cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Raman Biosensors
Creators: name: Ali, Momenpour
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2017
Subjects: Raman
SERS
PLS
PCA
MVA
HC-PCF
LOD
Heparin
Regression
GLU
GABA
Leukemia
PCOS

description: This PhD thesis focuses on improving the limit of detection (LOD) of Raman biosensors by using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and/or hollow core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCF), in conjunction with statistical methods. Raman spectroscopy is a multivariate phenomenon that requires statistical analysis to identify the relationship between recorded spectra and the property of interest. The objective of this research is to improve the performance of Raman biosensors using SERS techniques and/or HC-PCF, by applying partial least squares (PLS) regression and principal component analysis (PCA). I began my research using Raman spectroscopy, PLS analysis and two different validation methods to monitor heparin, an important blood anti-coagulant, in serum at clinical levels. I achieved lower LOD of heparin in serum using the Test Set Validation (TSV) method. The PLS analysis allowed me to distinguish between weak Raman signals of heparin in serum and background noise. I then focused on using SERS to further improve the LOD of analytes, and accomplished simultaneous detection of GLU-GABA in serum at clinical levels using the SERS and PLS models. This work demonstrated the applicability of using SERS in conjunction with PLS to measure properties of samples in blood serum. I also used SERS with HC-PCF configuration to detect leukemia cells, one of the most recurrent types of pediatric cancers. This was achieved by applying PLS regression and PCA techniques. Improving LOD was the next objective, and I was able to achieve this by improving the PLS model to decrease errors and remove outliers or unnecessary variables. The results of the final optimized models were evaluated by comparing them with the results of previous models of Heparin and Leukemia cell detection in previous sections. Finally, as a clinical application of Raman biosensors, I applied the enhanced Raman technique to detect polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) disease, and to determine the role of chemerin in this disease. I used SERS in conjunction with PCA to differentiate between PCOS and non-PCOS patients. I also confirmed the role of chemerin in PCOS disease, measured the level of chemerin, a chemoattractant protein, in PCOS and non-PCOS patients using PLS, and further improved LOD with the PLS regression model, as proposed in previous section.
CBCT Uses in Clinical Endodontics Part 1: Effect of CBCT on the Ability to Locate MB2 in Maxillary Molars; Part 2: Observer Effects in Detecting Periapical Radiolucencies
Creators: name: Parker, Jeffrey
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: CBCT should be considered the imaging modality of choice for initial endodontic treatment of teeth with the potential for extra canals and suspected complex morphology. RCT of maxillary molars often falls into this category due to their complex anatomy and likely MB2 canal that is present. It has been shown that CBCT can be used to locate missed canals, but there are no in vivo studies demonstrating this. The other issue with CBCT is the accuracy of interpreting the volumes. There are often false positive and false negative readings, which impacts the treatment planning. In part 1, the dental operating microscope with troughing is as effective in locating MB2 canals as compared to CBCT imaging. In part 2, endodontic faculty had higher agreement with the “gold standard” compared to endodontic residents and dental students, and endodontic faculty had the highest intra-rater reliability, followed by endodontic residents, and then DDS students.
A History of the Richmond Professional Institute : From Its Beginning in 1917 to Its Consolidation with the Medical College of Virginia in 1968 to Form Virginia Commonwealth University
Creators: name: Hibbs, Henry Horace
Publisher: name: VCU Libraries
Year: 2017
Subjects: Universities and colleges -- Virginia -- Richmond -- History
Richmond Professional Institute -- History
Virginia Commonwealth University -- History

description: A History of the Richmond Professional Institute: From Its Beginning in 1917 to Its Consolidation With the Medical College of Virginia in 1968 to Form Virginia Commonwealth University was written by Dr. Henry H. Hibbs, Jr. (1887-1977), long-time leader of Richmond Professional Institute (RPI). After he retired, Dr. Hibbs was paid a consultant's fee to write this book on the history of RPI. He designated VCU as the sole recipient of profits from the sale of the book. The alumni associations of VCU and the Richmond Professional Institute Foundation were involved in editing the book before it was published in 1973. It was sold by VCU in a limited publication run. Many of the copies were signed by the author.
The sustainability of fertilizer usage in the rice production system and its influencers; evidence from Erode district of Tamil Nadu, India
Creators: name: Mohankumar, Logesh
name: Thiyaharajan, Muthuprasad
name: Venkidusamy, Kavi Sidharthan
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Science Policy

