cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
IMU design for high vibration environments with special consideration for vibration rectification
Creators: name: Zaiss, Curtis
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Engineering--Mechanical
subject: vibration rectification
subject: inertial
subject: IMU

description: Inertial measurement units (IMU)s have been in use for decades. When first developed the uses were usually limited to space travel and military applications. With the development of new technologies and new sensors IMUs are being used in many more applications like street mapping, airborne surveying, down-hole logging and directional drilling, unmanned vehicles, and even in smart phones. The variety of applications has lent itself to a wide variety of sensors being developed with costs ranging from a few dollars to few thousand dollars. While the development of these sensors and IMUs has led to more widespread uses and a general improvement in the performance to cost ratio, there has remained a gap in understanding of the effects of vibration on the accuracy of the system. The result of this gap is poor performance under vibration. Both the designer and user must be made aware of the vibration related errors to avoid them. This thesis explores the effects of nonlinearity, system noise, computational error, filtering, and system dynamics with the goal of providing an understanding of the errors and their interactions when subjected to vibration or high dynamics. By providing methods of analyzing and in many cases compensating for errors, it is possible to design a more robust system.
XMM-Newton observations of GX 13+1: correlation between photoionised absorption and broad line emission
Creators: name: Trigo, M. Diaz
name: Sidoli, L.
name: Boirin, L.
name: Parmar, A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We analysed data from five XMM-Newton observations of GX 13+1 to investigate the variability of the photo-ionised absorber present in this source. We fitted EPIC and RGS spectra obtained from the "least-variable" intervals with a model consisting of disc-blackbody and blackbody components together with a Gaussian emission feature at ~6.55-6.7 keV modified by absorption due to cold and photo-ionised material. We found a significant correlation between the hard, ~6-10 keV, flux, the ionisation and column density of the absorber and the equivalent width of the broad iron line. We interpret the correlation in a scenario in which a disc wind is thermally driven at large, ~10^{10} cm, radii and the broad line results from reprocessed emission in the wind and/or hot atmosphere. The breadth of the emission line is naturally explained by a combination of scattering, recombination and fluorescence processes. We attribute the variations in the absorption and emission along the orbital period to the view of different parts of the wind, possibly located at slightly different inclination angles. We constrain the inclination of GX 13+1 to be between 60 and 80 degrees from the presence of strong absorption in the line of sight, that obscures up to 80% of the total emission in one observation, and the absence of eclipses. We conclude that the presence of a disc wind and/or a hot atmosphere can explain the current observations of narrow absorption and broad iron emission features in neutron star low mass X-ray binaries as a class.
description: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics
EVENING PRIMROSE OIL: EFFECT ON LENGTH OF GESTATION AND PREGNANCY OUTCOMES IN LOW-RISK WOMEN
Creators: name: NAUSHIN FAROOQ
name: MISBAH HANIF
name: SABEEN ASLAM
name: QURRAT-UL-AIN
name: NAZIA SIRAJ
name: LAILA KHALID
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: EPO, effectiveness, outcomes, IOL, NVD, C-sections

description: Abstract
Objective: To determine effectiveness of evening primrose oil (EPO) on the duration of gestation and pregnancy outcomes in low-risk women. Material and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Federal Government Services Hospital Islamabad. Womenaged 18-40 years with singleton pregnancy, gestational age 37 to 40 weeks, low-risk pregnancies as defined by absence of significant medicalconditions (e.g., diabetes,hypertension, preeclampsia, etc.), no historyof preterm birth or other relevant complications in previous pregnancies and women who were willing to use evening primrose oil supplementation were included. Women were provided with standardized evening primrose oil supplements and instructions for proper usage and dosage were providedtill delivery. The primary outcomewas the lengthof pregnancy. All thedata was enteredand analyzed by using SPSS version 26. Results: A total of 46 pregnant women were included in the study, with an average age of 30.85+4.09 years. 63.0% of the women had a gestational age of 37 weeks, while 37.0% had a gestational age of 38 weeks at the time of EPO administration. Out of all, (41.3%) women delivered at 39 weeks, 30.4% delivered at 40 weeks, while 21.7% women gave birth at 38 weeks and only 2 participants (4.3%) gave birth at 41 weeks. IOL was required in only 21.7% of the cases. Most of the women 89.1% gave birth through normalvaginal delivery (NVD), while only five women undergoing cesarean sections. Conclusion: The use of evening primrose oil presented significant advantages across pregnancy management. Positive effects encompassed shortened gestational duration, improvedBishop Scores, increasedlikelihood of spontaneous labor, and potentialenhancements in overall pregnancy outcomes.
Detection of Antibodies Against the Open Reading Frame Three Protein of Porcine Circovirus 2 in Pigs
Creators: name: Hawkes, Aaron
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Veterinary Science
subject: Virology
subject: Biochemistry
subject: porcine circovirus
subject: recombinant expression
subject: Serology

