cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Epidemiological Assessment of Bipolar Disorder in Canada
Creators: name: McDonald, Keltie
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Epidemiology
subject: Mental Health
subject: bipolar disorder
subject: Epidemiology
subject: psychiatric illness
subject: cross-sectional studies
subject: Mental Health

description: Objective: The original aim of this thesis was to estimate the prevalence of bipolar disorder (BD) including bipolar I (BDI) and bipolar II (BDII) disorder subtypes, in Canada in 2012 and to characterize persons with BD in terms of demographic features, health status, and mental health service utilization. During the course of this thesis, a third objective emerged which was to examine some indicators of validity of the World Mental Health version of the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI) classifications of BD. Methods: Data were from the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health (CCHS-MH; n=25,113) Interviews were based on the WMH-CIDI. The WMH-CIDI uses algorithms to determine the presence or absence of BD. Alternative classification methods were also considered. Using proportions and generalized linear modeling, I estimated prevalence of BD, examined agreement among different methods for classifying BD and described the epidemiology of BD according to the different classifications in terms of demographic features, health status and impact, and mental health service utilization. Results: According the WMH-CIDI algorithm, the prevalence of BDI and BDII in Canada in 2012 was 0.87% (95% CI 0.67% to 1.07%) and 0.57% (95% CI 0.44% to 0.71%), respectively. I observed a lack of congruence between WMH-CIDI defined and self-reported BD, and few people taking lithium were positive for BD on the WMH-CIDI, which raises concern about the validity of the WMH-CIDI’s assessment of BD. Conclusion: Prevalence estimates using the WMH-CIDI align with those reported in prior literature. However, existing algorithms used to diagnose BD in the WMH-CIDI appear to result in a large proportion of misclassification. Fully structured interviews may be inaccurate for assessing BD. Future research should aim to develop and evaluate new methods of identifying BD in the general population.
Neutrino masses and mixing: a flavour symmetry roadmap
Creators: name: Morisi, S.
name: Valle, J. W. F.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Over the last ten years tri-bimaximal mixing has played an important role in modeling the flavour problem. We give a short review of the status of flavour symmetry models of neutrino mixing. We concentrate on non-Abelian discrete symmetries, which provide a simple way to account for the TBM pattern. We discuss phenomenological implications such as neutrinoless double beta decay, lepton flavour violation as well as theoretical aspects such as the possibility to explain quarks and leptons within a common framework, such as grand unified models.
description: 26 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables. Review written for the special issue on 'Flavor Symmetries', edited by S.Morisi, H.P.Nilles, & J.W.F.Valle, to appear in Fortschritte der Physik - Progress of Physics
Leveraging elastic instabilities for amplified performance: Spine-inspired high-speed and high-force soft robots
Creators: name: (:Unkn) Unknown
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2020

description: Copyright © 2020 The Authors, Soft machines typically exhibit slow locomotion speed and low manipulation strength because of intrinsic limitations of soft materials. Here, we present a generic design principle that harnesses mechanical instability for a variety of spine-inspired fast and strong soft machines. Unlike most current soft robots that are designed as inherently and unimodally stable, our design leverages tunable snap-through bistability to fully explore the ability of soft robots to rapidly store and release energy within tens of milliseconds. We demonstrate this generic design principle with three high-performance soft machines: High-speed cheetah-like galloping crawlers with locomotion speeds of 2.68 body length/s, high-speed underwater swimmers (0.78 body length/s), and tunable low-to-high-force soft grippers with over 1 to 103 stiffness modulation (maximum load capacity is 11.4 kg). Our study establishes a new generic design paradigm of next-generation high-performance soft robots that are applicable for multifunctionality, different actuation methods, and materials at multiscales.
Historia de la paz: orígenes, teoría y acción contemporánea
Creators: name: López-Martínez, Mario
Publisher: name: Revista d'Humanitats
Year: 2023

description: La historia de la paz es el estudio de las ideas, de los individuos, las organizaciones sociales y las campañas relacionadas con la promoción de la paz, la prevención de la guerra y de los conflictos internacionales. Todo ello implica el conocimiento de escuelas y corrientes de pensamiento científicas, así como una amplia comprensión de tradiciones filosóficas, morales, religiosas, culturales y estéticas que se orientan hacia la paz. La historia de la paz nació, oficialmente, en 1913 y ha seguido creciendo en las universidades, gracias a los esfuerzos de muchos activistas, académicos e intelectuales. La historia de la paz tiene, en un inmediato futuro, retos para seguir difundiendo un mensaje de esperanza, realismo y compromiso por los valores de la paz.
description: Revista d'Humanitats, Núm. 6 (2022)
The Mechanism of Modification and Properties of Polymer Modified Asphalts
Creators: name: Jasso, Martin
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Chemistry--Polymer
subject: Engineering--Civil
subject: asphalt
subject: polyphosphoric acid
subject: polymer modified asphalt
subject: Rheology
subject: internal structure