description: The advent of the green revolution, besides increasing crop yields, has also substantially increased the use of synthetic fertilizers, posing adverse effects on the environment and human health. In the present study, we aimed to gain insights into the fertilizer usage patterns of paddy farmers of the Lower Bhavani Project canal region of Erode district, Tamil Nadu, through interviews, and also tried to map the individual’s source of information regarding fertilizer usage using Social Network Analysis (SNA). Results revealed that the farmers were excessively using an average of 21 kg of N, 28 kg of P2O5 and 16 kg of K2O per acre than the recommended level. By converting the excessive nitrogen usage by farmers into carbon dioxide equivalent, we found that the excess nitrogen use has resulted in around 2,552 kg of carbon dioxide emission, which would require a year by 122 trees for absorption. By mapping the individual’s source of information using SNA, we found that progressive farmers and relative farmers were the vital information sources for fertilizer usage than the agricultural officers. It is noteworthy that the awareness and adoption of biofertilizers among the surveyed farmers were very low as only 10.2% were aware of and 1.2% were adopting biofertilizers. These findings may help formulate suitable policies for rationalizing fertilizer usage by farmers to minimize fertilizer misuse, which, if left unchecked, may pose a serious concern to the environment and human health in the coming years.
"Amas tú?/Mi propio honor": Laurencia y el honor
Creators: name: Koczkas, Anca
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2009

description: This work investigates the evolution of Laurencia, the main feminine character of Lope's famous play Fuenteovejuna by focusing on the dramatization of the concept of honor. The character is therefore studied as the personification of the Honor that in this play Lope attributes to a social group which traditionally had been denied the possession of any honor. At the same time, it explores her gender identity by examining her interactions with the other characters on one hand, and the correlations between her discourse and the elements related to her appearance, like dress and hair, on the other hand. Laurencia, who responds to a violent act by taking arms and inciting a whole village to rebel against its commander, manages to trespass gender delineations by focusing solely on the defense of her honor. Thus, through her actions, Laurencia comes forth neither as a woman nor daughter, but as an almost statuesque incarnation of honor- that ever present ruling concept in Spanish Golden Age plays. Even if she transgresses society rules by becoming a rebel, Lope's character is subordinate to this code of honor-justice which leads to her becoming a political tool, not only because she helps reestablish the dignity of the villagers but because she also determines the change of authority in Fuenteovejuna from a local ruler to the Catholic Kings. Lope, like many other writers at the time including Cervantes, transforms and stages the concept of honor into a female character. The paper takes all these aspects into consideration, and also examines how the evolvement of Laurencia (the evolvement of the concept of honor) reflects the social-political changes during the reign of the Catholic King.
NIKEL_AMC: Readout electronics for the NIKA2 experiment
Creators: name: Bourrion, O.
name: Benoit, A.
name: Bouly, J. L.
name: Bouvier, J.
name: Bosson, G.
name: Calvo, M.
name: Catalano, A.
name: Goupy, J.
name: Li, C.
name: Macías-Pérez, J. F.
name: Monfardini, A.
name: Tourres, D.
name: Ponchant, N.
name: Vescovi, C.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The New Iram Kid Arrays-2 (NIKA2) instrument has recently been installed at the IRAM 30 m telescope. NIKA2 is a state-of-art instrument dedicated to mm-wave astronomy using microwave kinetic inductance detectors (KID) as sensors. The three arrays installed in the camera, two at 1.25 mm and one at 2.05 mm, feature a total of 3300 KIDs. To instrument these large array of detectors, a specifically designed electronics, composed of 20 readout boards and hosted in three microTCA crates, has been developed. The implemented solution and the achieved performances are presented in this paper. We find that multiplexing factors of up to 400 detectors per board can be achieved with homogeneous performance across boards in real observing conditions, and a factor of more than 3 decrease in volume with respect to previous generations.
description: 21 pages; 16 figures
Sustainability: Scholarly Repository as an Enterprise
Creators: name: Rieger, Oya Y.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Digital Libraries (cs.DL)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: The expanding need for an open information sharing infrastructure to promote scholarly communication led to the pioneering establishment of arXiv.org, now maintained by the Cornell University Library. To be sustainable, the repository requires careful, long term planning for services, management and funding. The library is developing a sustainability model for arXiv.org, based on voluntary contributions and the ongoing participation and support of 200 libraries and research laboratories around the world. The sustainability initiative is based on a membership model and builds on arXiv's technical, service, financial and policy infrastructure. Five principles for sustainability drive development, starting with deep integration into the scholarly community. Also key are a clearly defined mandate and governance structure, a stable yet innovative technology platform, systematic creation of content policies and strong business planning strategies. Repositories like arXiv must consider usability and life cycle alongside values and trends in scholarly communication. To endure, they must also support and enhance their service by securing and managing resources and demonstrating responsible stewardship.
Reciprocal spin Hall effects in conductors with strong spin-orbit coupling: a review
Creators: name: Niimi, Yasuhiro
name: Otani, YoshiChika
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Spin Hall effect and its inverse provide essential means to convert charge to spin currents and vice versa, which serve as a primary function for spintronic phenomena such as the spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance and the spin Seebeck effect. These effects can oscillate magnetization or detect a thermally generated spin splitting in the chemical potential. Importantly this conversion process occurs via the spin-orbit interaction, and requires neither magnetic materials nor external magnetic fields. However, the spin Hall angle, i.e., the conversion yield between the charge and spin currents, depends severely on the experimental methods. Here we discuss the spin Hall angle and the spin diffusion length for a variety of materials including pure metals such as Pt and Ta, alloys and oxides determined by the spin absorption method in a lateral spin valve structure.
description: 43 pages, 18 figures
The politics of assimilation, Muslims and the anti-republican right in 1930's Algeria
Creators: name: Haley, Cliff
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2008