description: The swine pathogen porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is the primary etiological agent of a syndrome that is damaging to the swine industry. The PCV2 genome contains three major open reading frames (ORFs) and ORF3 appears to play a role in PCV2-related pathology and dissemination. No data have been published confirming that PCV2ORF3 protein is expressed in PCV2-infected swine. Here it is hypothesized that αPCV2ORF3 antibodies are present in the sera of most adult swine. Swine sera were screened for αPCV2ORF3 antibodies, the presence of which would imply PCV2ORF3 expression. About 90% of the tested sera from weaned swine appear to have at least some reactivity to rPCV2ORF3, implying that PCV2ORF3 is expressed in vivo. Serum reactivity to PCV2ORF3 did not correlate with PCV2 viral load or vaccination status. These results do not indicate or rule out any particular biological role for PCV2ORF3.
An Investigation of the Role of Insulin Deficiency and Loss of PI3K-Akt Signaling Downstream Regulators GSK3β -CREB Signaling in the Pathogenesis of the Diabetic Brain
Creators: name: ALRAZI, TAZRINA
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Neuroscience
subject: Type 1 diabetes mellitus
subject: cognition
subject: brain
subject: diabetic leukoencephalopathy
subject: transgenic mice model

description: Our lab has developed a robust streptozotocin-induced murine model with changes analogous to those observed in human diabetic brain, and our lab has shown that replacement of insulin in the brain via intranasal delivery prevents diabetes mellitus (DM) mediated neurodegeneration. Insulin is speculated to act through activation of PI3K-Akt signaling. We hypothesized that the neurodegenerative changes and cognitive impairments observed in the chronic type 1 DM brain occur through impaired insulin-mediated phosphorylation of CREB/GSK3β, critical neuronal signals downstream of PI3K-Akt pathway and direct support of these proteins will prevent these neurodegenerative changes. A transgenic murine model with downregulation of CREB in the forebrain was used to complement interventions to attempt to rescue the chronic type 1 DM brain. Intranasal TDZD-8 was used to inhibit GSK3β in wild type mice. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that CREB is essential for brain insulin signaling but that GSK3β might not be directly involved in this pathway.
Fractional Dynamics of Relativistic Particle
Creators: name: Tarasov, Vasily E.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Fractional dynamics of relativistic particle is discussed. Derivatives of fractional orders with respect to proper time describe long-term memory effects that correspond to intrinsic dissipative processes. Relativistic particle subjected to a non-potential four-force is considered as a nonholonomic system. The nonholonomic constraint in four-dimensional space-time represents the relativistic invariance by the equation for four-velocity u_μ u^μ+c^2=0, where c is a speed of light in vacuum. In the general case, the fractional dynamics of relativistic particle is described as non-Hamiltonian and dissipative. Conditions for fractional relativistic particle to be a Hamiltonian system are considered.
"Comrades": History Through Layered Concepts
Creators: name: Schwesinger, Leon Kennedy
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Design and Decorative Arts
subject: Drama
subject: Scenography
subject: Fine Arts
subject: Design