description: In this thesis, several technologies of asphalt modification with polymers and/or PPA were investigated. The impact of modifying materials on the rheological properties of conventional asphalt was studied in both linear (dynamic mechanical analysis, multiple stress creep and recovery, steady shear viscosity) and non-linear viscoelastic region (start-up and interrupted start-up of steady shear experiments). The morphology of brittle fracture of different modified systems was investigated by cryo-SEM. The studied technologies and modifiers in this thesis were: modification of asphalt with thermoplastic elastomer SBS Kraton D1101 with and without use of sulfur as a crosslinking agent, modification of asphalt with reactive elastomeric terpolymer Elvaloy 4170 and modification of asphalt by PPA. The last mentioned modification was also used in combination with Kraton D1101 and Elvaloy 4170 technologies – addition of PPA creating ternary or quaternary modified systems. From the establish patterns of creation of chemical and physicochemical systems in binary, ternary and quaternary asphalt blends it was suggested that the addition of PPA appears to create new asphaltenes and also probably impacts the existing asphaltenes through their dispersion. Further addition of PPA leads to gel-type systems and deterioration of the material. In asphalt blends modified by SBS Kraton D1101, the limiting amount appears to be 3 wt.%. Above this concentration the SBS is sufficiently distributed throughout the blend and passing its elastic properties to whole asphalt blend through the creation of weak polymer network. The properties of these blends significantly improved with addition of sulfur, optimal range was found to be 0.12 – 0.16 wt.%. The quaternary sulfur vulcanized SBS asphalt blends modified by PPA showed that the contribution of PPA is via creating a parallel modified system of asphaltenes rather than by acting jointly with the network of vulcanized SBS. In the last modification, the effect of Elvaloy 4170 with and without use of PPA was studied. The presence of chemical reaction between Elvaloy and asphaltenes was observed, leading to creation of Elvaloy-asphaltene complex. The introduction of PPA in Elvaloy modified asphalt blends showed two independent networks which are acting in synergy.
Infusion of plasma from exercised mice ameliorates cognitive dysfunction by increasing hippocampal neuroplasticity and mitochondrial functions in 3xtg-ad mice
Creators: name: (:Unkn) Unknown
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2020
Subjects: Alzheimer’s disease
cognitive function
exercise
hippocampus
mitochondria
neuroplasticity
young plasma

description: © 2020, MDPI AG. All rights reserved. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative brain disease causing dementia. It is characterized by slow onset and gradual worsening of memory and other cognitive functions. Recently, parabiosis and infusion of plasma from young mice have been proposed to have positive effects in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, this study examined whether infusion of plasma from exercised mice improved cognitive functions related to the hippocampus in a 3xTg-Alzheimer’s disease (AD) model. We collected plasma from young mice that had exercised for 3 months and injected 100 µL of plasma into the tail vein of 12-month-old 3xTg-AD mice 10 times at 3-day intervals. We then analyzed spatial learning and memory, long-term memory, hippocampal GSK3β/tau proteins, synaptic proteins, mitochondrial function, apoptosis, and neurogenesis. In the hippocampus of 3xTg-AD mice, infusion of plasma from exercised mice improved neuroplasticity and mitochondrial function and suppressed apoptosis, ultimately improving cognitive function. However, there was no improvement in tau hyperphosphorylation. This study showed that plasma from exercised mice could have a protective effect on cognitive dysfunction and neural circuits associated with AD via a tau-independent mechanism involving elevated brain-derived neurotrophic factor due to exercise.
Elevated Hair Mercury Levels Are Associated With Neurodevelopmental Deficits in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Peru
Creators: name: (:Unkn) Unknown
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2020
Subjects: artisanal and small‐scale gold mining
child development
environmental pollution
mercury
neurocognitive assessment

description: © 2020. The Authors. Children living near artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) are at risk of exposure to mercury, a neurotoxicant. It is not certain whether such exposures are harming development, as they occur in underresourced contexts entwined with other stressors, such as malnutrition and enteric infection. This study sought to investigate the association between hair-mercury levels and visual-motor, cognitive, and physical development among children living near ASGM in the Peruvian Amazon. Total hair-mercury levels were measured in 164 children ages 5–12 living in Madre de Dios, Peru. Primary outcomes included Visual-Motor Integration assessed via the Beery-VMI Developmental Test, General Cognitive Ability assessed via the Batería-III Woodcock-Munoz (Spanish-language Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities), and Physical Health assessed via anthropometry/hemoglobin counts. Mean (SD) hair-mercury level was 2.06 (2.43) μg/g. Fifty-four children (32.9%) had hair-mercury levels above the World Health Organization reference level of 2.0 μg/g. After controlling for sex, child age, maternal education, and family socioeconomic status, each one unit increase in log hair-mercury level was associated with a 1.01 unit decrease in Visual-Motor Integration (95%CI: −2.06, 0.05, p = 0.061), a 2.59 unit decrease in General Cognitive Ability (95%CI: −4.52, −0.66, p = 0.012), and a 2.43 unit decrease in Physical Health (95%CI: −5.34, 0.49, p = 0.096). After adjustment for covariates, children with hair-mercury levels exceeding the World Health Organization reference level scored 4.68 IQ points lower in Cognitive Ability than their peers. Mercury exposures related to ASGM may be harming child development in the Peruvian Amazon. Children in this region may benefit from intervention to reach their full developmental potential.
Failure to progress or physiological plateaus? A constructivist grounded theory explaining midwives’ views of healthy pauses during childbirth (Conference Presentation)
Creators: name: Weckend, Marina
name: Davison, Clare
name: McCullough, Kylie
name: Duffield, Christine
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2023
Subjects: Clinical midwifery
Models of care and place of birth

