cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Return of Genetic Research Results: An Analysis of Participant Preferences
Creators: name: Kois, Chelsea
Publisher: name: Brandeis University
Year: 2014
Subjects: whole exome sequencing
whole genome sequencing
incidental findings
patient autonomy

description: Growing discussion on advancing genetic technologies, including whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), has raised concerns regarding the types of genetic information that they can yield. A major area of concern regards incidental findings (IFs), or results that do not directly relate to the primary indication for genetic testing but could be revealed. IFs became a topic of discussion upon the release of the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) guidelines that recommended that significant and actionable IFs be reported to patients. Literature to determine whether patients consenting to WES or WGS wish to receive all of the results or only a subset of them has been sparse. We performed a review of research charts including consent forms that allowed participants to choose the types of results they wished to receive from the study in which they were participating. To supplement the review of these records, we sent an online survey to the same group of research participants. We found that 88% of participants requested all of their genetic information including IFs, while 12% did not. This 12% included both participants who chose only to receive information that could explain the cause of the condition for which they enrolled in the study as well as participants who declined all results. Some would argue that an individual’s autonomy might be infringed upon if they are not provided with the choice to opt out of certain types of findings when taking advantage of evolving genetic testing options. Thus, our findings suggest that practices and policies related to WES or WGS should consider individuals who may not wish to know all of their possible results.
Sociology News, Spring 2022
Creators: name: Washington State University Department Of Sociology
Publisher: name: Washington State University
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Newsletters
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology

description: News items include: In Memoriam: Clayton Mosher (1961-2022); The James F. Short Professorship: Interview with inaugural awardee Jennifer Schwartz; Announcing Erik Johnson as the New DGS; Spotlight on Current Research: Assistant Professor Mari Amorim; Alumni Spotlight: Unconventional Paths; Undergraduate Highlights; Sociologists @ Work Series 2021-2022; Publications, Awards, and Other Accomplishments.
Designing objects with meaningful associations
Creators: name: Orth, Daniel
name: Thurgood, Clementine
name: van den Hoven, Elise
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Objects often become cherished for their ties to beliefs, experiences, memories, people, places or values that are significant to their owner. These ties can reflect the ways in which we as humans use objects to characterise, communicate and develop our sense of self. This paper outlines our approach to applying product attachment theory to design practices. We created six artefacts that were inspired by interviews conducted with three individuals who discussed details of their life stories. We then evaluated the associations that came to mind for our participants when interacting with these newly designed artefacts to determine whether these links brought meaning to them. Our findings highlight the potential of design to bring emotional value to products by embodying significant aspects of a person's self-identity. To do so, designers must consider both the importance and authenticity of the associations formed between an object and an individual.
The dynamics of attitudes toward immigrants: Cohort analyses for Western EU member states
Creators: name: Schmidt, Katja
Publisher: name: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Anti-immigrant attitudes
subject: cohort design
subject: cohort replacement
subject: ethnic prejudice
subject: group threat theory
subject: immigration
subject: panel analysis
subject: period effects
subject: 300 Sozialwissenschaften

description: Public opinion climates on immigrants are subject to certain dynamics. This study examines two mechanisms for such dynamics in Western EU member states for the 2002–2018 period. First, the impact of cohort replacement and, second, the impact of periodic threat perceptions, namely, changing macroeconomic conditions and shifts in immigration rates. To date, empirical research on anti-immigrant sentiments rarely combines these two concepts simultaneously to disentangle the interplay of period and cohort effects and determine the factors for long- and short-term attitude changes in societies. Motivated by this gap in the literature, I conduct multiple linear regression analyses of pooled data from all waves of the European Social Survey to show that the process of cohort replacement has led to a substantially more positive opinion climate toward immigrants since the 2000s. However, results indicate that in the future, this positive development is likely to come to a halt since younger cohorts no longer hold significantly more immigrant-friendly attitudes than their immediate predecessors. Furthermore, we observe different period effects to impact cohorts’ attitudes. Fixed-effects panel analyses show that the effect of changing macroeconomic conditions on cohorts’ attitudes is low. Changes in immigration rates, however, lead to significantly more dismissive attitudes when immigrants originate from the Global South as opposed to when they enter from EU countries. These insights suggest that it is less economic or cultural threat perceptions, but ethnic prejudice that plays a key role for natives to oppose immigration. Overall, findings suggest that it is not either cohort or period effects driving large-scale attitude changes, but rather we observe an interplay of both.
Sedimentology, tectonic control and resource potential of the Upper Devonian - Lower Carboniferous Horton Group, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
Creators: name: Hamblin, Anthony P
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1989
Subjects: subject: Geology.
subject: Plate Tectonics.
subject: Sedimentary Geology.