description: The intention of this artist statement is to demonstrate proficiency in scenic and lighting design for the theatre. These design elements were created for a production of Beth Graham and Daniela Vlaskalic’s play Comrades, directed by Valerie Campbell and presented in the Reeve Theatre at the University of Calgary from November 26 – December 7, 2013. The following essay is an outline of my process from preliminary design concepts to the fully realized production through research and consecutive readings of the play.
I Zw 18 as morphological paradigm for rapidly assembling high-z galaxies
Creators: name: Papaderos, Polychronis
name: Ostlin, Goran
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: IZw18, ever since regarded as the prototypical blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxy, is, quite ironically, the most atypical BCD known. This is because its large exponential low-surface brightness envelope is not due to an old stellar host but entirely due to extended nebular emission (ne) (Papaderos et al. 2002; P02). We study IZw18 and IZw18C down to an unprecedently faint surface brightness level using HST ACS data. We argue that the properties of IZw18C can be consistently accounted for by propagating star formation over the past ~100 Myr, in combination with stellar diffusion and the associated radial stellar mass filtering effect (P02). As for IZw18, we find that ne extends out to ~16 stellar scale lengths and provides at least 1/3 of the total optical emission. The case of IZw18 suggests caution in studies of distant galaxies in dominant stages of their evolution, rapidly assembling their stellar mass at high specific star formation rates (SSFRs). It calls attention to the fact that ne is not necessarily cospatial with the underlying ionizing and non-ionizing stellar background, neither has to scale with its surface density. The prodigious energetic output during dominant phases of galaxy evolution may result in large exponential ne envelopes, extending much beyond the still compact stellar component, just like in IZw18. Therefore, the morphological paradigm of IZw18, while probably unique in the nearby Universe, may be ubiquitous among high-SSFR galaxies at high redshift. Using IZw18 as reference, we show that extended ne may introduce substantial observational biases and significantly affect fundamental galaxy relations. Among others, we show that the surface brightness profiles of distant morphological analogs to IZw18 may be barely distinguishable from Sersic profiles with an exponent 2
description: 22 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics
How do Most Planets Form? -- Constraints on Disk Instability from Direct Imaging
Creators: name: Janson, Markus
name: Bonavita, Mariangela
name: Klahr, Hubert
name: Lafreniere, David
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Core accretion and disk instability have traditionally been regarded as the two competing possible paths of planet formation. In recent years, evidence have accumulated in favor of core accretion as the dominant mode, at least for close-in planets. However, it might be hypothesized that a significant population of wide planets formed by disk instabilities could exist at large separations, forming an invisible majority. In previous work, we addressed this issue through a direct imaging survey of B2--A0-type stars, and concluded that <30% of such stars form and retain planets and brown dwarfs through disk instability, leaving core accretion as the likely dominant mechanism. In this paper, we extend this analysis to FGKM-type stars by applying a similar analysis to the Gemini Deep Planet Survey (GDPS) sample. The results strengthen the conclusion that substellar companions formed and retained around their parent stars by disk instabilities are rare. Specifically, we find that the frequency of such companions is <8% for FGKM-type stars under our most conservative assumptions, for an outer disk radius of 300 AU, at 99% confidence. Furthermore, we find that the frequency is always <10% at 99% confidence independently of outer disk radius, for any radius from 5 to 500 AU. We also simulate migration at a wide range of rates, and find that the conclusions hold even if the companions move substantially after formation. Hence, core accretion remains the likely dominant formation mechanism for the total planet population, for every type of star from M-type through B-type.
description: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Dirac Theory and Topological Phases of Silicon Nanotube
Creators: name: Ezawa, Motohiko
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Silicon nanotube is constructed by rolling up a silicene, i.e., a monolayer of silicon atoms forming a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. It is a semiconductor or an insulator owing to relatively large spin-orbit interactions induced by its buckled structure. The key observation is that this buckled structure allows us to control the band structure by applying electric field $E_z$. When $E_z$ is larger than a certain critical value $E_{\text{cr}}$, by analyzing the band structure and also on the basis of the effective Dirac theory, we demonstrate the emergence of four helical zero-energy modes propagating along nanotube. Accordingly, a silicon nanotube contains three regions, namely, a topological insulator, a band insulator and a metallic region separating these two types of insulators. The wave function of each zero mode is localized within the metallic region, which may be used as a quantum wire to transport spin currents in future spintronics. We present an analytic expression of the wave function for each helical zero mode. These results are applicable also to germanium nanotube.
description: 5 pages, 5 figures
Acetic acid formation by acetogens from hydrogen and CO2:dissolution of carbonates and competition by methanogens
Creators: name: Rollick, Lindsay
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Microbiology
subject: Biogeochemistry

description: Methane-producing archea (methanogens) and bacteria that produce acetic acid from H2 and CO2 (acetogens) exist in many low nutrient environments where other electron acceptors are absent. Methanogens usually outcompete acetogens because of a more powerful energy production but recent evidence suggests that acetogens may be able to compete through greater substrate diversity and energy efficiency (Lever 2012). Acetogenesis could be adapted as a biotechnology to induce carbonate dissolution in carbonate oil reservoirs. Enrichments were conducted on the subsurface production waters from a conventional oil field. Variations in medium composition were tested to promote acetogenesis over methanogenesis. High levels of acetic acid of up to 2400 μmol or 28 mM were produced and the consumed along with various levels of methane. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences show a progression from dominance of acetogenesis to methanogenesis and then a shift to a group of microbes that consume acetate to create biopolymers like polyhydroxybutyrate for storage of carbon in nutrient-limited environments. Factors that increase acetic acid production include ultra-low nutrient environments, sufficient pH buffering, not adding bicarbonate, and possibly increased surface area. Dissolution via microbial acetic acid was tested for powdered CaCO3, crushed and solid carbon rock but results are inconclusive. Acetogens can be competitive with methanogens under the lowest nutrient conditions. The excess of the H2/CO2 energy and carbon substrates used in these experiments along with differences seen in nutrient variation suggest that conditions other than substrate availability can influence this competition. Sampling loss, re-precipitation and other experimental factors make carbonate dissolution mediated by microbial acetic acid difficult to track.
title: Археологическое изучение усадьбы «Б» на Пятницком раскопе в г. Старая Русса в 2020 г. (предварительные итоги)
Creators: name: Самойлов, Кирилл
name: Торопова, Елена
name: Торопов, Сергей
name: Колосницын, Павел
name: Колосницына, Екатерина
name: Карпова, Татьяна
name: Сюборов, Валерий
name: Юсифова, Ирина
Publisher: name: Новгородский государственный университет имени Ярослава Мудрого (НовГУ)
Year: 2020