description: ABSTRACT
 Background: During childbirth, one of the most common diagnoses of pathology is ‘failure to progress,’ frequently resulting in labour augmentation and intervention cascades. However, failure to progress is poorly defined, and there is evidence to suggest that slowing, stalling and pausing labour patterns can represent a physiological mechanism of self-regulation of the mother-baby-dyad.
 Objectives: We propose a novel theory about the significance of physiological plateaus (slowing, stalling and pausing) during labour, thereby seeking to renegotiate what can be considered healthy and normal during childbirth.
 Methods: We conducted a constructivist grounded theory study, interviewing 20 midwives across Australia who practice/d in a variety of birth settings and models of care. Data was analysed inductively, using constant comparative methods, and resulted in a descriptive and explanatory grounded theory.
 Results: Findings of this study demonstrate that midwives’ holistic philosophical approach to childbirth creates a unique environment where plateaus are recognised as a healthy and normal element of labour. This interpretation of plateaus differs markedly from the dominant medicalised view of failure to progress, and is achieved by a different approach to how labour and progress are assessed, and how slowing, stalling and pausing labour patterns are interpreted and responded to.
 Conclusions: From a holistic midwifery perspective, plateaus during labour form a healthy and normal element of childbirth. This interpretation challenges the medical dominant view of frequent failure to progress.
 Key message: This study provides evidence that midwives’ unique and holistic philosophy has a direct positive impact on maternity care, as it challenges narrow definitions of ‘normality’ and adapts flexibly to women’s individual labour patterns, including those with physiological plateaus.
 Ethics and conflicts of interest: This research has been funded through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship as part of MW’s PhD program. Ethical approval was obtained from Edith Cowan University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number 2020-01406-WECKEND). All authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Action, Knowledge Norms, and Moral Reasons
Creators: name: Delamont, Audrey
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Education--Philosophy of
subject: Epistemology
subject: knowledge
subject: action
subject: reason

description: What is the relationship between knowledge and action? Many philosophers in recent years have proposed a very intimate connection between these two concepts. John Hawthorne and Jason Stanley­—among others—have proposed that knowledge is both a necessary and sufficient condition for rational deliberate action, citing only that an agent must use reasons that are both known and relevant in their decision making. They also argue that an agent is blameworthy and deserving of criticism for failing to adhere to this knowledge norm of action. This thesis examines Hawthorne and Stanley’s norm, pulling apart concepts such as ‘relevance’ and ‘reasons’ to try and better understand what this knowledge norm of action entails. Ultimately this thesis proposes that Hawthorne and Stanley’s principles (and those like it) fail to adequately capture the scope of what a general norm of action should, and proposes tentative suggestions for what features a knowledge norm of action should have.
Prospects of coherent control in turbid media: Bounds on focusing broadband laser pulses
Creators: name: Shapiro, Evgeny A.
name: Drane, Thomas M.
name: Milner, Valery
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the prospects of controlling transmission of broadband and bi-chromatic laser pulses through turbid samples. The ability to focus transmitted broadband light is limited via both the scattering properties of the medium, and the technical characteristics of the experimental set-up. There are two time scales, given by pulse stretching in the near- and far-field regions, which define the maximum bandwidth of a pulse amenable to focusing. In the geometric optics regime of wave propagation in the medium, a single set-up can be optimal for focusing light at frequencies w and nw simultaneously, providing the basis for the 1 + n coherent quantum control. Beyond the regime of geometric optics, we discuss a simple solution for the shaping, which provides the figure of merit for one's ability to focus simultaneously several transmission modes.
description: 17 pages, 5 figures
Colombia, diez años de construcción de paz con las FARC (2012- 2022): retos para la reconciliación y avances desde la no violencia
Creators: name: Gómez-Suárez, Andrei
Publisher: name: Revista d'Humanitats
Year: 2023