description: Abstract not available.
Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Bacteriocins via Feature Evaluation
Creators: name: Akhter, Suraiya
Publisher: name: Washington State University
Year: 2026
Subjects: antimicrobial peptides
antimicrobial resistance
bacteriocin prediction
feature selection
software and web development
Artificial intelligence
Machine Learning

description: Antibiotic resistance is a major public health concern around the globe. As a result, researchers are always looking for new compounds to develop new antibiotic drugs to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The use of bacteriocins has emerged as a promising strategy in the development of new drugs to combat antibiotic resistance, given their ability to kill bacteria with both broad and narrow natural spectra. Therefore, there is a strong need for an accurate and efficient computational model to predict novel bacteriocins. Machine learning's ability to learn patterns and features from bacteriocin sequences that are difficult to capture using sequence matching-based methods makes it a potentially superior choice for accurate prediction. Our objective was to develop a machine learning-based software tool and a machine learning-based web application using selected features to precisely detect bacteriocin protein sequences. To achieve this, we initially extracted potential features from known bacteriocins and non-bacteriocins, considering physicochemical, structural, and sequence-profile attributes of the protein sequences. Subsequently, we refined the feature set using various feature evaluation methods, including statistical justifications, recursive feature elimination techniques, alternating decision tree, genetic algorithm, linear support vector classifier, cross-validated, and hypergraph-based techniques. We developed several popular and widely used machine learning models, and our best predictive model achieved an accuracy of 99.11% and an AUC of 0.9984 for the testing dataset. Furthermore, we analyzed the feature contributions directly from the predictive model using the Shapley values. Our software tool offers prediction results based on the best predictive model, using a statistically justified feature set. In contrast, our web application gives prediction results using the best models created with feature sets selected from all the different methods we considered, including the one used to build the software tool.
Being politicalpolitical beings: Youth, democracy and social movements
Creators: name: Charlebois, Josée Madeia
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: Political Science, General.
subject: Sociology, Social Structure and Development.

description: Les jeunes environnementalistes, en cherchant une concordance et une cohérence entre leurs styles de vie et leurs idéaux, entre leurs pratiques individuelles et la collectivité dont ils sont membres, parviennent à créer et adopter des pratiques démocratiques alternatives et innovatrices. Ces jeunes feraient alors de leur vie et de leur quotidien une oeuvre politique. Ainsi, par leur profonde remise en question (et dans certain cas, leur plus décisif rejet) de la politique institutionnelle, les jeunes écolos parviendraient, par leur engagement politique différencie, à rendre compte du caractère poreux des frontières du politique. Cette thèse est une étude de jeunes membres de groupes environnementaux à Ottawa, et de leur participation dans ces groupes, permettant de mieux comprendre comment ils font de la politique autrement, d'une part par la forme et le lieu de leur engagement et d'autre part l'expérimentation de nouvelles formes de démocraties et de pratiques démocratiques alternatives.
Perceptions, attitudes, and subjective norms influencing seniors' decision to accept or reject mobility aids in fall prevention: An application of the theory of planned behavior.
Creators: name: Aminzadeh, Faranak.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1997
Subjects: subject: Gerontology.

description: Many risk factors for falls among seniors are modifiable with appropriate interventions. Educational strategies to improve the use of mobility aids have been an important component of some fall prevention programs. However, literature and clinical observations point to poor acceptance of these devices by seniors. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study was an exploratory investigation of attitudinal, normative, and perceptual determinants of cane use among community-residing older adults. The objectives were: (1) to develop valid and reliable measures of TPB constructs as they relate to the use of canes in fall prevention; (2) to determine relationships between various components of the model and cane use behaviors in a sample of community-dwelling older adults aged 65 and over; and, (3) to examine the differences between "cane-users" and "non-users" with respect to the TPB variables and selected sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. This descriptive comparative study involved two phases: (1) instrument development and pilot testing on a purposive sample of 10 seniors; and, (2) a cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample of 98 community-dwelling seniors in Ottawa-Carleton. Subjects were recruited from a variety of community settings, using both direct and indirect approaches. Data were collected through self- and interviewer-administered techniques. The findings provided some evidence for the validity and reliability of the instrument and confirmed the utility of the TPB in its application to a new domain of behavior. "Cane-users" were significantly older, reported greater mobility difficulties, and had more negative evaluations of their activity level compared to "non-users". However, the two groups did not significantly differ with respect to other sociodemographic characteristics, fall history and frequency, and self-rated health. There were significant differences between "cane-users" and "non-users" on all components of the TPB model, even after stratifying the sample by age and mobility level. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Early Outcomes in Children with Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA) Associated Vasculitis (AAV)
Creators: name: Morishita, Kimberly
name: Moorthy, Lakshmi N.
name: Lubieniecka, Joanna M.
name: Twilt, Marinka
name: Yeung, Rae S.M.
name: Toth, Mary B.
name: Shenoi, Susan
name: Ristic, Goran
name: Nielsen, Susan M.
name: Li, Suzanne C.
name: Lee, Tzielan
name: Lawson, Erica
name: Kostik, Mikhail
name: Klein-Gitelman, Marisa
name: Huber, Adam M.
name: Hersh, Aimee O.
name: Foell, Dirk
name: Elder, Melissa E.
name: Eberhard, Barbara A.
name: Dancey, Paul
name: Charuvanij, Sirirat
name: Benseler, Susanne
name: Cabral, David A.
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2018