description: Рассматриваются результаты полевых исследований на Пятницком раскопе в 2020 г. В течение сезона были вскрыты напластования мощностью 0,2 м в северной и южной частях усадьбы «Б», относящиеся ко второй половине XIII в., изучены остатки шести деревянных сооружений. Особое внимание уделено результатам дендрохронологического анализа образцов 2019—2020 гг., приведшим к необходимости пересмотреть предложенное ранее разбиение построек и стратиграфических комплексов второй половины XIII — начала XIV в. на строительные яруса VI-VIII. Получена коллекция находок, насчитывающая более 880 предметов, в том числе кожаную обтяжку ножен меча, клапан сумки, декорированной тиснением, железные инструменты (долото, зубило, два пробойника), оружие (два наконечника стрел, фрагмент наконечника копья) и т. п. На усадьбе зафиксированы свидетельства занятия её обитателей солеварением, косторезным ремеслом и обработкой цветных металлов.
Stable Asynchronous Vector Soliton Generation in an All-fiber Single Cavity Laser
Creators: name: Rodriguez Cuevas, Alberto
name: Kbashi, Hani J
name: Stoliarov, Dmitrii
name: Sergeyev, Sergey
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023

description: We present a polarization-multiplexed system capable of generating two stable asynchronous vector solitons for over 125h with a phase noise of -95 dBc/Hz at
an offset frequency of 100Hz and a frequency drift of less than 0.00056 Hz/s. This system will be employed in polarimetric LIDAR applications, representing
an enhancement of our previous work [1].
Connected Vehicle Extension and Integration of Traffic and Discrete Event Simulation Systems -- Applied to Evaluations Based on Dedicated Short Range Communication for Safety and Mobility Indices
Creators: name: Paikari, Elahe
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Engineering--Electronics and Electrical
subject: Connected Vehicle
subject: Vehicle to Vehicle communication
subject: Vehicle to Infrastructure communication
subject: Dedicated Short Range Communication
subject: Application Programming Interface
subject: Multi-Agent System
subject: PARAMICS traffic microsimulator
subject: OPNET wireless communication simulator
subject: MaSE methodology
subject: Safety benefit
subject: Mobility benefit
subject: Intelligent Transportation System
subject: Deerfoot trail
subject: Calgary

description: This study is aimed at developing and modeling a specific extension of Connected Vehicles (CV) system and its applications in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) through the designated traffic and wireless simulation networks. A typical traffic micro-simulator and a discrete event simulator individually lack the ability of fully capturing the behavior of the CV system. In this research I investigate modeling the CV system, for Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications based on Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) by enabling the two simulators communicate sequentially. PARAMICS is selected as the traffic micro-simulator. OPNET is used as the discrete event simulator. The contributions are: (1) designing the CV system as a Multiagent System (MAS) using MaSE methodology and implementing its outcomes as extensions for the PARAMICS using two distinctive APIs (Application Programming Interface); and (2) developing the integration of PARAMICS and OPNET for implementation and evaluation of DSRC-based vehicular communication protocols and their utilizations in the context of ITS. The results are verified through experiments that demonstrate the overall effectiveness of the CV. Three case studies are presented: impacts of CV on improving (1) traffic safety and (2) mobility on a section of Deerfoot trail, Calgary, Alberta; (3) the optimum selection of DSRC communication range of Road Side Units (RSUs) and a definitive percentage of CVs in the network to have the least data loss and delay in V2V and V2I data transmission for weekdays’ traffic counts.
A Conversation with Eugenio Regazzini
Creators: name: Lijoi, Antonio
name: Prünster, Igor
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Other Statistics (stat.OT)
subject: Methodology (stat.ME)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Eugenio Regazzini was born on August 12, 1946 in Cremona (Italy), and took his degree in 1969 at the University "L. Bocconi" of Milano. He has held positions at the universities of Torino, Bologna and Milano, and at the University "L. Bocconi" as assistant professor and lecturer from 1974 to 1980, and then professor since 1980. He is currently professor in probability and mathematical statistics at the University of Pavia. In the periods 1989-2001 and 2006-2009 he was head of the Institute for Applications of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Italian National Research Council (C.N.R.) in Milano and head of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Pavia, respectively. For twelve years between 1989 and 2006, he served as a member of the Scientific Board of the Italian Mathematical Union (U.M.I.). In 2007, he was elected Fellow of the IMS and, in 2001, Fellow of the "Istituto Lombardo---Accademia di Scienze e Lettere." His research activity in probability and statistics has covered a wide spectrum of topics, including finitely additive probabilities, foundations of the Bayesian paradigm, exchangeability and partial exchangeability, distribution of functionals of random probability measures, stochastic integration, history of probability and statistics. Overall, he has been one of the most authoritative developers of de Finetti's legacy. In the last five years, he has extended his scientific interests to probabilistic methods in mathematical physics; in particular, he has studied the asymptotic behavior of the solutions of equations, which are of interest for the kinetic theory of gases. The present interview was taken in occasion of his 65th birthday.
description: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-STS362 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)
Virtual Potato Crop Modeling: A Comparison Of Genetic Coefficients Of The Dssat-Substor Potato Model With Breeding Goals For Developing Countries
Creators: name: Raymundo, Rubí
name: Kleinwechter, Ulrich
name: Asseng, Senthold
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: DSSAT-SUBSTOR
potatoes
virtual crop modeling
crop improvement
breeding
impact assessment

