genomic sequencing of the knockout and parental parasite lines was conducted to investigate the hypothesis that the selection and isolation of a viable knockout parasite line occurred through the acquisition of genetic changes that enabled this altered reliance to occur. However, no significant genomic structure changes were consistent with this hypothesis. This work also established an assay to measure human HMBS activity, and used this to screen for inhibitors in a compound library called the Pathogen Box. However none of the approximately 400 compounds inhibited the enzyme. Together, this work identified human HMBS as a novel host enzyme that is required to sustain the parasite growth. Future studies are needed to address the mechanism of enzyme importation by the parasite, and identify small molecule inhibitors of HMBS that may be further developed as novel host-directed antimalarial therapies.
Quantum experiments with microscale particles
Creators: name: Millen, James
name: Stickler, Benjamin A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Quantum theory is incredibly successful, explaining the microscopic world with great accuracy, from the behaviour of subatomic particles to chemical reactions to solid-state electronics. There is not a single experimental finding challenging its predictions, and ever more quantum phenomena are exploited in technology, including interferometric sensing and quantum cryptography. In order to explore novel applications and test the validity of quantum physics at the macroscale researchers strive to prepare ever heavier and bigger objects in quantum superpositions. Experiments with levitated microscale particles are about to push this quest into uncharted waters.
description: Introductory text for undergraduates and people new to the field. Comments welcome
Towards Realizing Dynamical SUSY Breaking in Heterotic Model Building
Creators: name: Braun, Volker
name: Buchbinder, Evgeny I.
name: Ovrut, Burt A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2006
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study a new mechanism to dynamically break supersymmetry in the E8xE8 heterotic string. As discussed recently in the literature, a long-lived, meta-stable non-supersymmetric vacuum can be achieved in an N=1 SQCD whose spectrum contains a sufficient number of light fundamental flavors. In this paper, we present, within the context of the hidden sector of the weakly and strongly coupled heterotic string, a slope-stable, holomorphic vector bundle on a Calabi-Yau threefold for which all matter fields are in the fundamental representation and are massive at generic points in moduli space. It is shown, however, that near certain subvarieties in the moduli space a sufficient number of light matter fields can occur, providing an explicit heterotic model realizing dynamical SUSY breaking. This is demonstrated for the low-energy gauge group Spin(10). However, our methods immediately generalize to Spin(Nc), SU(Nc), and Sp(Nc), for a wide range of color index Nc. Moduli stabilization in vacua with a positive cosmological constant is briefly discussed.
description: 38 pages, 1 figure, LaTeX. v2: Typos corrected
The effect of seasonal strength and abruptness on predator-prey dynamics
Creators: name: Sauve, Alix M. C.
name: Taylor, Rachel A.
name: Barraquand, Frédéric
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE)
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Coupled dynamical systems in ecology are known to respond to the seasonal forcing of their parameters with multiple dynamical behaviours, ranging from seasonal cycles to chaos. Seasonal forcing is predominantly modelled as a sine wave but the transition between seasons is often more sudden. Some studies mentioned the robustness of their results to the shape of the forcing signal, without detailed analyses. Therefore, whether and how the shape of seasonal forcing affects the dynamics of coupled dynamical systems remains unclear, while abrupt seasonal transitions are widespread in ecological systems. To provide some answers, we conduct a numerical analysis of the dynamical response of predator--prey communities to the shape of the forcing signal by exploring the joint effect of two features of seasonal forcing: the magnitude of the signal, which is classically the only one studied, and the shape of the signal, abrupt or sinusoidal. We consider both linear and saturating functional responses, and focus on seasonal forcing of the predator's discovery rate, which fluctuates with changing environmental conditions and prey's ability to escape predation. Our numerical results highlight that a more abrupt seasonal forcing mostly alters the magnitude of population fluctuations and triggers period--doubling bifurcations, as well as the emergence of chaos, at lower forcing strength than for sine waves. Controlling the variance of the forcing signal mitigates this trend but does not fully suppress it, which suggests that the variance is not the only feature of the shape of seasonal forcing that acts on community dynamics. Although theoretical studies may predict correctly the sequence of bifurcations using sine waves as a representation of seasonality, there is a rationale for applied studies to implement as realistic seasonal forcing as possible to make precise predictions of community dynamics.