description: Objective: To characterize early disease course in childhood onset antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis (AAV) and 12-month outcomes. Methods: Eligible subjects were children diagnosed with GPA, MPA, EGPA, and ANCA-positive pauci-immune glomerulonephritis before their eighteenth birthday and entered into The Pediatric Vasculitis Initiative (PedVas) study. The primary outcome was remission (Pediatric Vasculitis Activity Score (PVAS) = 0 with corticosteroid dose (CS) <0.2mg/kg/day) at 12-months. Secondary outcomes included rates of inactive disease (PVAS 0, any CS dose) and improvement at post-induction (4-6 months after diagnosis) and at 12-months, damage at 12-months, and relapse rates. Results: 105 patients were included. Median age at diagnosis was 13.8 years (IQR 10.9 – 15.8 years); 42% achieved remission at 12-months, 49% had inactive disease at post-induction (4-6 months), and 61% had inactive disease at 12-months. The majority of patients improved even if they did not achieve inactive disease. An improvement in PVAS score of 50% from time-of-diagnosis to post-induction was seen in 92% of patients. Minor relapses occurred in 12 of 51 patients (24%) after achieving inactive disease at post-induction. The median damage score (measured by a modified pediatric vasculitis damage index (pVDI)) at 12-months was 1 (range 0-6). 63% of patients had ≥ 1 damage item scored at 12-months. Conclusion: This is the largest study to date reporting outcomes in pediatric AAV. Although a significant proportion of patients do not achieve remission, the majority of patients respond to treatment. Unfortunately, more than half of patients have damage early in their disease course.
Parallel Structural Evolution of Mitochondrial Ribosomes and OXPHOS Complexes
Creators: name: Sluis, Eli O. Van Der
name: Bauerschmitt, Heike
name: Becker, Thomas
name: Mielke, Thorsten
name: Frauenfeld, Jens
name: Berninghausen, Otto
name: Neupert, Walter
name: Herrmann, Johannes M.
name: Beckmann, Roland
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: ribosome
subject: nonadaptive evolution
subject: mitochondrial evolution
subject: cryo-electron microscopy
subject: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie

description: The five macromolecular complexes that jointly mediate oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in mitochondria consist of many more subunits than those of bacteria, yet, it remains unclear by which evolutionary mechanism(s) these novel subunits were recruited. Even less well understood is the structural evolution of mitochondrial ribosomes (mitoribosomes): while it was long thought that their exceptionally high protein content would physically compensate for their uniquely low amount of ribosomal RNA (rRNA), this hypothesis has been refuted by structural studies. Here, we present a cryo- electron microscopy structure of the 73S mitoribosome from Neurospora crassa, together with genomic and proteomic analyses of mitoribosome composition across the eukaryotic domain. Surprisingly, our findings reveal that both structurally and compositionally, mitoribosomes have evolved very similarly to mitochondrial OXPHOS complexes via two distinct phases: A constructive phase that mainly acted early in eukaryote evolution, resulting in the recruitment of altogether approximately 75 novel subunits, and a reductive phase that acted during metazoan evolution, resulting in gradual length-reduction of mitochondrially encoded rRNAs and OXPHOS proteins. Both phases can be well explained by the accumulation of (slightly) deleterious mutations and deletions, respectively, in mitochondrially encoded rRNAs and OXPHOS proteins. We argue that the main role of the newly recruited (nuclear encoded) ribosomal- and OXPHOS proteins is to provide structural compensation to the mutationally destabilized mitochondrially encoded components. While the newly recruited proteins probably provide a selective advantage owing to their compensatory nature, and while their presence may have opened evolutionary pathways toward novel mitochondrion-specific functions, we emphasize that the initial events that resulted in their recruitment was nonadaptive in nature. Our framework is supported by population genetic studies, and it can explain the complete structural evolution of mitochondrial ribosomes and OXPHOS complexes, as well as many observed functions of individual proteins.
Notizie preliminari sulla necropoli orientalizzante "La Casetta" a Blera
Creators: name: Marina, Micozzi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Etruria
Blera, La Casetta