description: Existe un mito relacionado con el uso de la acción no violenta que viene a decir que no se puede utilizar en casos de conflicto armado porque sería inefectiva ante la violencia extrema que se desarrolla en una guerra. No obstante, la gente ha sido capaz de desarrollar formas de resistencia no violenta dentro de guerras superando todas las barreras que las diversas violencias propias de las conflagraciones bélicas imponen a la movilización social. Aunque la tradición pacifista de resistencia a las guerras marca estrategias en la cuales la acción no violenta empieza antes de que aparezca el conflicto y se realiza también durante y después del mismo, en este artículo hacemos un resumen de las tácticas desarrolladas en contextos de conflicto armado, sin entrar por tanto a analizar acciones desarrolladas antes o después de este. Para ello, realizaremos también una breve descripción del marco teórico, así como de la bibliografía básica.
description: Revista d'Humanitats, Núm. 6 (2022)
Prevalance of COVID-19 Infection Among Staffs in an Urban District Specialist Hospital: 1-Year COVID-19 Experience
Creators: name: SAHARUDIN Siti Nurhafizah
name: Fariza, NGAH Nor
name: KUNCHI RAMAN Renuga
name: FADZIL Siti Sarah
name: OMAR Nur Farha
name: OTHMAN Ruzita
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: occupational hazard
COVID-19
healthcare workers
clinical outcomes
Hospital-acquired infection

description: Introduction:
 Hospital staffs are at risk for community acquisition as well as potential hospital-acquired infection. Characterizing COVID-19 infection among hospital staff, despite their role as front liners or non-front liners, is important for achieving optimal control of the pandemic. Methodology:
 This is a retrospective, single-centred, cross-sectional study. Using data collected from 1st March 2020 until 31st March 2021, we reported the prevalence of COVID-19 infection among staff in Hospital Shah Alam Selangor (HSAS) and describe their demography, clinical characteristics, and outcomes. Results:
 There were 57 staff in HSAS who tested positive for COVID-19 during the study period. The mean age was 33.2 years old (SD: 7.552) and the majority were female (36 (63.2%)). Only 5 staff (8.8%) were directly involved in managing COVID-19 patients. Most (46 (80.7%)) were reported to be infected from the community. Thirteen staffs (22.8%) were asymptomatic throughout, whereas 44 staff (77.2%) had at least one symptom on presentation. All infected staff we reported to be stable with no ICU admission or mortalities. Eighteen staff (31.6%) required hospital admission, while 16 (28.1%) were isolated in Quarantine Center. The other 23 staff (40.4%) were given Home Isolation Order. Discussion/Conclusion:
 Hospital-acquired infection is generally controllable as long as the staff strictly complies with the SOP. However, the attitude outside the job scope needs to be changed as it is shown from this study that most infections are from the community and if it is labelled as hospital-acquired, it is less likely to occur to those who directly managing the COVID-19 patient.
 Disclaimer: Abstract text might vary slightly from what is displayed in the e-poster.
description: This poster was submitted to the 14th National Conference for Clinical Research (NCCR) in August 18-20, 2021. https://nccrconference.com.my/
PRMT5 silencing selectively affects MTAP-deleted mesothelioma: In vitro evidence of a novel promising approach
Creators: name: (:Unkn) Unknown
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2020
Subjects: epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition
Mesothelioma
MTAP
PRMT5

description: © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive asbestos-related cancer of the serous membranes. Despite intensive treatment regimens, MM is still a fatal disease, mainly due to the intrinsic resistance to current therapies and the lack of predictive markers and new valuable molecular targets. Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) inhibition has recently emerged as a potential therapy against methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP)-deficient cancers, in which the accumulation of the substrate 5'-methylthioadenosine (MTA) inhibits PRMT5 activity, thus sensitizing the cells to further PRMT5 inhibition. Considering that the MTAP gene is frequently codeleted with the adjacent cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A) locus in MM, we assessed whether PRMT5 could represent a therapeutic target also for this cancer type. We evaluated PRMT5 expression, the MTAP status and MTA content in normal mesothelial and MM cell lines. We found that both administration of exogenous MTA and stable PRMT5 knock-down, by short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs), selectively reduced the growth of MTAP-deleted MM cells. We also observed that PRMT5 knock-down in MTAP-deficient MM cells reduced the expression of E2F1 target genes involved in cell cycle progression and of factors implicated in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Therefore, PRMT5 targeting could represent a promising new therapeutic strategy against MTAP-deleted MMs.
Jet formation from massive young stars: Magnetohydrodynamics versus radiation pressure
Creators: name: Vaidya, Bhargav
name: Fendt, Christian
name: Beuther, Henrik
name: Porth, Oliver
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Observations indicate that outflows from massive young stars are more collimated during their early evolution compared to later stages. Our paper investigates various physical processes that impacts the outflow dynamics, i.e. its acceleration and collimation. We perform axisymmetric MHD simulations particularly considering the radiation pressure exerted by the star and the disk. We have modified the PLUTO code to include radiative forces in the line-driving approximation. We launch the outflow from the innermost disk region (r < 50 AU) by magneto-centrifugal acceleration. In order to disentangle MHD effects from radiative forces, we start the simulation in pure MHD, and later switch on the radiation force. We perform a parameter study considering different stellar masses (thus luminosity), magnetic flux, and line-force strength. For our reference simulation - assuming a 30 Msun star, we find substantial de-collimation of 35 % due to radiation forces. The opening angle increases from 20 deg to 32 deg for stellar masses from 20 Msun to 60 Msun. A small change in the line-force parameter 'alpha' from 0.60 to 0.55 changes the opening angle by ~ 8 deg. We find that it is mainly the stellar radiation which affects the jet dynamics. Unless the disk extends very close to the star, its pressure is too small to have much impact. Essentially, our parameter runs with different stellar mass can be understood as a proxy for the time evolution of the star-outflow system. Thus, we have shown that when the stellar mass (thus luminosity) increases (with age), the outflows become less collimated.
description: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 22 pages (emulateapj), 14 figures
Prorogation 2008: A Case Study in how Media Communicate Democracy
Creators: name: McBrien, Alex
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Mass Communications
subject: Framing
subject: Agenda Setting Theory
subject: Newspapers
subject: Media
subject: Content Analysis
subject: Democracy
subject: Populist Democracy
subject: Responsible Government
subject: Prorogation
subject: Parliament
subject: Frame Theory

