cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Administration of the Ca2+-Activated K+ Channel Activator SKA-31 Improves Endothelial Function in Atherosclerosis-Prone Mice
Creators: name: Vera, Oscar Daniel
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Endothelium
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Atherosclerosis
subject: Apoe-/- mice
subject: KCa channel
subject: SKA-31
subject: Physiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine

description: Atherosclerosis is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is induced by hyperlipidemia and endothelial dysfunction, leading to fatty plaque formation and impaired vascular function. Recent studies have reported that pharmacological activation of endothelial Ca2+-activated K+ channels (KCa2.3 and KCa3.1) can oppose endothelial dysfunction by enhancing endothelium-dependent vasodilation in animal models of aging and type 2 diabetes. In my project, I hypothesized that improving endothelial function via pharmacological enhancement of endothelial KCa2.3 and KCa3.1 channels with SKA-31 would mitigate the development and/or severity of atherosclerosis. Experimentally, I utilized apoliproprotein E knockout (Apoe-/-) mice subjected to a high fat diet (HFD) as a model of human aortic atherosclerosis. Male Apoe-/- mice were administered one of three daily oral treatments for 12 weeks: the KCa channel activator SKA-31 (10 mg/kg), the KCa3.1 channel blocker senicapoc (40 mg/kg), or drug vehicle alone. Cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography, atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta were visualized by Oil Red O (ORO) staining and immunohistochemistry, abdominal aortic contractility and relaxation were measured by wire myography, and select tissues were evaluated by histology. At ~20 weeks of age, left ventricular ejection fraction and fractional shortening were not different in Apoe-/- mice following treatment with either SKA-31 or senicapoc vs. vehicle. ORO staining of the thoracic aorta and aortic arch revealed that neither SKA-31 nor senicapoc treatments decreased plaque formation vs. vehicle. Aortae from sex/age matched wild-type (WT) mice showed no visible plaque formation. Phenylephrine (PE)-evoked contraction of abdominal aortic rings was similar in WT and vehicle/drug treated Apoe-/- mice. Conversely, endothelium-dependent, acetylcholine-induced maximal relaxation was significantly enhanced in PE-constricted aortic rings from SKA-31-treated mice (~81%) vs. vehicle (~53%, P<0.0001), whereas senicapoc administration had no beneficial effect. Maximal relaxation induced by the endothelium-independent vasodilator sodium nitroprusside was similar in WT and vehicle/drug treated Apoe-/- mice. Finally, neither SKA-31 nor senicapoc treatments produced adverse effects on histological features of the brain, liver, and kidneys from Apoe-/- mice. In summary, my results indicate that enhancement of KCa channel activity in vivo via SKA-31 administration improved aortic endothelial function without decreasing plaque formation.
Dynamical approach to complex regional economic growth based on Keynesian model for China
Creators: name: Yanchuk, Serhiy
name: Kristensen, Gustav
name: Sushko, Irina
Publisher: name: Weierstrass Institute
Year: 2003
Subjects: subject: regional economic growth
subject: China
subject: synchronization
subject: Keynesian model
subject: 91B62
subject: 91B28

description: The paper addresses the problem of complex regional economic growth by using nonlinear Keynesian model with focusing on direct foreign investments effects. We investigate the dynamics of the model for the broad range of parameters which, in particular, contains the parameter values obtained recently by econometric analysis of the data for economic growth in China. For the single-region model we give conditions for which the dynamics of the model will be chaotic or regular. The parameters which prevent the economic stagnation are indicated. Further, we consider the model for two regions with a common trade as a coupling factor. The conditions are given for the two trading systems to exhibit chaotic synchronization, in-phase and out-of-phase behavior.
Financial Reporting Neutrality, Corporate Tax Planning, and the Role of Corporate Transparency
Creators: name: Jafri, Syed Rahat Ali
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Education--Business