description: Edito in L'Etruria delle necropoli rupestri, Atti del XXIX Convegno di Studi Etruschi e Italici, Tuscania – Viterbo 2017, Roma, Giorgio Bretschneider Editore, 2019, pp. 117-126 (ISBN: 978-88-7689-316-2, ISSN: 1970-5409)
Harmonizing Fairness with Utility in Data and Learning
Creators: name: Li, Peizhao
Publisher: name: Brandeis University
Year: 2024
Subjects: Bias
Artificial Intelligence or Cybernetics
Computer Science
Machine Learning

description: In high-stakes applications, developing Artificial Intelligence technologies irresponsibly may incur unfair and biased treatment of unprivileged groups or individuals. The unfairness in the automatic decision-making process can trigger societal concerns around AI, therefore preventing its popularity and development. To block the propagation of discrimination and unfairness taking place in machine learning algorithms, computational methods and proper regulations over the vanilla algorithms are imperative. In this dissertation, we propose solutions for machine learning fairness from data-centric and model-centric perspectives: transforming the biased data into an unbiased one, and fairly regulating the model’s optimization. We show that both solutions can mitigate unfairness, and achieve favorable fairness-utility tradeoffs in various prediction applications.
Theoretical prediction and spectroscopic characterization of novel norbornene and norbornadiene polymer structures.
Creators: name: Mainville-Dale, Rachel M. E.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2002
Subjects: subject: Chemistry, Polymer.

description: This thesis describes efforts in theoretical prediction of the macrostructures of poly(norbornadienes) and poly(norbornenes). In contrast to existing synthetic helical polymers such as poly(isocyanides) and poly(methacrylates), the helical parameters of norbornene and norbornadiene polymers may be tunable by judicious choice of substituents. Computer modelling surveys were carried out to qualitatively compare effects from tacticity, steric bulk, pi-stacking and hydrogen-bonding on polymer topology. Models capable of pi-stacking and hydrogen-bonding displayed interactions between substituents on neighbouring repeat units. These modelling studies suggest that helical turns will collapse to form and enforce a tube-like structure. Polymers of functionalized norbornenes and norbornadienes were produced using different achiral and racemic catalysts. Microstructural characterization was conducted by 1H, 1H-1H COSY and 13C{1H} NMR spectroscopy. The tacticities of poly(norbornadienes) agreed well with literature reported values of the catalyst used. However, all three poly(norbornenes) had the same tacticity. Macrostructural characterization was accomplished by GPC, LS, polarimetry and CD spectroscopy. All polymers had a spherical conformation in solution. Polymers made of optically active monomers were optically active whereas polymers made of non-optically active monomers were not.
Quirky subjects: Do they exist in Persian?
Creators: name: Sedighi, Anousha.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2001
Subjects: subject: Language, Linguistics.

description: This thesis studies the nature of certain subject-like NPs in Persian and examines whether or not they can be considered "Quirky Subjects". Quirky subjects are subject-like NP's that bear non-nominative case and a non-agentive theta role, yet have some properties of subjects. This work demonstrates that subject-like NPs in Persian are neither subjects nor, quirky subjects. In fact, they are "Left-dislocated constituents". In these constructions the reason for the default format of the verb is the nature of the subject, which is the psychological state rather than the subject-like NP (experiencer). Moreover, the notion of "Subject" and "Subjecthood" will be discussed and the claim that subject is not a rigid concept will be supported.
Option pricing for infinite variance data
Creators: name: Jahandideh, Mohammad Taghi
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2004
Subjects: subject: Engineering, System Science.

description: Infinite variance distributions are among the competing models used to explain the non-normality of stock price changes (Mandelbrot, 1963; Fama, 1965; Mandelbrot and Taylor, 1967; Rachev and Samorodnitsky, 1993). We investigate the asymptotic option price formula in infinite variance setting for both independent and correlated data using point processes. As we shall see the application of point process models can also lead us to investigate a more general option price formula. We also apply a recursion technique to quantify various characteristics of the resulting formulas. It shows that such formulas, and even their approximations, may be difficult to apply in practice. A nonparametric bootstrap method is proposed as one alternative approach and its asymptotic consistency is established under a resampling scheme of m = o(n). Some empirical evidence is provided showing the method works in principle, although large sample sizes appear to be needed for accuracy. This method is also illustrated using publicly available financial data.
'This time, we're the ones who'll be treated like royalty': Masculinist discourses in online sexual transformation media
Creators: name: Pilbeam, Richard
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: This project’s object of study is amateur online media which depicts cisgender, heterosexual men involuntarily being transformed into women and forced against their will to adopt traditionally female social roles. The project examines the ways in which these narratives are used to grapple with contradictions and tensions within masculinity, as the characters find that there is no “right” way for them to be a man. The project argues that these narratives are a useful heuristic through which to understand both men’s anxieties around masculinity, and how men view femininity in contrast to their own experiences of masculinity.
Impact of the Healthstyles health promotion program on health care utilization: A secondary analysis of data.
Creators: name: Cousins, Margaret.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1994
Subjects: subject: Health Sciences, Public Health.