Shear flow induced isotropic to nematic transition in a suspension of active filaments
Creators: name: Muhuri, Sudipto
name: Rao, Madan
name: Ramaswamy, Sriram
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2006
Subjects: subject: Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the effects of externally applied shear flow on a model of suspensions of motors and filaments, via the equations of active hydrodynamics [PRL {\bf 89} (2002) 058101; {\bf 92} (2004) 118101]. In the absence of shear, the orientationally ordered phase of {\it both} polar and apolar active particles is always unstable at zero-wavenumber. An imposed steady shear large enough to overcome the active stresses stabilises both apolar and moving polar phases. Our work is relevant to {\it in vitro} studies of active filaments, the reorientation of endothelial cells subject to shear flow and shear-induced motility of attached cells.
description: 8 pages, 4 figures submitted to Europhysics Letters
ClG 0217+70: A massive merging galaxy cluster with a large radio halo and relics
Creators: name: Zhang, X.
name: Simionescu, A.
name: Kaastra, J. S.
name: Akamatsu, H.
name: Hoang, D. N.
name: Stuardi, C.
name: van Weeren, R. J.
name: Rudnick, L.
name: Kraft, R. P.
name: Brown, S.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present an analysis of archival Chandra data of the merging galaxy cluster ClG 0217+70. The Fe XXV He$α$ X-ray emission line is clearly visible in the 25 ks observation, allowing a precise determination of the redshift of the cluster as $z=0.180\pm0.006$. We measure $kT_{500}=8.3\pm0.4$ keV and estimate $M_{500}=(1.06\pm0.11)\times10^{15}\ M_\odot$ based on existing scaling relations. Correcting both the radio and X-ray luminosities with the revised redshift reported here, which is much larger than previously inferred based on sparse optical data, this object is no longer an X-ray underluminous outlier in the $L_\mathrm{X}-P_\mathrm{radio}$ scaling relation. The new redshift also means that, in terms of physical scale, ClG 0217+70 hosts one of the largest radio halos and one of the largest radio relics known to date. Most of the relic candidates lie in projection beyond $r_{200}$. The X-ray morphological parameters suggest that the intracluster medium is still dynamically disturbed. Two X-ray surface brightness discontinuities are confirmed in the northern and southern parts of the cluster, with density jumps of $1.40\pm0.16$ and $3.0\pm0.6$, respectively. We also find a $700\times200$ kpc X-ray faint channel in the western part of the cluster, which may correspond to compressed heated gas or increased non-thermal pressure due to turbulence or magnetic fields.
description: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in A&A Letters
Becoming Real: Undergraduates' Civic Agency Journeys
Creators: name: Hoffman, David Bryan
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2013
Subjects: Authenticity
Civic Education
Civic Studies
College Student Development
Hermeneutics
Phenomenology

description: Responding to calls for higher education to play a central role in renewing democracy, a growing number of U.S. colleges, universities, and national higher education networks are experimenting with strategies for developing students' civic agency: the capacity of ordinary people collectively to create and exert power in action. This study explores the developmental processes of University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) undergraduates who achieved and demonstrated exceptional civic agency, using a research methodology that combines phenomenology, the search for deep meanings in lived experience, with hermeneutics, an iterative meaning-making process grounded in the researcher's relationship with the topic being studied.  By conveying the products of this exploration with poetic resonance, and surfacing aspects of everyday experience not ordinarily recognized by the conscious mind, this study aims to empower and inspire readers to take action to promote civic agency effectively in their own environments. For the UMBC undergraduates who participated in this study, coming to civic agency involved experiencing their own reality against the backdrop of everyday environments and relationships that often felt synthetic and scripted.  In a variety of settings, the participants found opportunities to be the cause of meaningful changes in people and situations, from which they drew the inference that they were actually present in a world that could be altered through their actions.  In relationships with older adults and peers that deviated from the usual scripts, the participants experienced themselves anew as subjects rather than objects, human beings rather than actors on a stage.  Faculty and staff members contributed most to the participants' agency when they approached the teaching and learning process with a kind of directness and humility: a willingness to share power and status, forego pretensions, avoid assertions of absolute mastery, and allow collaborative work to unfold without knowing exactly where it would lead.