description: The history of indigenous politics in 1930's Algeria has been written with an eye towards uncovering the origins of Algerian nationalism. While historians of the period have been forced occasionally to confront the evidence of Muslim attraction to extreme right politics, they have not considered the possibility that dissatisfied Muslims could have been so discouraged by the policies and practices of the French Republic as to pursue a radical antirepublican agenda. European political parties on the extreme right guided Muslim politicians in this anti-republican strategy. The well-known histories of Algeria have never taken seriously the anti-republican politics of Algerian Muslim and have thus not acknowledged cooperation between Muslims and European political right.
Online Conferencing in Philosophy
Creators: name: Trappes, Rose
name: Cohnitz, Daniel
name: Pâslaru, Viorel
name: Perkins, Timothy
name: Teymoori, Ali
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Philosophy
subject: FOS: Philosophy, ethics and religion
subject: Arts and Humanities

description: We ran two different surveys on participants to online conferences in philosophy between April and August 2020. One survey was for participants from the ECAP10, organised at Utrecht University. The other survey was for participants to three different small philosophy of science conferences: Doing Science in a Pluralistic Society (Dayton), Philosophy of Biology at the Mountains (Utah), and Niche Construction and Other Mechanisms in Ecology and Evolution (Bielefeld, Germany).
Tristán the sacristan in Cervantes' Los baños de Argel: a Cervantine gracioso?
Creators: name: Wasson, Joshua Shaw
Publisher: name: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2011