description: Healthstyles was a community based health promotion program that ran in Ottawa from 1982 to 1984. This program provided an opportunity to assess the effects of health promotion on health behaviours and use of health care services through a quasi-experimental design. Primary analyses of questionnaire responses have shown a number of positive behavioural outcomes. For the secondary analysis, data on health care use 6 months before, 18 months during and 6 months after the program were obtained from Ontario's universal health insurance plan (OHIP). These data were available for 520 volunteer participants and 932 matched controls. Participants and controls were matched on sex, age (within 5 years), education level (2 categories), stress (3 levels), smoking status and an aggregate risk score. Controlling for baseline differences through analysis of covariance, program participants had higher costs and number of visits for ambulatory care during the first year (p 0.01) and second year (p 0.05) after entry into the program. Within ambulatory care, participants used significantly more diagnostic services than controls during both years of follow-up. Participants were also more likely to use counselling and psychotherapy services in year 1 (RR 1.53, 95% CI 1.28, 1.81) and year 2 (RR 1.57, 95% CI 1.31, 1.89). There were no differences between participants and controls in visits for medical consultations and assessments, preventive services or surgical services. These results suggest that health promotion may lead to increased costs and use of ambulatory services, at least over the short-term. However, these costs may be offset over a longer follow-up period if health promotion successfully reduces the incidence of chronic illness. Since the sample population was relatively young and had positive health behaviours at baseline, compared to the general population, the results may not apply to other, less healthy populations.
Prediction of Human Phenotype Ontology terms by means of hierarchical ensemble methods
Creators: name: Notaro, Marco
name: Schubach, Max
name: Robinson, Peter N.
name: Valentini, Giorgio
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Background The prediction of human gene–abnormal phenotype associations is a fundamental step toward the discovery of novel genes associated with human disorders, especially when no genes are known to be associated with a specific disease. In this context the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) provides a standard categorization of the abnormalities associated with human diseases. While the problem of the prediction of gene–disease associations has been widely investigated, the related problem of gene–phenotypic feature (i.e., HPO term) associations has been largely overlooked, even if for most human genes no HPO term associations are known and despite the increasing application of the HPO to relevant medical problems. Moreover most of the methods proposed in literature are not able to capture the hierarchical relationships between HPO terms, thus resulting in inconsistent and relatively inaccurate predictions. Results We present two hierarchical ensemble methods that we formally prove to provide biologically consistent predictions according to the hierarchical structure of the HPO. The modular structure of the proposed methods, that consists in a “flat” learning first step and a hierarchical combination of the predictions in the second step, allows the predictions of virtually any flat learning method to be enhanced. The experimental results show that hierarchical ensemble methods are able to predict novel associations between genes and abnormal phenotypes with results that are competitive with state-of- the-art algorithms and with a significant reduction of the computational complexity. Conclusions Hierarchical ensembles are efficient computational methods that guarantee biologically meaningful predictions that obey the true path rule, and can be used as a tool to improve and make consistent the HPO terms predictions starting from virtually any flat learning method. The implementation of the proposed methods is available as an R package from the CRAN repository.
A game-based spatial navigation tool for children with visual impairment
Creators: name: Chai, Carmen Wang Er
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: A mobile serious game named Hungry Cat has been developed in this research for visually impaired children. The game prototype developed was evaluated with 30 visually impaired children from a local boarding school. Two tests, the food finding test and the wire net test were conducted to determine if playing the game will help the participants to gain spatial information through the exploration of virtual rooms. The final results show that the game is indeed able to convey spatial information to visually impaired children and help them to make spatial mental maps of the rooms.
Fuzzy FOIL: A fuzzy logic based inductive logic programming system.
Creators: name: Chen, Guiming.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1996
Subjects: subject: Artificial Intelligence.