description: This thesis concerns the topic of how media communicate democracy, and uses the prorogation of Parliament in 2008 as its case study. A content analysis of the Toronto Star, National Post, and Le Devoir was performed to answer the question of what agendas and frames were used by the media (i.e., newspapers) when covering the prorogation crisis in 2008. Analysis of the agendas and frames used by federal political parties was also done to understand the impact that frames and agendas had on newspaper coverage. This study utilized both frame and agenda setting theory to determine which agendas and frames were most salient during the prorogation crisis of 2008. The results suggest that newspapers placed more salience on frames and agendas concerning socialists, separatists, questions of political leadership, and regional divisions, rather than communicating the role of responsible government in a Westminster Parliamentary system.
Disentangling the effects of plant species invasion and urban development on arthropod community composition
Creators: name: (:Unkn) Unknown
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2020
Subjects: Anthropocene
Antigonon leptopus
coralita
exotic species
feeding guilds
functional traits
land use change
multistressor effects

description: © 2020 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Urban development and species invasion are two major global threats to biodiversity. These threats often co-occur, as developed areas are more prone to species invasion. However, few empirical studies have tested if both factors affect biodiversity in similar ways. Here we study the individual and combined effects of urban development and plant invasion on the composition of arthropod communities. We assessed 36 paired invaded and non-invaded sample plots, invaded by the plant Antigonon leptopus, with half of these pairs located in natural and the other half in developed land-use types on the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius. We used several taxonomic and functional variables to describe community composition and diversity. Our results show that both urban development and A. leptopus invasion affected community composition, albeit in different ways. Development significantly increased species richness and exponential Shannon diversity, while invasion had no effect on these variables. However, invasion significantly increased arthropod abundance and caused biotic homogenization. Specifically, uninvaded arthropod communities were distinctly different in species composition between developed and natural sites, while they became undistinguishable after A. leptopus invasion. Moreover, functional variables were significantly affected by species invasion, but not by urban development. Invaded communities had higher community-weighted mean body size and the feeding guild composition of invaded arthropod communities was characterized by the exceptional numbers of nectarivores, herbivores, and detritivores. With the exception of species richness and exponential Shannon diversity, invasion influenced four out of six response variables to a greater degree than urban development did. Hence, we can conclude that species invasion is not just a passenger of urban development but also a driver of change.
ch334.pdf
Creators: name: Kamalzadeh, Arman
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: 90501 Civil Geotechnical Engineering
subject: FOS: Civil engineering
subject: 90504 Earthquake Engineering

description: This paper has been presented and published in the proceedings of 7ICEGE, Rome, Italy.ABSTRACT: Recent work using the OpenSees finite element software to model the response of gravity retaining walls to Ricker wavelets is presented. The behaviour of the wall system during earthquake loading is controlled by the capacity of the shallow foundation supporting the wall. OpenSees is used to verify our contention that the primary mode of failure is one of rotational deformation rather than horizontal sliding. For situations where a gravity wall is founded on a rock layer or very hard soil, the horizontal acceleration at limiting equilibrium of the wall is controlled by sliding of the wall system on the foundation layer. For all other cases, a rotational failure mechanism based on mobilising the moment capacity of the foundation controls the limiting horizontal acceleration. Simple modelling shows that the horizontal acceleration to initiate rotational failure of the foundation is less than that to initiate sliding failure. Consequently, the design criteria for gravity walls is the residual displacement generated by rotation at foundation level during the course of the earthquake. Using the realistic cyclic stress-strain models available in OpenSees we have appropriate representations of the cyclic nonlinear behaviour of the cohesionless soil backfill and cohesionless soil beneath the foundation of the wall. The finite element modelling illuminates the understanding we have obtained from simple design analyses and enables us to evaluate the accumulation of permanent displacement during the course of the input excitation.
Implementing Reflective Writing in Combination with Labatorials
Creators: name: Sobhanzadeh, Mandana
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Physics
subject: Physics Education
subject: Reflective Writing
subject: Labatorial
subject: Epistemology