description: This Ph.D. thesis investigates the complex interplay between accounting neutrality, corporate governance, corporate tax planning, and corporate transparency. The thesis is composed of three empirical studies that examine various aspects of this relationship. In the first study, I propose an empirical measure of neutrality and examine a long-term trend in corporate reporting neutrality around the FASB's emphasis on neutrality in 2010. The results demonstrate a significant increase in neutrality and a decrease in biases after 2010, indicating the effectiveness of regulatory efforts to promote accounting neutrality. In the second study, I examine the relationship between tax aggressiveness and corporate transparency, using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) avoidance. Furthermore, I explore the underlying managerial incentives for tax planning and corporate transparency decisions by examining moderating effects of governance quality on this relationship. I find that tax-aggressive companies avoid XBRL to mitigate the risk of detection by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Moreover, shareholders’ value creation, not managerial diversion, is the primary managerial incentive behind tax aggressiveness. In the third study, I investigate the impact of XBRL-induced information transparency on accounting conservatism and tax avoidance. I find that XBRL monitoring reduces the demand for conservatism, leading to lower levels of conditional conservatism in post-XBRL adoption periods for XBRL-adopting firms. Furthermore, XBRL reduces corporate tax avoidance through three channels: a decline in conditional conservatism leading to increased tax payments, non-IRS monitoring, and IRS monitoring. Conclusively, my thesis significantly contributes to the existing body of literature on corporate transparency, financial reporting, and corporate tax planning. My findings demonstrate that regulatory initiatives to mitigate financial reporting biases can influence achieving neutral financial reporting. Additionally, I find that corporate managers employ strategies to minimize taxes to enhance shareholder value. Consequently, they maintain transparency with shareholders while restricting information flow between their companies and the IRS. Finally, the XBRL mandate plays a crucial role in reducing information processing costs, thereby resulting in decreased corporate tax avoidance and enhanced corporate transparency.
Bianchi Attractors: A Classification of Extremal Black Brane Geometries
Creators: name: Iizuka, Norihiro
name: Kachru, Shamit
name: Kundu, Nilay
name: Narayan, Prithvi
name: Sircar, Nilanjan
name: Trivedi, Sandip P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Extremal black branes are of interest because they correspond to the ground states of field theories at finite charge density in gauge/gravity duality. The geometry of such a brane need not be translationally invariant in the spatial directions along which it extends. A less restrictive requirement is that of homogeneity, which still allows points along the spatial directions to be related to each other by symmetries. In this paper, we find large new classes of homogeneous but anisotropic extremal black brane horizons, which could naturally arise in gauge/gravity dual pairs. In 4+1 dimensional spacetime, we show that such homogeneous black brane solutions are classified by the Bianchi classification, which is well known in the study of cosmology, and fall into nine classes. In a system of Einstein gravity with negative cosmological term coupled to one or two massive Abelian gauge fields, we find solutions with an additional scaling symmetry, which could correspond to the near-horizon geometries of such extremal black branes. These solutions realize many of the Bianchi classes. In one case, we construct the complete extremal solution which asymptotes to AdS space.
description: Minor changes and a reference added. 43 Pages, 6 Figures
Additional file 5 of Predictive power of extubation failure diagnosed by cough strength: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Creators: name: Duan, Jun
name: Zhang, Xiaofang
name: Song, Jianping
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Mathematical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: Computational Biology

description: Additional file 5: Figure 5. Sensitivity analysis of the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) among studies that assessed the semiquantitative cough strength score when one study arm was omitted.
Optimizing fairness tradeoffs in machine learning with multiobjective meta-models
Creators: name: La Cava, William G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Neural and Evolutionary Computing (cs.NE)
subject: Computers and Society (cs.CY)
subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Improving the fairness of machine learning models is a nuanced task that requires decision makers to reason about multiple, conflicting criteria. The majority of fair machine learning methods transform the error-fairness trade-off into a single objective problem with a parameter controlling the relative importance of error versus fairness. We propose instead to directly optimize the error-fairness tradeoff by using multi-objective optimization. We present a flexible framework for defining the fair machine learning task as a weighted classification problem with multiple cost functions. This framework is agnostic to the underlying prediction model as well as the metrics. We use multiobjective optimization to define the sample weights used in model training for a given machine learner, and adapt the weights to optimize multiple metrics of fairness and accuracy across a set of tasks. To reduce the number of optimized parameters, and to constrain their complexity with respect to population subgroups, we propose a novel meta-model approach that learns to map protected attributes to sample weights, rather than optimizing those weights directly. On a set of real-world problems, this approach outperforms current state-of-the-art methods by finding solution sets with preferable error/fairness trade-offs.
description: Appearing in the Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) '23
Mollinedia glabra Perkins
Creators: name: Maia, Valéria Cid
name: Mascarenhas, Bernardo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Laurales
Monimiaceae
Mollinedia
Mollinedia glabra

description: Mollinedia glabra (Spreng.) Perkins (n = 2)
 Gall: on bud, fusiform to globoid, woody, brown, glabrous, one-chambered (Fig. 16D). Gall-inducer: not determined. Trails: Guapimirim: Circular (26.IV.2022), Museu Von Martius (27.IV.2022).
 Gall: on stem, fusiform, woody, brown, glabrous, one-chambered (Fig. 16E). Gall-inducer: Cecidomyiidae.
 Cecidophagous: Lepidoptera. Trails: Guapimirim: Circular (26.IV.2022), Museu Von Martius (27.IV.2022).
First records of gall on this plant species.
description: Published as part of Maia, Valéria Cid & Mascarenhas, Bernardo, 2023, Insect galls of Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos (Rio de Janeiro State, Southeastern Brazil), pp. 1-56 in Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 63 on page 31, DOI: 10.11606/1807-0205/2023.63.040, http://zenodo.org/record/10270483
Die Werke Richard Wagners am Rostocker Volkstheater 1947-1989
Creators: name: Feuchte, Victor Seraphin
Publisher: name: Universität Rostock
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: 943 General history of Europe Central Europe Germany