Statistical modeling of contact interaction for telerobotics and haptics
Creators: name: Shi, Yunling
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2009

description: Force signals provide essential information for manipulation. This thesis focuses on monitoring the contact state of a robot arm (or a haptic device) with the environment. We describe a procedure to segment and interpret force signals by using a statistical, model-based approach. This idea will be useful for high level robot programming, as force signals are not compatible between different devices (robot arm, or haptic device), and costly to transmit. To relate the force data stream to the parameters of interest, we address the criteria of dividing tasks into subtasks by detecting the changes of the observations based on a specific force signal input device, each of the subtasks corresponding to. an auto-regression model. Each hypothesized contact model has an estimator. The observations of position, velocity, and force are input into a collection of estimators. The estimators output the measure of match as well as the residual process to be fed back to the state change detector. So we can detect a subtask and select a model from a set of candidate models to determine the state of contact. In this thesis, we simplify and improve the traditional approach of change detection and estimation to make it suitable for manipulation tasks. The context is also a fundamental to manipulation. The sequence of subtasks determines the task structure, and thus the goal of the operator. The Markov process encodes the subtasks and prior knowledge with each subtask state.
The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey: Testing the gravitational instability paradigm at z ~ 1
Creators: name: Marinoni, C.
name: Guzzo, L.
name: Cappi, A.
name: Fevre, O. Le
name: Mazure, A.
name: Meneux, B.
name: Pollo, A.
name: team, the VVDS
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We have reconstructed the three-dimensional density fluctuation maps to z ~ 1.5 using the distribution of galaxies observed in the VVDS-Deep survey. We use this overdensity field to measure the evolution of the probability distribution function and its lower-order moments over the redshift interval 0.7
description: 14 pages, 5 figures, A&A in Press
Waveguide Resonator with Integrated Phase Modulator for Second Harmonic Generation
Creators: name: Stefszky, Michael
name: Santandrea, Matteo
name: Bruch, Felix vom
name: Krapick, Stephan
name: Eigner, Christof
name: Ricken, Raimund
name: Quiring, Viktor
name: Herrmann, Harald
name: Silberhorn, and Christine
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: Applied Physics (physics.app-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report second harmonic generation from a titanium indiffused lithium niobate waveguide resonator device whose cavity length is locked to the fundamental pump laser using an on-chip phase modulator. The device remains locked for more than 5 minutes, producing more than 80\% of the initial second harmonic power. The stability of the system is seen to be limited by DC-drift, a known effect in many lithium niobate systems that include deposited electrodes. The presented device explores the suitability of waveguide resonators in this platform for use in larger integrated networks.
The intersection between professional development and professional learning communities: Working towards improving the educational experiences of English learners
Creators: name: Lee, Hye-Sook
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2014
Subjects: English language learners
English learners
Professional learning communities
Teacher professional development
Teacher training

description: This research investigated professional development (PD) experiences of secondary teachers of English learners (ELs) in Maryland and their perceptions concerning characteristics of PD that are most effective in helping them to improve their professional knowledge and attitudes toward PD. It also investigated whether being part of professional learning communities (PLCs) enhanced PD outcomes by extending teachers' access to sustained learning. This inquiry fills a gap in research concerning PD experiences of teachers based on the analysis of school-based PLCs. This research integrated Garet et al.'s  (2001) framework of effective PD and Olivier and Hipp's (2010) model of PLCs. The integration of these two frameworks highlights the reciprocal relationship between PD and PLCs, and the extent to which these experiences and structures generate changes in teachers' improved knowledge and attitudes toward PD. A mixed methods approach is implemented to analyze survey and interview data in a sequential manner with emphasis on the quantitative component. The study is built on the strength of both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and jointly, these methods provide a more complete picture of the research problem than would either method individually (Creswell, 2009). A total of 100 teachers participated in the survey and 9 teachers participated in the interview. The analysis supports and extends Garet et al.'s (2001) findings that PD that emphasized improving content knowledge and was coherent with teachers' other learning experiences resulted in teachers' positive attitudes toward PD, as well as perceived improvement in knowledge. The results also revealed key practices of teachers' PLCs. Teachers' PLCs focused on their professional growth and improvement of student learning while fostering leadership and engaging in school improvement were not strong components of their practices. As a result, the associations of PLCs and teachers outcomes were not significant. This study is significant because it contributes to the emerging knowledge base that explores the relationship between the effects of PD on teachers and the role of PLCs reinforcing in best practices. The results of this research inform educators and education policy regarding and provide deeper insight into the comprehensive conditions needed for improving teachers' PD and PLC experiences.