description: Los baños de Argel (1615) is but one of many works that include a sacristan, a character that has appeared in humanist satires, comedias nuevas, and treatro breve, and which over time had become a stock character. This study examines how Cervantes takes the sacristan and manipulates that character's conventional traits to create humor in Los baños de Argel's Tristán. To accomplish that goal, the paper explores the development of the sacristan in earlier Spanish texts before it examines Cervantes' innovative reworking of the character in the abovementioned comedia. In addition, this essay examines the function of Tristán in relation to the role of the gracioso in the comedia nueva and allows us to conclude that Tristán should be considered a gracioso but a la cervantina.
Spectroscopy, MOST Photometry, and Interferometry of MWC 314: Is it an LBV or an interacting binary?
Creators: name: Richardson, Noel D.
name: Moffat, Anthony F. J.
name: Maltais-Tariant, Raphaël
name: Pablo, Herbert
name: Gies, Douglas R.
name: Saio, Hideyuki
name: St-Louis, Nicole
name: Schaefer, Gail
name: Miroshnichenko, Anatoly S.
name: Farrington, Chris
name: Aldoretta, Emily J.
name: Artigau, Étienne
name: Boyajian, Tabetha S.
name: Gordon, Kathryn
name: Jones, Jeremy
name: Matson, Rachel
name: McAlister, Harold A.
name: O'Brien, David
name: Raghavan, Deepak
name: Ramiaramanantsoa, Tahina
name: Ridgway, Stephen T.
name: Scott, Nic
name: Sturmann, Judit
name: Sturmann, Laszlo
name: Brummelaar, Theo ten
name: Thomas, Joshua D.
name: Turner, Nils
name: Vargas, Norm
name: Zharikov, Sergey
name: Matthews, Jaymie
name: Cameron, Chris
name: Guenther, David
name: Kuschnig, Rainer
name: Rowe, Jason
name: Rucinski, Slavek
name: Sasselov, Dimitar
name: Weiss, Werner
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: MWC 314 is a bright candidate luminous blue variable that resides in a fairly close binary system, with an orbital period of 60.753$\pm$0.003 d. We observed MWC 314 with a combination of optical spectroscopy, broad-band ground- and space-based photometry, as well as with long baseline, near-infrared interferometry. We have revised the single-lined spectroscopic orbit and explored the photometric variability. The orbital light curve displays two minima each orbit that can be partially explained in terms of the tidal distortion of the primary that occurs around the time of periastron. The emission lines in the system are often double-peaked and stationary in their kinematics, indicative of a circumbinary disc. We find that the stellar wind or circumbinary disc is partially resolved in the K\prime-band with the longest baselines of the CHARA Array. From this analysis, we provide a simple, qualitative model in an attempt to explain the observations. From the assumption of Roche Lobe overflow and tidal synchronisation at periastron, we estimate the component masses to be M1 $\approx 5$ M$_\odot$ and M2$\approx 15$ M$_\odot$, which indicates a mass of the LBV that is extremely low. In addition to the orbital modulation, we discovered two pulsational modes with the MOST satellite. These modes are easily supported by a low-mass hydrogen-poor star, but cannot be easily supported by a star with the parameters of an LBV. The combination of these results provides evidence that the primary star was likely never a normal LBV, but rather is the product of binary interactions. As such, this system presents opportunities for studying mass-transfer and binary evolution with many observational techniques.
description: 26 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables, 2 appendices with 7 additional tables and 2 additional figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Nursing and Compassionate Care in a Technological World: A Scoping Review
Creators: name: Buchanan, Christine
name: Howitt, Lyndsay
name: Bamford, Megan
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022

description: The purpose of this scoping review is to summarize what is known from the literature on how digital health technologies that utilize artificial intelligence will influence nursing practice, education, and compassionate patient care.
Development of a Multi-Body Autonomous Inspection Robot for Small Diameter Pipes
Creators: name: Lamonde, Jeff
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2017
Subjects: Robot
Inspection
Pipe
Design