description: Die Rostocker Wagner-Tradition reicht weit in das 19. Jahrhundert zurück. Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts galt das Stadttheater sogar weithin als "Bayreuth des Nordens". Doch wie ist es zu erklären, dass es dem Volkstheater nach 1945 nicht mehr gelungen ist, an alte Wagner-Erfolge anzuknüpfen? Die Arbeit schließt mit differenzierter Beantwortung dieser Frage nicht nur eine Forschungslücke, sondern arbeitet anhand umfassender Anhänge auch die Geschichte des Rostocker Musiktheaters nach 1945 erstmals wissenschaftlich auf.
Can gamification help in software testing education? Findings from an empirical study
Creators: name: Blanco, Raquel
name: Trinidad, Manuel
name: Suarez-Cabal, Maria Jose
name: Calderon, Alejandro
name: Ruiz, Mercedes
name: Tuya, Javier
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Software Engineering (cs.SE)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Software testing is an essential knowledge area required by industry for software engineers. However, software engineering students often consider testing less appealing than designing or coding. Consequently, it is difficult to engage students to create effective tests. To encourage students, we explored the use of gamification and investigated whether this technique can help to improve the engagement and performance of software testing students. We conducted a controlled experiment to compare the engagement and performance of two groups of students that took an undergraduate software testing course in different academic years. The experimental group is formed by 135 students from the gamified course whereas the control group is formed by 100 students from the non-gamified course. The data collected were statistically analyzed to answer the research questions of this study. The results show that the students that participated in the gamification experience were more engaged and achieved a better performance. As an additional finding, the analysis of the results reveals that a key aspect to succeed is the gamification experience design. It is important to distribute the motivating stimulus provided by the gamification throughout the whole experience to engage students until the end. Given these results, we plan to readjust the gamification experience design to increase student engagement in the last stage of the experience, as well as to conduct a longitudinal study to evaluate the effects of gamification.
Stochastic Optimal Control Problems in LOB for Various Stochastic Models
Creators: name: Roldan Contreras, Ana Karen
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Hawkes processes
subject: general compound Hawkes processes
subject: limit order books
subject: optimal acquisition
subject: optimal liquidation
subject: market making optimization
subject: high frequency trading
subject: algorithmic trading
subject: diffusion approximation
subject: LOBster data
subject: Semi-Markov process
subject: Mathematics
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Economics--Finance
subject: Statistics

description: The present thesis successfully solved three innovative optimal control problems in a high-frequency trading market environment: liquidation, acquisition, and market-making. We optimized and produced general solutions applicable to any stochastic differential equation representing a price with drift and diffusion parameters. Our cases of study for price processes were the Markov Process (MP), the Semi-Markov Process (SMP) and General Compound Hawkes Process (GCHP). For these three optimized models, the Agent maximizes their utility or value function by solving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation and designing a strategy for asset trading. The results showed to be sensitive to the parameters of the diffusion process driving the prices, inheriting essential price characteristics to be reflected in the trading strategy. The optimal solutions were expressed based on the parameters to model the market, the stock and the Agent. We visualized and analyzed the LOBSTER data to facilitate a better understanding of the models, where we calibrated the parameters for the three optimal control problems by doing an extensive numerical exercise and comparing the solutions among the cases MP, SMP and GCHP. The implementation and comparison of the optimized Liquidation, Acquisition and Market-Making models showed the potential to optimize the Agent’s wealth and how each model can have better outcomes with different price models, according to the managed stock. In conclusion, the regular operation of the solutions for the optimal Liquidation, Acquisition and Market-Making with a proper price SDE model gives the Agent a complete trading strategy to participate promptly and wisely in a High-Frequency Trading market. The application of the solutions to these optimal control problems would make a difference in the expected income of the Agent in the short and long run.
Mollinedia schottiana Perkins
Creators: name: Maia, Valéria Cid
name: Mascarenhas, Bernardo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Laurales
Monimiaceae
Mollinedia
Mollinedia schottiana