description: Virtual crop modeling is the representation of future genetic improvements from plant breeding in crop growth simulation models through changes in genetic coefficients or other crop model parameters with the objective of analyzing ex-ante the impacts of improved traits on crop yields and assisting breeders in their breeding efforts.

As a first step towards virtual crop modeling for the potato crop, the present report provides a comparison of priority breeding targets for developing country regions with genetic coefficients and other parameters of the SUBSTOR-potato model, thereby showing the potential uses of the model for that purpose.

It is shown that SUBSTOR provides scope for virtual crop modeling. Out of nine priority target traits, five can currently be dealt with in model. Adaptation to long day conditions and heat tolerance can directly be represented by adjusting the genetic coefficients of the model. High yields and drought tolerance would require changes in parameters that are currently included in the model code. Earliness would require the implementation of a new parameter in the code. Additional traits related to crop quality and resistance to biotic stress factors will require more profound changes in either the model structure or the coupling of the crop growth model with disease models.
NLRP3 in Renal Injury and Inflammation
Creators: name: Vilaysane, Akosua
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: NLRP3
subject: Inflammasome
subject: kidney

description: Renal cell injury, death and inflammation are hallmarks of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Unresolved inflammation can chronically damage renal tissue resulting in fibrosis and kidney failure. The Nlrp3 inflammasome has been implicated in the innate immune response to cellular injury and represents a potentially important pathway in the pathogenesis of CKD. The central hypothesis of this thesis is that NLRP3 plays a significant role in renal inflammation and chronic renal injury. In a mouse model of progressive renal injury and fibrosis (unilateral ureteral obstruction, UUO), Nlrp3 expression and inflammasome activation were increased in injured kidneys. Compared to wild-type counterparts, Nlrp3-/-mice undergoing UUO displayed reduced renal injury, fibrosis and inflammatory cytokine levels confirming an important role for Nlrp3 in experimental kidney disease. Bone marrow chimeras in the UUO model indicated that in addition to its inflammasome-forming capabilities in leukocytes, Nlrp3 may play a novel role in the renal epithelial compartment. Indeed, Nlrp3 expression was found in both human and mouse primary tubular epithelial cells. Unlike the inflammasome-forming capability of Nlrp3 in macrophages, renal tubular epithelial cells lacked the components of the inflammasome including caspase-1 and its substrate IL-1β. Rather, Nlrp3 primarily regulated caspase-8 activation and apoptosis in these cells. Experiments to elucidate the mechanism of Nlrp3- regulated caspase-8 activation and apoptosis suggested the involvement of Asc, but not inflammatory cytokines, caspase-1 or caspase-11. Furthermore, Nlrp3-/- tubular epithelial cells were found to have impaired mitochondrial ROS production that was linked to decreased caspase-8 activation during apoptosis. Taken together, results from this thesis identify a significant and multidimensional role for Nlrp3 in the pathogenesis of kidney disease. First, Nlrp3 inflammasome activation in macrophages releases cytokines such as IL-1β and IL-18 that cause renal inflammation, fibrosis and tubular epithelial cell apoptosis. Second, Nlrp3 expressed in tubular epithelial cells displays an intrinsic inflammasome-independent function to regulate caspase-8, mitochondrial ROS and apoptosis. These data identify Nlrp3 as an important player in renal injury and potential therapeutic target for CKD.
Size Effect of Diagonal Random Matrices
Creators: name: Abul-Magd, A. A.
name: Abul-Magd, A. Y.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Exactly Solvable and Integrable Systems (nlin.SI)
subject: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The statistical distribution of levels of an integrable system is claimed to be a Poisson distribution. In this paper, we numerically generate an ensemble of N dimensional random diagonal matrices as a model for regular systems. We evaluate the corresponding nearest-neighbor spacing (NNS) distribution, which characterizes the short range correlation between levels. To characterize the long term correlations, we evaluate the level number variance. We show that, by increasing the size of matrices, the level spacing distribution evolves from the Gaussian shape that characterizes ensembles of 2\times2 matrices tending to the Poissonian as N \rightarrow \infty. The transition occurs at N \approx 20. The number variance also shows a gradual transition towards the straight line behavior predicted by the Poisson statistics.
description: 10 pages, 5 figures
The Influence of Epistemic Communities on International Political Negotiations about the Space Debris Problem
Creators: name: Machon, Miloslav
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Since the 1970's the debate about the rising importance of transnational relations has existed in international relations. Apart from states, related research also focuses on other actors, including epistemic communities. The article uses the concept of epistemic communities and finds whether the activity of epistemic communities determines the process of the international management of outer space in the case of the political negotiations relating to space debris in UNCOPUOS and UNOOSA. The activity of epistemic communities exists in the political negotiations relating to space debris in UNCOPUOS and UNOOSA, but it has not been reflected in the related scholarly literature. Epistemic communities from the non-governmental organizations IAF, COSPAR and IISL contributed to setting the space debris problem on the agenda of UNCOPUOS. Also, under the influence of epistemic communities from the governmental organization IADC, UNCOPUOS adopted guidelines preventing the creation of further amounts of space debris.
description: It is the unofficial English version of the paper that was originally published in Czech languge
1/f noise of Josephson-junction-embedded microwave resonators at single photon energies and millikelvin temperatures
Creators: name: Murch, K. W.
name: Weber, S. J.
name: Levenson-Falk, E. M.
name: Vijay, R.
name: Siddiqi, I.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present measurements of 1/f frequency noise in both linear and Josephson-junction-embedded superconducting aluminum resonators in the low power, low temperature regime - typical operating conditions for superconducting qubits. The addition of the Josephson junction does not result in additional frequency noise, thereby placing an upper limit for fractional critical current fluctuations of $10^{-8}$ (Hz$^{-1/2}$) at 1 Hz for sub-micron, shadow evaporated junctions. These values imply a minimum dephasing time for a superconducting qubit due to critical current noise of 40 -- 1400 $μ$s depending on qubit architecture. Occasionally, at temperatures above 50 mK, we observe the activation of individual fluctuators which increase the level of noise significantly and exhibit Lorentzian spectra.
Novel Insights Into The Mechanisms Of Post-Infectious Irritable Bowel Syndrome Using Experimental Giardiasis
Creators: name: Halliez, Marie
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Parasitology
subject: Giardia
subject: post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome
subject: hypersensitivity
subject: bacterial translocation
subject: c-Fos
subject: permeability
subject: Tight junctions