description: The pipeline network of North America is thousands of kilometer long and is ever increasing. To ensure the safety of every individual whose lives are affected by this network, the inspection of the pipelines are mandatory. With the steady progress and downsizing of robotic components, the wireless inspection of smaller pipelines is now a possibility and is the principal driver of this research. Mainly, the scope of this project is to explore the feasibility of the fabrication of a robot to inspect pipes of diameter of six to eight inches. Various design possibilities and the inherent problems of small confined environments inspections are investigated. The parameters for the fewest number of collisions for the design of a pipe robot is presented and various pipe scenarios are simulated. Finally, a prototype is fabricated and recommendations are suggested for future subsequent iterations of the robot.
What right did Russia have?: Russian intervention in Georgia and Moldova in the early 1990s
Creators: name: Muller, Virginia Paige
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2006

description: In the early 1990s conflict broke out in several former Soviet republics as different regions vied for independence. Abkhazia in Georgia and Transdniestria in Moldova were two such regions. The Russian government initially declared neutrality in both cases but soon changed course, instead supporting Abkhaz and Transdniestrian separatists. Several months later, the Russian government changed course and announced the installment of Russian peacekeeping troops in Georgia and Moldova. The intent of these peacekeeping missions was ostensibly to support the cessation of armed fighting and promote resolution of the disputes, but Russia's involvement in both cases was never as neutral or conflictresolution based as peacekeeping missions should be. This thesis will look at Russia's rationale for intervening in the Abkhaz/Georgia and Transdniestrian/Moldovan conflicts in order to better understand Russia's justification for getting involved.
Graviton Creation by Small Scale Factor Oscillations in an Expanding Universe
Creators: name: Schiappacasse, Enrico D.
name: Ford, L. H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We treat quantum creation of gravitons by small scale factor oscillations around the average of an expanding universe. Such oscillations can arise in standard general relativity due to oscillations of a homogeneous, minimally coupled scalar field. They can also arise in modified gravity theories with a term proportional to the square of the Ricci scalar in the gravitational action. The graviton wave equation is different in the two cases, leading to somewhat different creation rates. Both cases are treated using a perturbative method due to Birrell and Davies, involving an expansion in a conformal coupling parameter to calculate the number density and energy density of the created gravitons. Cosmological constraints on the present graviton energy density and the dimensionless amplitude of the oscillations are discussed. We also discuss decoherence of quantum systems produced by the spacetime geometry fluctuations due to such a graviton bath.
description: 27 pages, 3 figures. New material added, especially in Sec. IIB and in the Appendices
Employing Android Security Features for Enhanced Security and Privacy Preservation
Creators: name: Wakim, Mike
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2017
Subjects: Android
Security
Privacy
Preservation
IPC
E2EE
Scheme
Encryption
End-to-End
Messaging

description: In this thesis, we examine the architecture and the security framework underlying the Android operating system. We explore existing Android end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging applications and derive four categories of common issues that are applicable to these applications. We then provide an overview of the known issue of privilege escalation wherein a malicious privileged application can utilize inter-process communication techniques to send protected data to an unauthorized application on a user’s device. We demonstrate through a proof of concept how this behavior can be achieved in real applications, and we suggest potential countermeasures that can help prevent this issue. Furthermore, in the interest of diminishing the common issues that are applicable to E2EE messaging applications, we propose a new design for such applications that employs some of the principal security features offered by the Android operating system. We explain how our design can help eliminate trust-related issues associated with such applications, as well as how it can help minimize issues in other categories. Finally, we demonstrate how our proposed design can be used in practice by implementing a proof of concept.
Genetic basis for individual variation in pain perception among endodontic patients
Creators: name: Applebaum, Elizabeth Ann
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2009