description: Mollinedia schottiana (Spreng.) Perkins (n = 1)
 Gall: on leaf,marginal roll,green,glabrous(Fig.16F). Gall-inducer: not determined. Trail: Teresópolis: Suspensa (26.XI.2021).
 Goetz et al. (2018) reported a bud gall on this plant and MendonÇa-Jr. et al. (2014) three different stem galls, all in RS. Other congeneric species host galls in PE (Santos et al., 2011), Parque Nacional do Itatiaia (Maia & Mascarenhas, 2017), PR (Santos & Ribeiro, 2015), and RS (Goetz et al., 2018).
description: Published as part of Maia, Valéria Cid & Mascarenhas, Bernardo, 2023, Insect galls of Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos (Rio de Janeiro State, Southeastern Brazil), pp. 1-56 in Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 63 on page 31, DOI: 10.11606/1807-0205/2023.63.040, http://zenodo.org/record/10270483
Energy Control and Storage to Promote High PV Penetration in Weak Distribution Networks
Creators: name: Rashid, Muhammad Ishaq
Publisher: name: Schulich School of Engineering
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Battery energy storage systems
subject: Distributed energy generation
subject: PV Optimized power injection control
subject: Engineering--Electronics and Electrical

description: The integration of Photovoltaic Distributed Energy Resources (PVDER) and central energy storage in low voltage distribution networks has been rapidly increasing in popularity within the last decade. Such integration can offer many benefits but may also harm the grid if not managed properly. This research focuses on the technical challenges in weak distribution networks arising from high PVDER penetration. The work concentrates on the issues of feeder voltage regulation, network power factor, generation fair access of participation, system losses and battery energy storage performance in cold weather. The deployment of central battery storage can increase the PV hosting capacity of network. However, battery performance evaluation in Canadian climate is very limited. Practical cycle testing of a vanadium redox flow battery and Li-Ion battery are performed during the winter season in Alberta, Canada. The common methods of Volt/VAr and Volt/Watt used for PVDER local power injection control focus on voltage regulation. However, the side effects impacting the network power factor and generation fair equity are not widely investigated in the literature. This research evaluates the performance of those techniques under real life load demand and PV generation data from a rural distribution network in Alberta, Canada. It becomes evident that under high PV generation scenarios the techniques are inadequate in maintaining an acceptable voltage profiles and severely impact the network power factor and fair generation access. New local control algorithms are developed to mitigate the aforementioned issues. Local PVDER power injection control can be limited in achieving the desired operational outcome. Nonetheless, its use is sometimes the only viable alternative due to the lack or unreliability of communication capability in the distribution network. For when such capability exists, a coordinated algorithm with optimized fair access to generation is developed and evaluated under the same real life demand and PV generation data. The optimized fair access control is able to mitigate the voltage regulation and power factor issues while achieving a high degree of fair generation equity and low system losses.
Sustainability Challenges in an International Context: Case studies & Possible Solutions
Creators: name: Seidenbusch, Erika
name: Soekardjo Hintz, Kendisha
name: Nguyen, Minh Thuy
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: sustainability
circular economy
water footprint
ecological footprint

description: Presented at ConSus (Connecting Sciece-Society Collaborations for Sustainability Innovations) Training Program

2nd Training at University of Graz, Austria: "Integrative development processes for sustainable and regional development"

https://consus-tempus.com/index.php/en/activities/86-work-package-4-consus-training-program
Motivations for use, user experience, and quality of menstrual cycle tracking mobile applications: A scoping review protocol
Creators: name: Kazakoff, Alissa
name: Doroshuk, Marissa L.
name: Ganshorn, Heather
name: Doyle-Baker, Patricia K.
Publisher: name: Arts
Year: 2023
Subjects: mobile health applications
mhealth
menstruation
menstrual tracking

description: Objective: This scoping review aims to comprehensively assess and describe the existing peerreviewed literature on motivations for use, user experience, and menstrual cycle app quality. Introduction: The global mHealth market is growing at an unprecedented rate and is expected to reach an estimated value of $18.7 billion by 2030 (Prophecy Market Insights, 2021). Tracking health and menstrual cycle metrics can empower individuals by increasing awareness and understanding of their menstrual cycle, being prepared for different cycle phases, contraception and fertility, improving health-related behaviours, and informing conversations with healthcare providers (Epstein et al., 2017; Levy & Romo-Avilés 2019; Karasneh et al., 2020; Adnan et al., 2021; Gonçalves et al., 2021). Recent studies have identified several different factors that render users more likely for continued app use. These include perceived personal and health benefits, app accuracy, usability, and user-friendly design (Karasneh et al, 2020; Schantz et al., 2021). Inclusion criteria: This scoping review will investigate the existing literature on menstrual cycle tracking app use and factors contributing to user retention, such as motivations for the use of the app, user experience, and app quality. All studies published in English after 2010 will be included related to investigating apps that serve a pre-menopausal menstrual cycle app user base, given that relevant data may be included even in studies where the scoping review research question is not the focus. Methods: The search strategy will aim to locate peer-reviewed studies. An initial limited search of MEDLINE was undertaken to identify articles on the topic. Studies published in English will be included. Studies published since 2010 will be included as that timeline is most appropriate for the introduction of smartphones and smartphone apps on the market. The databases to be searched include MEDLINE (Ovid platform), Embase (Ovid platform), Scopus (Elsevier), ACM Digital Library, and IEEE Xplore.
Fiber-Cavity-Based Optomechanical Device
Creators: name: Flowers-Jacobs, N. E.
name: Hoch, S. W.
name: Sankey, J. C.
name: Kashkanova, A.
name: Jayich, A. M.
name: Deutsch, C.
name: Reichel, J.
name: Harris, J. G. E.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We describe an optomechanical device consisting of a fiber-based optical cavity containing a silicon nitiride membrane. In comparison with typical free-space cavities, the fiber-cavity's small mode size (10 μm waist, 80 μm length) allows the use of smaller, lighter membranes and increases the cavity-membrane linear coupling to 3 GHz/nm and quadratic coupling to 20 GHz/nm^2. This device is also intrinsically fiber-coupled and uses glass ferrules for passive alignment. These improvements will greatly simplify the use of optomechanical systems, particularly in cryogenic settings. At room temperature, we expect these devices to be able to detect the shot noise of radiation pressure.
description: 4 pages, 3 figures; the following article has been submitted to Applied Physics Letters
Advanced methods for controlling dual modulation display systems
Creators: name: Atkins, Robin
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2012