description: In many domains, characterizations of a given attribute are imprecise, uncertain and incomplete in the available learning examples. The definitions of classes may be vague. Learning systems are frequently forced to deal with such uncertainty. Traditional learning systems are designed to work in the domains where imprecision and uncertainty in the data are absent. Those learning systems are limited because of their impossibility to cope with uncertainty--a typical feature of real-world data. In this thesis, we developed a fuzzy learning system which combines inductive learning with a fuzzy approach to solve problems arising in learning tasks in the domains affected by uncertainty and vagueness. Based on Fuzzy Logic, rather than pure First Order Logic used in FOIL, this system extends FOIL with learning fuzzy logic relation from both imprecise examples and background knowledge represented by Fuzzy Prolog. The classification into the positive and negative examples is allowed to be a degree (of positiveness or negativeness) between 0 and 1. The values of a given attribute in examples need not to be the same type. Symbolic and continuous data can exist in the same attribute, allowing for fuzzy unification (inexact matching). An inductive learning problem is formulated as to find a fuzzy logic relation with a degree of truth, in which a fuzzy gain calculation method is used to guide heuristic search. The Fuzzy FOIL's ability of learning the required fuzzy logic relations and dealing with vague data enhances FOIL's usefulness.
Real time dispatching of bus to improve transfers.
Creators: name: Li, Qing.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2001
Subjects: subject: Transportation.

description: The purpose of this research is to provide insight into the effectiveness of certain real time dispatching control actions on service reliability for transfer from a high frequency bus route to a low frequency bus route. A model of the operation of 2 connected bus routes was built based on data from real bus routes operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, and a simulation program was designed and developed. This simulation program was used to conduct experiments to compare different control actions to improve transfer effectiveness, to test the impacts of the bus threshold on passenger waiting time and to evaluate the AVL detector location. We defined an objective function---cost/benefit function, to measure the system performance of the above cases. This objective function considered 2 important factors: number of passengers relevant to transfer and waiting time relevant to control. The research and simulation experiments suggested that real time monitoring technologies can improve the transit bus transferring significantly without preplanned timed transfer. The detector location is determined by feeder line headway primarily and the connecting bus holding threshold secondarily. Without considering the hard requirements from outside system, the bus holding threshold should not be greater than the feeder line headway.
Care cascade structural intervention versus standard of care in the diagnosis and treatment of HIV in China: a cluster-randomized controlled trial protocol
Creators: name: Mao, Yurong
name: Wu, Zunyou
name: McGoogan, Jennifer M.
name: Liu, David
name: Gu, Diane
name: Erinoff, Lynda
name: Ling, Walter
name: VanVeldhuisen, Paul
name: Detels, Roger
name: Hasson, Albert L.
name: Lindblad, Robert
name: Montaner, Julio
name: Tang, Zhenzhu
name: Zhao, Yan
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2017

description: Background: The high rate of attrition along the care cascade of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) results in lost opportunities to provide timely antiretroviral therapy (ART) and to prevent unnecessarily high mortality. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a structural intervention, the one-stop (“One4All”) strategy that streamlines China’s HIV care cascade with the intent to improve testing completeness, ART initiation, viral suppression, and mortality. Method: A two-arm, cluster-randomized controlled trial was implemented in twelve county hospitals in Guangxi China to test the effectiveness of the One4All strategy (intervention arm) compared to the current standard of care (SOC; control arm). The twelve study hospitals were selected for homogeneity and allocated one-to-one to the intervention and control arms. All patients screening HIV positive in study hospitals were enrolled. Target study enrollment was 180 participants per arm, 30 participants per hospital. Basic demographic information was collected as well as HIV risk behavior and route of infection. In intervention hospitals, patients then went on to receive point-of-care CD4 testing and in-parallel viral load (VL) testing whereas patients in control hospitals progressed through the usual SOC cascade. The primary outcome measure was testing completeness within 30 days of positive initial HIV screening result. Testing completeness was defined as receipt of all tests, test results, and post-test counseling. The secondary outcome measure was ART initiation (receipt of first ART prescriptions) within 90 days of positive initial HIV screening result. Tertiary outcome measures were viral suppression (≤200 copies/mL) and all-cause mortality at 12 months. Discussion: We expect that this first-ever, cluster-randomized controlled trial of a bundle of interventions intended to streamline the HIV care cascade in China (the One4All strategy) will provide strong evidence for the benefit of accelerating diagnosis, thorough clinical assessment, and ART initiation via an optimized HIV care cascade. We furthermore anticipate that this evidence will be valuable to policymakers looking to elevate China’s overall HIV/AIDS response to meet the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets and the broader, global goal of eradication of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov # NCT02084316 . (Registered on March 7, 2014)
Trapping ultracold atoms in submicron period magnetic lattices
Creators: name: Tran, Tien Duy
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Periodic arrays of magnetic microtraps patterned on a magnetic film provide a potential complementary tool to conventional optical lattices for trapping ultracold atoms. Dr. Tran’s thesis presents the trapping of Rubidium atoms in submicron period triangular and square magnetic lattices on an atom chip. The results demonstrate an advance in using magnetic lattices to simulate novel condensed matter phenomena and also provide insight into the study of atom-surface interactions.
The role of telecommunication standards in European integration.
Creators: name: Diamente, Cristina C.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1997
Subjects: subject: History, European.