description: Irritable Bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most frequent functional gastrointestinal disorder in humans characterized by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits. The major pathophysiological features of IBS include: visceral hypersensitivity, intestinal barrier dysfunction, low grade inflammation appear following acute gastroenteritis despite the clearance of the inciting pathogen. This post-infectious (PI)-IBS may occur in patients following infection with bacteria such as C. jejuni, E. coli, Salmonella spp. Recent studies have implicated protozoan parasites such as Giardia duodenalis in the appearance of PI-IBS. G. duodenalis, the most common enteropathogen worldwide, is responsible for giardiasis, a disease causing intestinal malabsorption and diarrhea in a wide variety of species including humans. Using in vivo and in vitro models, the present study, established a proof-of-concept between Giardia-infection and the development of PI-IBS. This study also characterized one of the contributing mechanisms leading to post-giardiasis IBS. In a new neonatal immunocompetent rat model, the human assemblages of Giardia duodenalis caused a significant visceral hypersensitivity 50 days post-infection in two parts of the gastrointestinal tract. Visceral hypersensitivity was associated with mucosal structure modifications: villus atrophy and crypt hyperplasia after clearance of the pathogen. It was also associated with activation of the mucosal immune system as shown by an increase in intraepithelial lymphocytes and mast cell counts during the post-infectious stage. And with activation of the nociceptive signaling pathway by induction of c-fos expression starting at day 7 post-infection and continuing until the post-infectious stage. This study showed a dysfunction of the intestinal barrier, in vivo and in vitro, characterized by the translocation of commensal bacteria. Giardia-induced bacterial translocation, further characterized in vitro, was shown to occur via the paracellular route in conjunction with the degradation of the tight junctional proteins occludin and claudin-4. In conclusion, this study presented a new animal model of giardiasis eliciting PI-IBS symptoms. This study also showed that Giardia was able to induce the translocation of commensal bacteria through the epithelial monolayer via the paracellular route by degrading tight junctional proteins. This model suggest that the host immune system reactivity toward its own microbiota due to impaired intestinal barrier function seems to be one of the mechanisms contributing to post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome following acute giardiasis.
Observation of Fermi-energy dependent unitary impurity resonances in a strong topological insulator Bi2Se3 with scanning tunneling spectroscopy
Creators: name: Teague, M. L.
name: Chu, H.
name: Xiu, F. -X.
name: He, L.
name: Wang, K. -L.
name: Yeh, N. -C.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Scanning tunneling spectroscopic studies of Bi2Se3 epitaxial films on Si (111) substrates reveal highly localized unitary impurity resonances associated with non-magnetic quantum impurities. The strength of the resonances depends on the energy difference between the Fermi level ({E_F}) and the Dirac point ({E_D}) and diverges as {E_F} approaches {E_D}. The Dirac-cone surface state of the host recovers within ~ 2Å spatial distance from impurities, suggesting robust topological protection of the surface state of topological insulators against high-density impurities that preserve time reversal symmetry.
description: 6 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for fast-track publication in Solid State Communications (2012)
Slow cortical potential measures of amplification
Creators: name: Marynewich, Susan Lindsay
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: With the advent of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening programs, it has become increasingly common for infants to be fit with hearing aids by six months of age. Due to the inability of infants to actively participate in the hearing aid fitting, there is a need for a reliable and objective measure of hearing aid validation in this population. Slow cortical potentials (SCP) are currently being marketed for the purpose of validating infant hearing aid fittings; however, there is a lack of evidence to support use of SCPs for this purpose. In the current thesis, two studies were carried out: Study A investigated N1-P2 amplitudes and N1 latencies in response to a 60-ms duration tonal stimulus (1000 Hz) presented at three intensities (30, 50 and 70 dB SPL) in aided and unaided conditions using three hearing aids (Analog, DigitalA, DigitalB) with two gain settings (20- and 40-dB). Study B investigated the effects of hearing aid processing on acoustic measures of the stimuli, under the same conditions as Study A, with an additional 757-ms tonal stimulus (1000 Hz). Overall, it was predicted that N1-P2 amplitudes would be larger and N1 latencies shorter in the aided compared with unaided conditions; however, the results showed response amplitudes were smaller for the digital hearing aids compared with the analog hearing aid and none of the hearing aids resulted in a reliable increase in response amplitude relative to unaided across conditions. Additionally, N1 response latencies in analog conditions were not significantly different from unaided N1 latencies; however, both digital hearing aids resulted in significantly delayed N1 peaks. Acoustic recording results obtained in Study B indicate that gain achieved by the hearing aids for both the short and long SCP stimuli was less than real-ear insertion gain measured with standard hearing aid test signals. The effect was more pronounced for the short stimulus. These results suggest that the typical stimuli used for SCP testing may be too brief for the processing time of hearing aids, especially those with digital processing.
People, Place, and Spirit: Pursuing the Sacred in the Design of Built Environments
Creators: name: Birch, Robert Andrew
Publisher: name: Environmental Design
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Architecture
subject: FOS: Civil engineering
subject: Design and Decorative Arts
subject: Architecture
subject: Design
subject: Spirituality
subject: Sacred
subject: Japan
subject: phenomenology
subject: Place-Making