description: This thesis presents a novel method for controlling a dual-modulation display, also commonly known as a local dimming display. Dual modulation is a technology that improves the contrast and power efficiency of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) by dimming the backlight in image regions that need less light. This is an important improvement as although LCD technology accounts for nearly 90% of today’s displays, it has relatively poor performance in contrast and efficiency. A critical component of a dual modulation display is the control algorithm. Present control algorithms cause an image artifact termed LCD clipping that affects the high spatial frequencies and is highly objectionable to many viewers. In this thesis we introduce an image metric designed to measure this artifact, as we found that existing metrics were not sufficient. The main contribution of the thesis is a new control algorithm for dual-modulation displays that eliminates the LCD clipping artifact, with minimal other tradeoffs in image quality and power efficiency. The new control algorithm requires less computational resources than previous algorithms and no change to display hardware, making it a relatively straightforward upgrade for today’s dual modulation displays.
A comparison of prediction equations for the estimation of glomerular filtration rate in transgender individuals
Creators: name: Turino Miranda, Keila
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: transgender
subject: nephrology
subject: glomerular filtration rate
subject: validation
subject: gender affirming hormone therapy
subject: exogenous hormones
subject: Medicine and Surgery

description: The transgender population (gender identity differs from sex assigned at birth) is estimated to be comprised of 25 million people worldwide. An accurate assessment of kidney function in this population is imperative to ensure appropriate and timely health care delivery to meet the needs of this growing yet medically underserved population. However, whether the variable “sex assigned at birth” or a binary “gender identity” is most appropriate to use in calculation of kidney function with currently used glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimation equations is unknown, with important implications for care of the transgender, gender-diverse, and non-binary individuals. Furthermore, the use of gender-affirming hormone therapy for the acquisition of secondary sex characteristics to align these individuals with their affirmed gender is increasingly common with associated changes in serum creatinine, a biomarker commonly used to estimate kidney function. The paucity of current literature evaluating chronic kidney disease (CKD) prevalence and outcomes in transgender, gender-diverse and non-binary individuals on gender-affirming hormone therapy makes it difficult to accurately assess the effects of gender-affirming hormone therapy on kidney function. Creatinine increases with the use of gender-affirming testosterone in transmasculine individuals and decreases in association with use of gender-affirming estrogen therapy in transfeminine individuals. Whether these alternations in serum creatinine reflect changes in kidney function or simply changes in muscle mass is unknown. Therefore, the work described in this thesis aims to compare existing GFR prediction equations with the gold standard, directly measured GFR, in transgender, gender-diverse, and non-binary individuals on a stable regimen of gender-affirming hormone therapy. This project addresses methods for optimal estimation of kidney function in the transgender, gender-diverse, and non-binary population on gender-affirming hormone therapy, which may guide clinical decision-making including nephrology consultation, medication dosing, risk of acute kidney injury with diagnostic imaging with intravenous contrast, referral for kidney transplantation, and timing of dialysis initiation.
Limitations of the stochastic quasi-steady-state approximation in open biochemical reaction networks
Creators: name: Thomas, Philipp
name: Straube, Arthur V.
name: Grima, Ramon
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph)
subject: Molecular Networks (q-bio.MN)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: The application of the quasi-steady-state approximation to the Michaelis-Menten reaction embedded in large open chemical reaction networks is a popular model reduction technique in deterministic and stochastic simulations of biochemical reactions inside cells. It is frequently assumed that the predictions of the reduced master equations obtained using the stochastic quasi-steady-state approach are in very good agreement with the predictions of the full master equations, provided the conditions for the validity of the deterministic quasi-steady-state approximation are fulfilled. We here use the linear-noise approximation to show that this assumption is not generally justified for the Michaelis-Menten reaction with substrate input, the simplest example of an open embedded enzyme reaction. The reduced master equation approach is found to considerably overestimate the size of intrinsic noise at low copy numbers of molecules. A simple formula is obtained for the relative error between the predictions of the reduced and full master equations for the variance of the substrate concentration fluctuations. The maximum error is reached when modeling moderately or highly efficient enzymes, in which case the error is approximately 30%. The theoretical predictions are validated by stochastic simulations using experimental parameter values for enzymes involved in proteolysis, gluconeogenesis and fermentation.
description: Main text (5 pages, 1 figure) and Supplementary information (2 pages), accepted by J. Chem. Phys. (Communication)
Additional file 5 of Regulatory T lymphocytes/Th17 lymphocytes imbalance in autism spectrum disorders: evidence from a meta-analysis
Creators: name: Ellul, Pierre
name: Rosenzwajg, Michelle
name: Peyre, Hugo
name: Fourcade, Gwladys
name: Mariotti-Ferrandiz, Encarnita
name: Trebossen, Vincent
name: Klatzmann, David
name: Delorme, Richard
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Molecular Biology
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Science Policy
subject: Mental Health
subject: Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences

description: Additional file 5. Characteristics of natural killers studies.
Examining the Rate of Recovery Across Movement Parameters Post-Stroke
Creators: name: Cowan-Nelson, Emilee
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Stroke
subject: Subacute
subject: Motor recovery
subject: Spatial parameters
subject: Temporal parameters
subject: Education--Health
subject: Education--Sciences
subject: Neuroscience
subject: Robotics

description: Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Following a stroke, many individuals suffer from upper limb motor impairment which can hinder their ability to complete daily tasks. It has been suggested that recovery of the upper limb is greatest within the first three months post-stroke, as measured by clinical scores, after which recovery reaches a plateau. Kinematic measures of motor recovery however suggest that recovery is not only greatest within the first six weeks post-stroke, but continues well beyond the suggested three month plateau. Further, data from our lab suggests that certain spatial and temporal movement parameters may show different patterns of recovery. The purpose of this thesis was to examine patterns of spatial and temporal motor recovery in subacute stroke survivors using a Kinarm robotic exoskeleton. Chapter Two of this thesis is comprised of a manuscript which details this project. Our results suggest that the greatest recovery in spatial and temporal parameters of movement occurs within 1- to 6-weeks post-stroke. Additionally, spatial and temporal movement parameters appear to follow similar patterns of motor recovery overall. With a better understanding of motor recovery post-stroke, therapists can tailor rehabilitation practices to ensure movement parameters are targeted at the appropriate time, allowing patients to achieve better recovery outcomes.
The Illumination of Symmetric Spiky Balls and Cap Bodies; and a note on the Vertex Classification of Planar C-polygons
Creators: name: Strachan, Cameron
Publisher: name: Science
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Euclidean Geometry
subject: Illumination
subject: Cap Body
subject: Spiky Ball
subject: Convex Geometry
subject: C-polygons
subject: Mathematics
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: This thesis handles two problems in the field of convex geometry. The first, is the problem of illuminating the boundary of Euclidean shapes known as spiky balls and cap bodies in various dimensions. Specifically we consider illuminating the cases where a spiky ball is 2-illuminable, and the cases where a cap body is symmetric, either centrally or unconditionally. The second problem we investigate is how complex the boundary structure of a C-polygon can be, which is a finite intersection of homothets of a particular convex domain C; and how this boundary structure depends on C.
Higher Derivative Gravity from the Universal Renormalization Group Machine
Creators: name: Saueressig, F.
name: Groh, K.
name: Rechenberger, S.
name: Zanusso, O.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the renormalization group flow of higher derivative gravity, utilizing the functional renormalization group equation for the average action. Employing a recently proposed algorithm, termed the universal renormalization group machine, for solving the flow equation, all the universal features of the one-loop beta-functions are recovered. While the universal part of the beta-functions admits two fixed points, we explicitly show that the existence of one of them depends on the choice of regularization scheme, indicating that it is most probably unphysical.
description: 7 pages, published version
Entanglement in stationary nonequilibrium states at high energies
Creators: name: Znidaric, Marko
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In recent years it has been found that quantum systems can posses entanglement in equilibrium thermal states provided temperature is low enough. In the present work we explore a possibility of having entanglement in nonequilibrium stationary states. We show analytically that, in a simple one-dimensional spin chain, there is entanglement even at highest attainable energies; that is, starting from an equilibrium state at infinite temperature, a sufficiently strong driving can induce entanglement, even in the thermodynamic limit. We also show that dissipative dephasing, on the other hand, destroys entanglement.
description: 7 pages, 11 figures; v2: minor typos corrected
Teaching Mental Health in the Classroom: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of a Mental Health Literacy Program in Elementary Schools
Creators: name: Sadler, Daniel
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: mental health
subject: literacy
subject: program evaluation
subject: implementation
subject: Mental Health