description: "The Role of Telecommunications Standards in European Integration" analyses the process of harmonisation for European telecommunications terminal equipment standards from 1958-1996. The M.A. Thesis focuses on Commission legislation dealing with telecommunications standards enacted in the Treaty of Rome up to the Maastricht Treaty with a special focus on the "New Approach to Technical Harmonisation and Standardisation". This thesis also looks at the application of the Low Voltage Directive 73/23/EEC and the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive 89/336/EEC, and shows in practice, how European integration affected the national transposition of these directives into law and moreover, how the designated standards in these directives were harmonised. The final section assesses the implementation of European harmonised standards under the low voltage directive and electromagnetic compatibility directive into Member State legislation during 1996. And finally, in order to make a contribution to European Integration studies, the role of telecommunication standards is also placed within the framework of political European Integration Theory.
Unraveling the Irregularities: Structural and Biochemical Characterization of a SAMHD1 Ortholog from Rhizophagus irregularis
Creators: name: Paddy, Isaac Alexander
Publisher: name: Brandeis University
Year: 2023
Subjects: Molecular Biochemistry

description: Human SAMHD1 (HsSAMHD1) is a metal-dependent hydrolase that plays a key role in HIV restriction, innate immunity, cancer, and the cell cycle by depleting cellular dNTP levels. Recently, SAMHD1 was proposed to be the molecule responsible for neurological complications associated with COVID-19. Despite being a sophisticated phosphohydrolase, the underlined molecular mechanisms are still not entirely understood. SAMHD1 orthologs have been recently discovered in diverse organisms such as plants and human parasites as unrecognized players in key biological processes. These orthologs have yet to be biochemically characterized and thus their specific roles remain unknown creating an unmapped protein space within the SAMHD1 superfamily. In this study we attempt to determine the molecular mechanisms of a SAMHD1 ortholog from Rhizophagus irregularis (RiSAMHD1) to i) gain insight into its role in modulating dNTP pools in cellulo, and ii) serve as a simpler functional template for understanding HsSAMHD1 regulation and activity. We show that RiSAMHD1 assembles a diiron metallocofactor and can hydrolyze all four canonical dNTPs in the presence of excess divalent transition metals. We also show that RiSAMHD1 activity is not apparently dependent on allosteric G-containing effectors. These preliminary results dissect the molecular details of RiSAMHD1 dNTP hydrolysis mechanism and show important differences from that of HsSAMHD1, which offer a first glimpse into the functional proteome of the SAMHD1-like landscape.
THERMODYNAMICS AND RECOVERY STUDIES OF CRITICAL ELEMENTS UNDER AMBIENT AND EXTREME CONDITIONS
Creators: name: Zhao, Xiaodong
Publisher: name: Washington State University
Year: 2025
Subjects: Actinides
Rare Earth Elements
Minerals
Zircon
Thermodynamics

description: This thesis delves into the thermodynamics of minerals associated with critical elements, primarily focusing on actinides and rare earth elements. Safe disposal of actinides is important to ensure public safety and advancing nuclear energy development, and ceramic waste form such as zircon (MSiO4) has been considered as a promising candidate to immobilize large actinides due to its low solubility, high compatibility, high stability, and excellent radiation resistance. Both enthalpy and entropy are important in estimating the long-term thermodynamic stability of zircon mineral and ceramics, as the temperature in deep geological site can reach to 250 C in case of granite/tuff deposits. However, discrepancies exist in the thermodynamic parameters of zircon type materials, such as coffinite (USiO4), which prevents further prediction of its stability under relevant disposal conditions. To address that, adiabatic calorimetry and density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations were used and determined the standard entropy values for coffinite (127.29 ± 1.27 J·mol-1·K-1) and stetindite (109.16 ± 1.09 J·mol-1·K-1). In addition to thermodynamic investigations, a DFT+U methodology was employed to reveal the mechanical stability and stetindite → scheelite phase transition of CeSiO4, which is a surrogate to PuSiO4. We found out that even stetindite phase is less thermodynamically stable than scheelite phase after 8.35 GPa, its transition does not occur till 12 GPa. A phonon spectra investigation by DFPT indicated the Eg1 mode is being softened with pressure and becomes imaginary after 12 GPa, which concluded that the phase transition is dynamically driven, instead of being thermodynamically driven. Besides the deep geological disposal, the interaction between rare earth elements (REE) and gibbsite was also investigated, which is an important reaction in the DOE Hanford waste tank site. Specifically, attention is given to the adsorption and doping behaviors of scandium, yttrium, and lanthanum, revealing the favorable incorporation of scandium into gibbsite through evidence of crystal lattice expansion, local octahedron perturbation, and DFT calculations on incorporation energies. Lastly, the work investigated the potential use of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) for uranium removal in nuclear wastewater treatment and environmental remediation. Through testing COF-316 and its functionalized derivatives, the study identified COF-316-AO as a good uranium removal candidate with notable selectivity and radiation resistance. All the insights from thermodynamic investigations and removal techniques could contribute to the field of nuclear waste management.
Terrorism on Trial: Exploring the ICC as a Means of Combating Terrorism
Creators: name: Miller, Jordan
Publisher: name: Brandeis University
Year: 2018
Subjects: International Criminal Court
ICC
International
Terrorism