description: Architecture, public space and the built environment are born from our desire to make places for ourselves. Places that allow us to”dwell poetically” in the world (Heidegger 1971). There are spaces that do this well . They possess qualities which imbue a sense of belonging, they hold a rich atmosphere, and we intuitively understand them. They facilitate a connection to our inner spirit. In contemporary society, however, more often than not we encounter places that do not address our need for connection, and lack attention to a deeper level of thinking and feeling. Instead they are precipitated on the institutional, monetary, and utilitarian values which are all too common in our North American context. The result: we are surrounded by places that are superficial, are excessive, are spectacles, and our encounters with the beautiful, the poetic, and with places of delight become rarer and rarer. There is a need for meaning, connection, and interpretable design. There is a need for places which offer us an understanding of our world and allow us to connect in meaningful ways to our surroundings and ourselves. This project argues for the introduction of moments that are impactful, unexpected, and uplifting in the sea of the everyday; moments that provide escape from the banal. Through design of the built environment we are given opportunity to provide ourselves with spaces that facilitate such encounters and create places that encourage contemplation and reflection, places that offer us a chance to connect with ourselves and our landscape, and places that speak poetically to our soul. My objective is to explore the intersection of spirituality and space using two primary research strategies: a theoretical analysis of current thinking on spirituality and space, and a case study evaluation of existing spiritually charged places. The exploration is framed by approaching the topic through a lens that combines nature, myth and sense. This tactic opens the door for an exploratory approach and allows for the intermixing of personal reflection with more open-minded observation. In seeking a precedent for spirituality and space I desired a culture rooted in wisdom traditions, and one where spirituality was deeply embedded in everyday life. Through critical reflection, photography, sketching, evaluation, and analysis this project seeks out aspects of Japanese architecture and design that consider and make room for the spiritual. These learnings are used to put forth considerations that designers, architects, and planners may return to as they seek to imbue their work with moments of beauty, and create spaces that allow for reflection, contemplation and mediation of the commonplace and the poetic.
Linear bands, zero-momentum Weyl semimetal, and topological transition in skutterudite-structure pnictides
Creators: name: Pardo, V.
name: Smith, J. C.
name: Pickett, W. E.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: It was reported earlier [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 056401 (2011)] that the skutterudite structure compound CoSb$_3$ displays a unique band structure with a topological transition versus a symmetry-preserving sublattice (Sb) displacement very near the structural ground state. The transition is through a massless Dirac-Weyl semimetal, point Fermi surface phase which is unique in that (1) it appears in a three dimensional crystal, (2) the band critical point occurs at $k$=0, and (3) linear bands are degenerate with conventional (massive) bands at the critical point (before inclusion of spin-orbit coupling). Further interest arises because the critical point separates a conventional (trivial) phase from a topological phase. In the native cubic structure this is a zero-gap topological semimetal; we show how spin-orbit coupling and uniaxial strain converts the system to a topological insulator (TI). We also analyze the origin of the linear band in this class of materials, which is the characteristic that makes them potentially useful in thermoelectric applications or possibly as transparent conductors. We characterize the formal charge as Co$^{+}$ $d^8$, consistent with the gap, with its $\bar{3}$ site symmetry, and with its lack of moment. The Sb states are characterized as $p_x$ (separately, $p_y$) $σ$-bonded $Sb_4$ ring states occupied and the corresponding antibonding states empty. The remaining (locally) $p_z$ orbitals form molecular orbitals with definite parity centered on the empty $2a$ site in the skutterudite structure. Eight such orbitals must be occupied; the one giving the linear band is an odd orbital singlet $A_{2u}$ at the zone center. We observe that the provocative linearity of the band within the gap is a consequence of the aforementioned near-degeneracy, which is also responsible for the small band gap.
description: 10 pages, 7 figures
The rigid analytic period mapping, Lubin-Tate space, and stable homotopy theory
Creators: name: Hopkins, Michael J.
name: Gross, Benedict H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 1994
Subjects: subject: Algebraic Topology (math.AT)
subject: Algebraic Geometry (math.AG)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: The geometry of the Lubin-Tate space of deformations of a formal group is studied via an étale, rigid analytic map from the deformation space to projective space. This leads to a simple description of the equivariant canonical bundle of the deformation space which, in turn, yields a formula for the dualizing complex in stable homotopy theory.
description: 11 pages
Integrating Data Mining Techniques and Social Networking into Effective Recommendation Framework for Improved Shopping Experience
Creators: name: Jarada, Tamer Nsr
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Computer Science
subject: Data Mining
subject: Social Network Analysis
subject: Recommendation System
subject: Shopping Experience