description: Background: Mental illnesses are the largest disease burden for adolescents, affecting 20% of youth in Canada. As mental health needs arise earlier and with greater prevalence it is essential to work upstream and prepare youth before psychological distress emerges. When implemented in the classroom as part of the educational curriculum, Mental Health Literacy (MHL) fulfills these goals as a universal response to the myriad of societal and development stressors experienced by youth. Aim: The overall aim of this program evaluation was to investigate the experience of educators in delivering the Elementary Mental Health Literacy Resources (EMHLR) program during a 4-month trial. The specific objectives were to identify the individual (educator) and organizational (district) level barriers and facilitators to delivery of the EMHLR to improve future implementation of the program. Design and Setting: An explanatory sequential design collected educator experience through a feedback survey which informed group interviews. Participants were elementary school educators primarily from the provinces of British Columbia and New Brunswick. Methods: The feedback survey collected demographics and feedback on each module taught using five-point Likert scales. The feedback survey also included multiple solicitations for qualitative feedback. Group interviews were held to further explore survey responses. Findings were integrated using the RE-AIM framework to identify barriers and facilitators and develop considerations for implementation. Results: System level barriers included preexisting stigma around mental health, competing priorities for classroom time and access, and cultivating buy-in from educational leadership. Individual level barriers included the time required to teach the EMHLR curriculum and to develop the skills and knowledge to teach MHL. The flexible design of the EMHLR curriculum alongside key implementation strategies of advocacy, practice champions, and professional development were seen as facilitators. Conclusion: Adolescents are ready to engage in their mental health. Mental Health Literacy offers the language to communicate about their experience clearly and accurately. The EMHLR curriculum offers an evidence-based and adaptable means to build the MHL of youth across Canada. This could result in significant improvements in adolescent mental health but requires intentional implementation strategies to be successful.
Fuchsia regia Munz.
Creators: name: Maia, Valéria Cid
name: Mascarenhas, Bernardo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Myrtales
Onagraceae
Fuchsia
Fuchsia regia

description: Fuchsia regia (Vell.) Munz. (n = 1)
 Gall: on stem, fusiform, brown, glabrous (Fig. 20E). Gall-inducer: not determined. Trail: Teresópolis: Barragem to Cachoeira de Papel entrance (14.IX.2021).
First record of gall on this plant genus.
description: Published as part of Maia, Valéria Cid & Mascarenhas, Bernardo, 2023, Insect galls of Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos (Rio de Janeiro State, Southeastern Brazil), pp. 1-56 in Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 63 on page 39, DOI: 10.11606/1807-0205/2023.63.040, http://zenodo.org/record/10270483
Singular Behavior of Anderson Localized Wavefunctions for a Two-Site Model
Creators: name: Johri, S.
name: Bhatt, R. N.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We show analytically that the apparent non-analyticity discovered recently in the inverse participation ratio (IPR) of the eigenstates in Anderson's model of localization is also present in a simple two-site model, along with a concurrent non-analyticity in the density of states (DOS) at the same energy. We demonstrate its evolution from two sites to the thermodynamic limit by numerical methods. For the two site model, non-analyticity in higher derivatives of the DOS and IPR is also proven to exist for all bounded distributions of disorder.
Parametrized black holes: Scattering investigation
Creators: name: Magalhães, Renan B.
name: Leite, Luiz C. S.
name: Crispino, Luís C. B.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the scattering of light-like geodesics and massless scalar waves by a static Konoplya-Zhidenko black hole, considering the case that the parametrized black hole solution contains a single deformation parameter. By performing a geodesic analysis, we compute the classical differential scattering cross section and probe the influence of the deformation parameter on null trajectories. Moreover, we investigate the propagation of a massless scalar field in the vicinity of the static Konoplya-Zhidenko black hole and use the plane waves formalism to compute the differential scattering cross section. We confront our numerical results in the backward direction with the glory approximation, finding excellent agreement. We compare the results for the deformed black hole with the Schwarzschild case, finding that the additional parameter has an important role in the behavior of the scattering process for moderate-to-high scattering angles.
description: 6 pages, 7 figures
Serological Responses and Breakthrough Infection Frequencies after SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Creators: name: Sharifi, Nastaran
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: SARS-CoV-2 vaccination
subject: IBD
subject: Serology
subject: Gastrointestinal
subject: Inflammatory Bowel Disease
subject: Medicine
subject: Epidemiology