description: This thesis seeks to determine whether and through what means the International Criminal Court could be used as a way to combat terrorism globally. Prominent geopolitical norms, namely the concept of state sovereignty, hinder the ICC in its pursuit of international justice. An analysis of the difficulties in defining terrorism reveal that the diverse interpretations of the term lead to issues at the international level, manifesting as inadequate and disjointed responses to terrorism. Due to the political nature of terrorism, establishing it as one of the crimes under the court’s jurisdiction could be harmful to the impartial nature of the court. However, a discussion of the similarities between acts of terrorism and crimes already under the jurisdiction of the court reveal the potential for terrorists to be tried for crimes against humanity and genocide. A closer look at the structure of the court highlights serious problems that decrease the effectiveness of the court and impact its ability to deliver justice in cases where terrorists might be prosecuted. An exploration of narco-terrorism in Mexico and ISIS-related activities in Bangladesh offer insights into the potential for ICC intervention. Even if the ICC could claim jurisdiction over cases of terrorism, the court and its member states must overcome serious barriers that impede its ability to become a truly effective tool in the international fight against terrorism.
Generalized Archard law of wear based on Rabinowicz criterion of wear particle formation
Creators: name: Popov, Valentin L.
Publisher: name: Technische Universität Berlin
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: 600 Technik, Technologie
subject: adhesive wear
subject: Archard
subject: Rabinowicz
subject: particle formation
subject: roughness

description: According to the Archard law of adhesive wear, the wear volume is proportional to the normal force, the sliding distance, and inversely proportional to the hardness of the softer of contact partners. This law does not contain any properties characterizing “adhesion” of materials, e.g. the work of separation, either inside of the material or at the interface. The criterion for formation of wear particles, first formulated by Rabinowicz in 1958, on the contrary, is based on the interplay of elastic energy and work of adhesion and contains as governing parameters the modulus of elasticity, hardness and the work of separation. Following recent advances in understanding and simulation of wear, we discuss the ways how both laws could be melted together to a “generalized” Archard-Rabinowicz law of wear.
High-yield (fault-directed) approach to test suite evaluation.
Creators: name: Khidhir, Khalid.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2002
Subjects: subject: Computer Science.

description: Given a test suite T designed to test a program P, there are at least three attributes of T, which can be used to assess T's effectiveness. The first attribute is its Completeness measured by Code Coverage when P is executed on all the tests in T. The second attribute is Adequacy or Fault Coverage of the test suite T, which is the ability of the test suite T to exercise P so that for every fault (according to some fault model) in P there is at least one test case in T that will detect it. The third attribute is Requirements Coverage, which checks for every requirement R whether there is at least one test case in T that will demonstrate the conformance of the program P to the function described by R. In this thesis we will evaluate the effectiveness of an industrial test suite by measuring the first attribute and estimating the second. In this case T is a Java conformance test suite, and P is a Java compiler. We show that basic coverage measurement techniques and a simple fault model can be used to obtain useful preliminary data early in the testing phase of the software development life cycle. This was the case in our case study. The technique is low-cost and allows the enhancement of conformance test suite for languages, protocols, or any standard specification.
Simulation of fracture using a mesh-dependent fracture criterion in the discrete element method
Creators: name: Dimaki, Andrey V.
name: Shilko, Evgeny V.
name: Psakhie, Sergey
name: Popov, Valentin L.
Publisher: name: Technische Universität Berlin
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: 600 Technik, Technologie
subject: fracture
subject: mesh-dependence
subject: discrete element method
subject: particle size

description: Recently, Pohrt and Popov have shown that for simulation of adhesive contacts a mesh dependent detachment criterion must be used to obtain the mesh-independent macroscopic behavior of the system. The same principle should be also applicable for the simulation of fracture processes in any method using finite discretization. In particular, in the Discrete Element Methods (DEM) the detachment criterion of particles should depend on the particle size. In the present paper, we analyze how the mesh dependent detachment criterion has to be introduced to guarantee the macroscopic invariance of mechanical behavior of a material. We find that it is possible to formulate the criterion which describes fracture both in tensile and shear experiments correctly.