Simulation of Coherent Non-Linear Neutrino Flavor Transformation in the Supernova Environment I: Correlated Neutrino Trajectories
Creators: name: Duan, Huaiyu
name: Fuller, George M.
name: Carlson, J
name: Qian, Yong-Zhong
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2006
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present results of large-scale numerical simulations of the evolution of neutrino and antineutrino flavors in the region above the late-time post-supernova-explosion proto-neutron star. Our calculations are the first to allow explicit flavor evolution histories on different neutrino trajectories and to self-consistently couple flavor development on these trajectories through forward scattering-induced quantum entanglement. Employing the atmospheric-scale neutrino mass-squared difference and values of theta_13 allowed by current bounds, we find transformation of neutrino and antineutrino flavors over broad ranges of energy and luminosity in roughly the ``bi-polar'' collective mode. We find that this large-scale flavor conversion, largely driven by the flavor off-diagonal neutrino-neutrino forward scattering potential, sets in much closer to the proto-neutron star than simple estimates based on flavor-diagonal potentials and Mikeheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein evolution would indicate. In turn, this suggests that models of r-process nucleosynthesis sited in the neutrino-driven wind could be affected substantially by active-active neutrino flavor mixing, even with the small measured neutrino mass-squared differences.
description: 23 pages, 12 figures, revtex4 format. Version accepted by PRD
The Impacts of Service-Learning Participation upon Post-Secondary Students' Academic and Social Development
Creators: name: Penniston, Thomas A.
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2014
Subjects: applied learning
fixed effects
longitudinal
mixed methods
pedagogy
service-learning

description: Service-Learning is a form of applied learning that engages students in solving social problems within community-based settings. It is rooted in the social and educational philosophy of John Dewey's Pragmatism. As a pedagogy, service-learning presents students with opportunities for social and intellectual growth by complementing classroom learning with community-based experiential learning. This research aims to improve our understanding of the academic and social impacts of service-learning participation in higher education. This study incorporates a mixed methodological design comprised of a primary quantitative study that meets a gap in the service-learning research, and a complementary qualitative study that allows for additional themes to emerge and illustrate findings of the primary study.  The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is an ideal location for this research because of its history of service-learning leadership. Through rigorous, quasi-experimental, longitudinal analysis of a robust data set, the quantitative analysis investigates the relationship between service-learning participation and diverse measures of student academic development. A fixed effects design limits the potential bias stemming from non-random selection into service-learning. Qualitative research complements the quantitative study and provides an in-depth understanding of students' development, with a particular focus upon analyzing academic and pro-social growth through service-learning (e.g., voluntary behavior intended to benefit another such as altruism [Eisenberg, et al., 2006, p. 646]). The qualitative study consists of a non-probability, purposive sample of students (Singleton & Straits, 2005) participating in semi-structured interviews (Singleton & Straits, 2005), followed by thematic analysis (Marks & Yardley, 2004).  This research makes methodological contributions and strengthens our understanding of applied and service-learning, particularly as implemented through the innovative institutional practices at the studied university. The quantitative study is strengthened by modeling that addresses threats to internal validity from students' self-selection (i.e., endogenous bias; Meyer, 1995) and allows for significant analytical conclusions.  Additionally, the mixed methodological design illustrates student pro-social growth through a number of emergent themes (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). The scale and design of this study increases our understanding of the impact of service-learning and the conclusions suggest it deserves further institutional attention as a core pedagogy in higher education.
Regulatory roles of IL-10-producing T follicular cells
Creators: name: Fernandez De Canete Nieto, Pablo
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2019

description: Mucosal lymphoid tissues like human tonsils are colonized by bacteria and exposed to ingested and inhaled antigens, requiring tight regulation of immune responses. Antibody responses are regulated by follicular helper T cells (TFH) and Foxp3+ follicular regulatory T cells (TFR). Here we describe a subset of human tonsillar follicular T cells (TF) identified by expression of TFH cell markers and CD25 that are the main source of T cell-derived IL-10 in the follicle. Despite lack of FOXP3 expression, CD25+ TF cells resemble Tregs in high CTLA4 expression, low IL-2 production, and their ability to repress T cell proliferation. IL-10 boosts conversion of human tonsil TFH cells into FOXP3-expressing cells, possibly promoting peripherally- induced TFR cells at mucosal sites. CD25+ TF cell-derived IL-10 inhibits B cell class-switching to IgE. In children, serum total IgE titers were inversely correlated with the frequencies of tonsil CD25+ TF cells and IL-10-producing TF cells but not with total Tregs, TFR or IL-10-producing T cells. Thus, CD25+ TF cells emerge as a subset with unique T and B cell regulatory activities that may help prevent atopy.