description: The application of data mining in the shopping domain has received a considerable attention for its key role in improving the marketing quality in the last two decades. The main data mining technique that can be used is association rules mining (ARM) though other techniques like clustering and classification are useful but they are beyond the scope of the work described in this thesis. Market basket analysis (MBA) is the most famous example as an application for ARM. MBA’s applications have designed from retail stores’ perspective to gain the benefit. In our thesis, we have designed and implemented a framework that considers the shopping process from consumers’ perspective to turn it into an interactive process, speed it up, save money, and keep the environment clean. Our proposed solution, backed by experimental results, discovers the frequent items that are usually purchased by the consumer; this helps us to introduce them as recommended items. Also, it helps in finding the nearest stores and introduces a navigational map to be used inside the store. Moreover, our proposed solution has been integrated with the social network analysis concept to improve the shopping process quality.
Binaries Among Debris Disk Stars
Creators: name: Rodriguez, David R.
name: Zuckerman, B.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We have gathered a sample of 112 main-sequence stars with known debris disks. We collected published information and performed adaptive optics observations at Lick Observatory to determine if these debris disks are associated with binary or multiple stars. We discovered a previously unknown M-star companion to HD 1051 at a projected separation of 628 AU. We found that 25+/-4% of our debris disk systems are binary or triple star systems, substantially less than the expected ~50%. The period distribution for these suggests a relative lack of systems with 1-100 AU separations. Only a few systems have blackbody disk radii comparable to the binary/triple separation. Together, these two characteristics suggest that binaries with intermediate separations of 1-100 AU readily clear out their disks. We find that the fractional disk luminosity, as a proxy for disk mass, is generally lower for multiple systems than for single stars at any given age. Hence, for a binary to possess a disk (or form planets) it must either be a very widely separated binary with disk particles orbiting a single star or it must be a small separation binary with a circumbinary disk.
description: 37 pages, 9 figures; ApJ, in press