description: Students are often not familiar with the language of science and as a result they have great difficulty understanding scientific texts. Students tend to memorize the materials that they see in the textbook without thinking about their meaning, because they believe that language and words hold the knowledge and they need to use the same words and terms in order to show their understanding. Such students who think that knowledge in science is a body of settled facts that comes from authority take a passive role in learning and become a receiver of knowledge, while those who try to make sense of the science language and construct their own understanding by questioning the knowledge presented to them are more likely to develop reasoning and critical thinking skills. The hermeneutical approach that is the basis of “Reflective Writing” encourages students to question what is presented to them and moves them from receiving knowledge to constructing their own understanding. Reflective writing was used in combination with a new style of introductory physics labs called 'Labatorials' at Mount Royal University (MRU) and the impact of these pedagogical tools on student learning, and in particular on how students learn, was investigated and analyzed in this study. Interviews with students who completed the reflective writing assignments in the introductory physics labatorials as well as an analysis of students’ reflective writing assignments helped us find key aspects that make the reflective writing activity useful to the students. Interviews were also used to find out if Labatorials are helpful to the students. The disciplined-focused epistemological beliefs questionnaire (DFEBQ) developed by Hofer (2000) was used in this project to find out whether the combinations of reflective writing and labatorials can change students’ epistemology. With these related projects, we establish three main results. First, we identified the main aspects that make reflective writing an effective learning activity in introductory physics courses. Second, we have also made progress in characterizing the positive and negative aspects of labatorials. Third, we have analyzed the possible changes that the combination of reflective writing and labatorials can have on students’ beliefs about knowledge and learning.
Percolation Properties of Complex Networks
Creators: name: Bizhani, Golnoosh
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Physics--Theory
subject: Networks
subject: percolation
subject: phase transitions

description: This dissertation is devoted to the study of connectivity transitions in complex networks via classical and new percolation models. Networks of high complexity appear across many domains; from commerce, telecommunication, infrastructure, and society, to gene regulation, and even evolution. In many cases these networks exhibit a sudden emergence (or breakdown) of long-range connectivity as a result of local microscopic events; this is of particular importance since their proper functioning often relies crucially on connectivity. One of the well-developed theories that deals with the formation of connected clusters as a result of random microscopic interactions, is percolation theory. This theory has been frequently applied to the study of epidemics and connectivity in complex networks; however details of most spreading phenomena are more involved, and the minimal assumptions of ordinary percolation are not adequate to describe many of their features. Hence it is necessary to design generalized models of percolation to accommodate more layers of complexity in the study of epidemics and connectivity. In this thesis we try to develop and explore new models of percolation by relaxing the main two assumptions of ordinary percolation, namely independence and locality of interactions. One of the new models we propose is agglomerative percolation, where we let clusters grow along all their boundary instead of a single site. This modification in most cases leads to a novel type of percolation that is in a different universality class than the ordinary type. We study agglomerative transitions on several graphs to extract their scaling properties and critical exponents. We show that agglomerative percolation maps onto random sequential renormalization, a method we developed to study the renormalization group flow of networks, and argue that contrary to previous claims, at least some of the scaling observed in previous renormalization schemes is due to agglomerative percolation rather than an underlying fractality in the structure of networks. In a new class of percolation models called explosive percolation, we show that the sharp transitions observed in numerical data is an artifact of the finite system sizes in computer simulations, and these transitions are actually continuous. We also contribute to the ongoing challenges in the study of percolation properties of interdependent networks by developing an analytical framework based on epidemic spreading. Finally, we develop cooperative percolation which can be applied to diverse settings, and show that adding cooperative effects to percolation models can change percolation properties dramatically; thus cooperativity --- which is in fact present in many social and physical phenomena --- needs to be considered in modeling these systems.
Suzaku X-ray Follow-up Observations of Seven Unassociated Fermi-LAT Gamma-ray Sources at High Galactic Latitudes
Creators: name: Takahashi, Yosuke
name: Kataoka, Jun
name: Nakamori, Takeshi
name: Maeda, Koto
name: Makiya, Ryu
name: Totani, Tomonori
name: Cheung, Chi Chiu
name: Stawarz, Łukasz
name: Guillemot, Lucas
name: Freire, Paulo César Carvalho
name: Cognard, Ismaël
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report on our second-year campaign of X-ray follow-up observations of unidentified Fermi-LAT γ-ray sources at high Galactic latitudes (|b|>10 degree) using the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer onboard the Suzaku X-ray Observatory. In this second year of the project, seven new targets were selected from the First Fermi-LAT Catalog, and studied with 20-40 ks effective Suzaku exposures. We detected an X-ray point source coincident with the position of the recently discovered millisecond pulsar PSR J2302+4442 within the 95% confidence error circle of 1FGL J2302.8+4443. The X-ray spectrum of the detected counterpart was well fit by a blackbody model with temperature of kT ~0.3 keV, consistent with an origin of the observed X-ray photons from the surface of a rotating magnetized neutron star. For four other targets which were also recently identified with a normal pulsar (1FGL J0106.7+4853) and millisecond pulsars (1FGL J1312.6+0048, J1902.0-5110, and J2043.2+1709), only upper limits in the 0.5-10 keV band were obtained at the flux levels of ~10^{-14} erg cm^{-2} s^{-1}. A weak X-ray source was found in the field of 1FGL J1739.4+8717, but its association with the variable γ-ray emitter could not be confirmed with the available Suzaku data alone. For the remaining Fermi-LAT object 1FGL J1743.8-7620 no X-ray source was detected within the LAT 95% error ellipse. We briefly discuss the general properties of the observed high Galactic-latitude Fermi-LAT objects by comparing their multiwavelength properties with those of known blazars and millisecond pulsars.
description: Accepted for publication in the ApJ
Genome-Wide changes in genetic diversity in a population of myotis lucifugus affected by white-nose syndrome
Creators: name: (:Unkn) Unknown
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2020
Subjects: Opportunistic pathogen
white-nose syndrome
Selective pressure
Genetic resistance