The Euler-Lagrange PDE and Finsler metrizability
Creators: name: Muzsnay, Zoltan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2006
Subjects: subject: Differential Geometry (math.DG)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 49N45; 35N10; 53C60; 53B05

description: In this paper we investigate the following question: under what conditions can a second-order homogeneous ordinary differential equation (spray) be the geodesic equation of a Finsler space. We show that the Euler-Lagrange partial differential system on the energy function can be reduced to a first order system on this same function. In this way we are able to give effective necessary and sufficient conditions for the local existence of a such Finsler metric in terms of the holonomy algebra generated by horizontal vector-fields. We also consider the Landsberg metrizability problem and prove similar results. This reduction is a significant step in solving the problem whether or not there exists a non-Berwald Landsberg space.
description: 20 pages
The Impact of Computer Assisted Language Learning Adhering to the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning: A Focus on Modern Standard Arabic at the University Level
Creators: name: El Omari, Samir
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2014
Subjects: AFL
CALL
LCTL
MSA
NSFLL
VLE

description: The development of the new digital world in the 21st Century has exponentially altered the mode through which we communicate, teach, learn, and perform research. The mode of interactions and social relationships that occur through new digital technologies are also shaping and transforming the meaning of instruction. Current online activities support face-to-face, distance education and hybrid or blended courses (combination of face-to-face and exclusively online interactions) (Garnham & Kaleta, 2002). Yet, despite the more frequent use of technology in the Arabic classroom, there is still little research conducted in the Arabic instructors' use, understanding, and knowledge of technological tools. As a result, this study examined the use of technological tools Arabic instructors are implementing in their curriculum. This study also explored Arabic instructors' awareness of the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning (NSFLL) and how they integrate technology to promote NSFLL in the teaching and learning of Arabic. The study also investigated the instructors' roles as online facilitators and their beliefs about the importance of the integration of technology to enhance Arabic learners' foreign language (FL) skills at university level in the United States. This study used a mixed-method approach to collect data from a sample of Higher Education Arabic instruction using two types of instruments. First was the online non-experimental survey, which was computer-mediated and self-administered survey. Second were in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with a small sample of instructors to obtain an in-depth understanding of Arabic teachers' attitudes toward the use of technology and their beliefs concerning the NSFLL. The interviews investigated suggestions and recommendations of Arabic instruction to the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the virtual learning environment. The significance of the study was to provide contribution and support to the progress of the teaching and learning of Arabic as a FL in the United States in the 21st Century.
Bell inequality violation and operator ordering in quantum theory
Creators: name: Faria, H. M.
name: Dechoum, K.
name: Khoury, A. Z.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We investigate the role played by quantum operator ordering in the correlations that characterize two-photon polarization Bell measurements. The Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) criterion is investigated in the normal ordering imposed by the photodetection theory and in the symmetric ordering that constitutes the standard prescription for building Hermitian operators from products of noncommuting observables. The two approaches are obtained in a single theoretical framework, where operator ordering is directly associated with the representation used for the density matrix.Moreover, this discussion can be recast in terms of the contribution given by the vacuum fluctuations to the detected signals. We also envisage possible detection schemes sensitive to these fluctuations with recent technological developments.
Mapping the Journey of Community College Honors Students: Toward the Identification and Duplication of Student Success
Creators: name: Trucker, Jeremy
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2014
Subjects: community college
developmental education
diversity
first-generation college students
Honors Programs
success policies

description: In an effort to build a diverse, scalable Honors Program, this research considers two major issues that community college Honors Programs often face: homogeneity amongst its membership and the growing percentage of developmental students amongst the general college population.  Surveys conducted in the Fall of 2012 at The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) confirm that the CCBC Honors Program suffers from demographic issues shared by many community college Honors Programs nationally, whose students are often younger, more affluent, and more likely to be White than their classmates in the college general population. Meanwhile, community colleges face an ever-increasing percentage of students with developmental educational needs.  To better reflect the general community college's population, Honors Programs, whether they seek growth or simply program maintenance, must find ways to diversify their program enrollment by attracting students who have recently completed developmental coursework and may not have the initial academic self-confidence to apply. This project takes a qualitative, success-based approach to research at the community college, seeking ways to diversify Honors Programs.  Through intensity sampling of students at CCBC, focus group and interview research was conducted with 29 students who began their coursework in developmental education, many from underrepresented populations, including Black/African-American students, first-generation college students, and students of nontraditional college age.  This research highlighted several similar components of the successful, and perhaps unlikely, Honors students' journey, from their starting location, through their early progress, and impediments to their advancement.  From these students' journeys, the study includes recommendations for program reforms that can lead to an increase in Honors applications amongst students originating in developmental education and a methodological approach to Honors research that privileges student voice, most importantly that of Honors students from underrepresented populations.