description: This study evaluates serological responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Serological responses to two, three, and four doses of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine were assessed. We also aimed to determine the frequency of COVID-19 breakthrough infections (BTIs) in individuals with IBD during the Omicron wave and assess the association between antibodies and time to BTIs post-3rd dose vaccination. Five hundred fifty-nine adults with IBD who received at least one dose of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine were enrolled. Serological responses were evaluated using the Abbott IgG II Quant assay and geometric mean titers (GMT) were calculated for each vaccine dose and serology time point. BTIs were assessed for nine months (Dec 1, 2021, to Sep 1, 2022) during the Omicron wave and confirmed through PCR, self-reported rapid antigen test, and/or positive nucleocapsid antibody levels. Cox proportional hazard models were evaluated to determine the effect of antibody concentration on the time from the 3rd dose vaccination to BTI after adjusting for demographic-, vaccine-, and treatment-related factors. In our cohort (n=559), 17.2 % were above 65 years of age, 53.1% were female, and 71.6% had Crohn’s diseaseSerological responses showed an increase in GMTs 1¬–8 weeks after each consecutive vaccine dose, wth the highest GMTs observed 1–8 weeks after the 2nd (4053 AU/mL), 3rd (12116 AU/mL), and 4th (14337 AU/mL) doses. GMTs decreased in the 8–16-week period after each dose, but levels remained stable beyond 16 weeks. Despite stability in antibody levels overtime, the cumulative incidence of Omicron-era BTI was 26.6% (95% CI: 22.4, 30.9%). Antibody concentration (anti-S) and neutralizing antibodies (NT50) were not associated with time from 3rd dose to breakthrough infection after adjusting for clinically relevant covariates (HR=0.70; 95% CI: 0.39, 1.24; p=0.22) and (HR=0.99; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.00; p=0.20). Overall, serological responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination increased after consecutive doses in those with IBD but decreased 8–16 weeks following each dose with titers stabilizing beyond 16 weeks. Cumulative incidence of BTI during the Omicron-era was high, and serum IgG and neutralizing antibodies were not predictive of BTI following 3rd dose vaccination.
Cellulose Nanocrystal-Reinforced Nanocomposite Hydrogel Electrolyte for Supercapacitor
Creators: name: Chen, Ningxin
Publisher: name: Schulich School of Engineering
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Hydrogel Electrolytes
subject: Nanocomposites
subject: Cellulose Nanocrystal
subject: Hydrophobic Interaction
subject: Repairability
subject: Engineering
subject: Engineering--Chemical

description: The development of hydrogel electrolytes for electronic devices has garnered significant attention due to their remarkable flexibility, operation safety, and electrochemical stability, making them a highly competitive material for wearable and flexible electronic devices, such as flexible supercapacitors. However, hydrogel electrolytes also have certain drawbacks that limit their utility in flexible supercapacitors. Specifically, hydrogel electrolytes face two primary challenges: 1) insufficient cross-linking leading to unfavourable mechanical properties, and 2) delamination between electrode and electrolyte under deformation due to weak adhesion at the interface. Consequently, it is crucial to develop mechanically robust hydrogel electrolytes with promising adhesion to the electrodes for their widespread application in future flexible electronic devices. This thesis provides a design and synthesis of a self-repairable, adhesive, strong, and stretchable hydrogel electrolyte for supercapacitors. A highly stretchable and tough hydrogel was firstly synthesized by incorporating green nanomaterial, cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) as nano-reinforcement, and physical (hydrophobic, electrostatic, and hydrogen bonding) interactions to reinforce the hydrogel matrix. The synthesized hydrogel demonstrated outstanding mechanical performance with the best tensile stress of 1085 ± 14 kPa and elongation of 4106 ± 311%. Then the prepared hydrogels were loaded with 1 M KOH by soaking to make hydrogel electrolytes. The results of this work demonstrate that CNC-incorporated hydrogel electrolytes are promising and competitive materials for flexible supercapacitors. The best capacitance was obtained as 67.31 F/g at 0.05 A/g by using the hydrophobized CNC hydrogel with 6-hr soak-loading of KOH. And almost 100% capacitance retention was obtained at 0.1A/g after 2200 cycles. This thesis also provides a fundamental understanding of how the CNC and different interactions will affect the mechanical and electrochemical performances of the hydrogel as a supercapacitor with thoughtful evaluations in various aspects.
The Barth quintic surface has Picard number 41
Creators: name: Rams, Slawomir
name: Schuett, Matthias
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Algebraic Geometry (math.AG)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 14J29, 11G25, 11G35, 14J27, 14J28

description: This paper investigates a specific smooth quintic surface suggested by Barth for it contains the current record of 75 lines over the complex numbers. Our main incentive is to prove that the complex quintic has Picard number 41, and to compute the Neron-Severi group up to a 2-power index. We also compute Picard numbers for reductions to positive characteristic and verify the Tate conjecture.
description: 16 pages; v2: revised and expanded, specifically added Section 5 to compute NS up to index 16