description: Copyright © 2020 Lilley et al. Novel pathogens can cause massive declines in populations, and even extirpation of hosts. But disease can also act as a selective pressure on survivors, driving the evolution of resistance or tolerance. Bat white-nose syndrome (WNS) is a rapidly spreading wildlife disease in North America. The fungus causing the disease invades skin tissues of hibernating bats, resulting in disruption of hibernation behavior, premature energy depletion, and subsequent death. We used whole-genome sequencing to investigate changes in allele frequencies within a population of Myotis lucifugus in eastern North America to search for genetic resistance to WNS. Our results show low FST values within the population across time, i.e., prior to WNS (Pre-WNS) compared to the population that has survived WNS (Post-WNS). However, when dividing the population with a geographical cut-off between the states of Pennsylvania and New York, a sharp increase in values on scaffold GL429776 is evident in the Post-WNS samples. Genes present in the diverged area are associated with thermoregulation and promotion of brown fat production. Thus, although WNS may not have subjected the entire M. lucifugus population to selective pressure, it may have selected for specific alleles in Pennsylvania through decreased gene flow within the population. However, the persistence of remnant sub-populations in the aftermath of WNS is likely due to multiple factors in bat life history.
No violencia y conflicto armado
Creators: name: Castañar, Jesús
Publisher: name: Revista d'Humanitats
Year: 2023

description: Existe un mito relacionado con el uso de la acción no violenta que viene a decir que no se puede utilizar en casos de conflicto armado porque sería inefectiva ante la violencia extrema que se desarrolla en una guerra. No obstante, la gente ha sido capaz de desarrollar formas de resistencia no violenta dentro de guerras superando todas las barreras que las diversas violencias propias de las conflagraciones bélicas imponen a la movilización social. Aunque la tradición pacifista de resistencia a las guerras marca estrategias en la cuales la acción no violenta empieza antes de que aparezca el conflicto y se realiza también durante y después del mismo, en este artículo hacemos un resumen de las tácticas desarrolladas en contextos de conflicto armado, sin entrar por tanto a analizar acciones desarrolladas antes o después de este. Para ello, realizaremos también una breve descripción del marco teórico, así como de la bibliografía básica.
description: Revista d'Humanitats, Núm. 6 (2022)
Violent young offenders : an examination of how psychopathy and instrumentality inform our understanding of aggression
Creators: name: Carpenter, Tara Louise
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: Youth violence and aggression are significant problems facing today’s society. While most young offenders commit relatively minor crimes, a small proportion is involved in more serious, violent crimes. Previous explanations of participation in violence indicate that psychopathy is a robust predictor of aggressive behaviours for both adult (e.g., Walsh & Walsh, 2006) and youth offenders (e.g., Flight & Forth, 2007). Woodworth and Porter (2002) proposed a selective impulsivity hypothesis to reconcile the psychopath’s impulsive nature and propensity for goal-directed violence. Specifically, they suggested that as the severity of crime increases, psychopaths will actively monitor their impulsive tendencies, employing less reactive violence when the consequences are highest (for example, when committing homicide) (Agar, 2009; Woodworth & Porter, 2002). The current investigation is the first to directly test this hypothesis in violent youth offenders. Using a sample of 100 young offender files from British Columbia, the results supported the selective impulsivity hypothesis in youths. Of particular interest, a relationship between the interpersonal features of psychopathy and instrumental violence was revealed. Interpersonally callous traits were related to an increase in use of instrumental violence. Findings are discussed in light of current theories of aggression, and suggestions for future directions are considered.
Changes in Polarization Position Angle across the Eclipse in the Double Pulsar System
Creators: name: Yuen, R.
name: Manchester, R. N.
name: Burgay, M.
name: Camilo, F.
name: Kramer, M.
name: Melrose, D. B.
name: Stairs, I. H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We investigate the changes in polarization position angle in radiation from pulsar A around the eclipse in the Double Pulsar system PSR J0737-3039A/B at the 20 cm and 50 cm wavelengths using the Parkes 64-m telescope. The changes are ~2σ during and shortly after the eclipse at 20 cm but less significant at 50 cm. We show that the changes in position angle during the eclipse can be modelled by differential synchrotron absorption in the eclipse regions. Position angle changes after the eclipse are interpreted as Faraday rotation in the magnetotail of pulsar B. Implied charge densities are consistent with the Goldreich-Julian density, suggesting that the particle energies in the magnetotail are mildly relativistic.
description: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Exploring protective factors for pregnancy-related anxiety in Tanzanian women
Creators: name: Wall, Vanessa
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Mental Health
subject: Nursing
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: Pregnancy-related anxiety
subject: Maternal Distress
subject: Low-income countries
subject: Protective factors