Artifacts with uneven sampling of red noise
Creators: name: Milotti, Edoardo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2006
Subjects: subject: Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability (physics.data-an)
subject: Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The vast majority of sampling systems operate in a standard way: at each tick of a fixed-frequency master clock a digitizer reads out a voltage that corresponds to the value of some physical quantity and translates it into a bit pattern that is either transmitted, stored, or processed right away. Thus signal sampling at evenly spaced time intervals is the rule: however this is not always the case, and uneven sampling is sometimes unavoidable. While periodic or quasi-periodic uneven sampling of a deterministic signal can reasonably be expected to produce artifacts, it is much less obvious that the same happens with noise: here I show that this is indeed the case only for long-memory noise processes, i.e., power-law noises $1/f^α$ with $α> 2$. The resulting artifacts are usually a nuisance although they can be eliminated with a proper processing of the signal samples, but they could also be turned to advantage and used to encode information.
description: 5 figures
Light Detection System and Time Resolution of the NA62 RICH
Creators: name: Anzivino, G.
name: Barbanera, M.
name: Bizzeti, A.
name: Brizioli, F.
name: Bucci, F.
name: Cassese, A.
name: Cenci, P.
name: Ciaranfi, R.
name: Duk, V.
name: Engelfried, J.
name: Estrada-Tristan, N.
name: Iacopini, E.
name: Imbergamo, E.
name: Latino, G.
name: Lenti, M.
name: Lollini, R.
name: Lubrano, P.
name: Piandani, R.
name: Pepe, M.
name: Piccini, M.
name: Sergi, A.
name: Turisini, M.
name: Volpe, R.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A large RICH detector is used in NA62 to suppress the muon contamination in the charged pion sample by a factor of 100 in the momentum range between 15 and 35 GeV/c. Cherenkov light is collected by 1952 photomultipliers placed at the upstream end. In this paper the characterization of the photomultipliers and the dedicated Frontend and Data Acquisition electronics are described, the time resolution and the light detection efficiency measurement are presented.
description: 15 pages, 11 figures
Ergodic Ontogeny: Influences of Interactive Media on Identity
Creators: name: Cole, Sara Mae
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2013
Subjects: ergodic
identity
interactive
ontogeny
play
videogame

description: Video games represent the future of storytelling, changing the impact of cultural narratives in important ways through a process of learning and internalization of game content that alters players’ perceptions of self and reality.  Continued rigorous research of interactive media is necessary because of the speed at which technology changes its capabilities and the dominant nature of its format – it is how many people will tell, hear, and experience stories, culture, and values in the coming years.  This dissertation argues that a deeper understanding of how people play video games and what these play experiences mean must rely on interdisciplinary lenses of analysis that value player reports, programming choices, and cultural narratives equally.  I establish a theoretical and methodological approach that defines elements of what it means to play video games, and study the qualitative influence of game–play on thought and behavior through pragmatic analysis of interview data.  Samples of masculine discourses of game play in the United States provide a starting point for this exploration of video game impact through discussions of play theory, narratology, game programming and interaction with interactive media hardware.     Common social concerns regarding increased violence, aggression, or de–socialization as a result of this medium were not represented in the population presented in this dissertation.  Players recognized the allure of the so–called negative aspects of video games, but ultimately expressed a decided disconnect between the real world and virtual experiences of play, describing cathartic and therapeutic reasons for their enjoyment of those elements.  An interdisciplinary approach to video game research must be embraced, despite a constant call for quick, universal answers to their most common critiques.  Foundational themes for understanding the influence of interactive digital play experiences on personal identity and ideology construction are demonstrated through thematic and sociolinguistic analyses of in–depth interview data.  These include play theory, narratology, human–computer interaction theory, and player report data.  I draw on the established theoretical backgrounds of these disciplines to suggest a new term, ergodic ontogeny, to describe this complex process of personal development resulting from influences of interactive digital media gaming that reach beyond play experiences.