description: Pregnancy-related anxiety is highly correlated with pre-term birth which can be fatal in low-and-middle-income countries. Modifiable protective factors for pregnancy-related anxiety need to be identified to prevent this condition. This study aimed to identify factors associated with low or no pregnancy-related anxiety among women attending two antenatal clinics in districts of Mwanza, Tanzania. A cross-sectional secondary data analysis was completed using data from a longitudinal study that examined biomarkers of stress, anxiety, depression, and birth outcomes. Data were analyzed using bivariate analysis and multiple linear regression. Findings did not reveal any modifiable protective factors. Perceived stress, active depression, and number of people living in the home were the only statistically significant predictors of pregnancy-related anxiety in our sample. Findings indicated that pregnancy-related anxiety may be associated with cultural factors such as family dynamics, and stigmatization of fear or anxiety. Before protective factors can be identified, more qualitative research may be needed in these countries to better understand the cultural nuances of pregnancy-related anxiety in low-and-middle income countries.
Synalpheus pandionis Coutiere 1909
Creators: name: Almeida, Alexandre Oliveira De
name: Guerrazzi, Maria Cec Lia
name: Coelho, Petr Ȏ Nio Alves
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Alpheidae
Synalpheus
Synalpheus pandionis

description: Synalpheus cf. pandionis Coutière, 1909
(Figs. 3–4)
Material examined (N=2). 1f, 24/III/2005, St. 0 4 (MZUESC #661); 1f, 30/X/2004, St. 0 4 (MZUESC #709).
Distribution. Western Atlantic – Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Barbados, Curaçao, off Panama, and Venezuela (Chace 1972; Dardeau 1984). Brazil (Ceará) (Coelho Filho 2006).
Ecological notes. Under rocks, in seagrass meadows, sponges, and dead and living coral. From shallow waters to 73 m (Dardeau 1984).
Previous records in Bahia. None.
Remarks. Synalpheus pandionis is a western Atlantic species complex within the S. longicarpus (Herrick, 1891) clade (see Morrison et al. 2004).
Dardeau (1984) resurrected S. pandionis from the synonymy of S. longicarpus, originally proposed by Christoffersen (1979). The morphology of two females (MZUESC#661: 4.0 mm CL, not ovigerous; MZUESC#709: 4.7 mm CL, ovigerous) examined by us agrees well with the diagnosis of S. pandionis provided by Dardeau (1984). The orbital hoods and the rostrum are subequal in length; they are also rounded and broader than the rostrum; the space between the orbital teeth and the rostrum is U-shaped (Figs. 3 A, B). The antennal scaphocerite and basicerite are subequal in length (Fig. 3 A). The palm of the major chela bears a blunt dorsodistal tubercle, which is armed with a secondary, ventrally directed tooth (Figs. 3 H, I). The dactylus of the minor first chela is distally bidentate; the fixed finger is simple (Fig. 4 C). The pereiopods 2–5 are very similar to those illustrated by Dardeau (1984) (Figs. 4 D, E, G, I). The uropodal exopod is armed with 5 fixed teeth proximal to the movable spine (Fig. 3 F). The dactyli of pereiopods 3–5 are biunguiculate, with the tooth on the flexor margin being smaller and slightly divergent from the distal tooth (Figs. 4 F, H, J). The main difference between the two females examined by us lies in the rostrum length. A subtle variation was observed in the length of the rostrum relative to the orbital hoods length: in the ovigerous female (MZUESC#709), the rostrum is narrower at base (spine-like in dorsal view) and slightly longer than the orbital hoods (Fig. 3 B), whereas in the non-ovigerous female (MZUESC#661), the rostrum and orbital hoods are equal in length and the rostrum has a wider base (more triangular) (Fig. 3 A). The herein reported occurrence of S. cf. pandionis in Camamu Bay extends the southern range limit of this species complex.
description: Published as part of Almeida, Alexandre Oliveira De, Guerrazzi, Maria Cec Lia & Coelho, Petr Ȏ Nio Alves, 2007, Stomatopod and decapod crustaceans from Camamu Bay, state of Bahia, Brazil, pp. 1-45 in Zootaxa 1553 on page 15, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.178168