description: Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), Cyclooxygenase (COX) 1 and 2 are enzymes that have been implicated in the modulation of pain. Previous studies have shown that human genetic variants coding for low COMT activity are correlated with increased experimental pain sensitivity and risk of developing chronic pain disorders. The present study extends this work by examining the potential contribution of three enzymes to acute pain perception. Ninety-four patients treated by endodontic residents at University of North Carolina School of Dentistry were enrolled into a prospective cohort study. Nonsurgical root canal therapy was performed. Participants recorded pain levels for five days following treatment and completed psychological questionnaires to quantify anxiety, depression and somatization disorders. Potential predictors of postoperative pain were collected and all patients submitted saliva samples for genetic analysis. In this study, 63% of patients experienced at least mild pain after root canal therapy and 24% experienced mild to severe pain. Patient age, gender, pulpal and periapical diagnosis were not associated with postoperative pain (p>0.05). Presence of pretreatment pain was significantly correlated with higher postoperative pain (p = 0.01). Diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.024), heart rate (p = 0.02) and trait anxiety score (p = 0.036) were also correlated with postoperative pain. While no association was found between postoperative pain and COMT or COX-1 genetic variants, there is evidence of an association between COX-2 haplotype and acute postoperative pain following endodontic treatment (p = 0.025). Understanding the genetic basis of endodontic pain perception will advance our pharmacologic management of postoperative pain.
How my heart feels as far as my children, is what I do: examining African American women's negotiations of infant feeding practices
Creators: name: Chamberlain, Brittany
Publisher: name: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2012

description: Low income African Americans suffer from some of the highest rates of obesity and lowest rates of breastfeeding of any racial or ethnic group. The author employs a biocultural anthropology perspective and the concept of Authoritative Knowledge in order to qualitatively investigate the gap between population level disparities and the mothers and families who are making and affected by these decisions. This study examines from where and whom low income, African American women from North Carolina obtain information about infant feeding options and how they negotiate among varied, and often conflicting, information during the decision making process. It finds that mothers use the discourses of meeting needs and each kid is different to discuss infant feeding strategies and filter the varied sources of information through the lens of their motherhood in order to best care for their children.
Segmentation opportunities for the EAS brand: an account planner's perspective
Creators: name: Macon, Katherine B.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: The aim of this research study was to identify the best segmentation opportunity for the EAS brand, which provides nutritional protein products, from the professional perspective an Account Planner. Three segmentation opportunities were identified through secondary research discovered during the SWOT Analysis: (1) women who work out regularly, (2) competitive student athletes, and (3) people trying to lose weight. A study was set up for each of these three groups to learn more about their lifestyles, beliefs, and attitudes to understand if and how they might serve as a profitable target market to the EAS brand. For two groups, active women and those trying to lose weight, qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted. Focus groups were carried out for the final group, student athletes, to determine market fit. The final recommendation was for EAS not to market its product as a weight-loss product. EAS would likely benefit from both student athletes and women who work out regularly as target markets, but they should prioritize student athletes as the cost would be lower.
Integration of a contaminant source land use regression model in the Bayesian Maximum Entropy spatiotemporal geostatistical estimation of groundwater tetrachloroethylene across North Carolina
Creators: name: Messier, Kyle Philip
Publisher: name: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2010

description: The assessment of groundwater tetrachloroethylene (PCE or PERC) exposure across North Carolina is currently hindered due to limited statewide spatiotemporal contaminant maps. In this study we incorporate data from multiple sources to create estimation maps of groundwater PCE. A land use regression (LUR) mean trend model was developed as a function of exponentially decaying contribution from contaminant sources in North Carolina. This mean trend model was integrated in a Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) framework to produce informative space/time (S/T) maps. We compare our method with standard geostatistical methods (i.e. kriging and BME with constant mean trends) and find a 25 % reduction in cross-validation mean square error. Our results suggest that dry cleaning and hazardous waste generator sites influence groundwater at distances of 1 km and 800 m respectively. This work introduces a novel integrated LUR and BME approach which produces accurate visual representations of PCE exposure across North Carolina.
A Multisensor Evaluation of the Asymmetric Convective Model, Version 2 in Eastern Texas
Creators: name: Kolling, Jenna S.
Publisher: name: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2011

description: Although there have been a variety of planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes developed to represent the effects of turbulence in daytime convective conditions, uncertainties correlated with these schemes remain a large source of inaccuracy in meteorology and air quality model simulations. This study evaluates a new combined local and nonlocal closure PBL scheme, the Asymmetric Convective Model, version 2 (ACM2) in eastern Texas against PBL observations taken from ten radar wind profilers, a ground-based lidar, and multiple daytime radiosonde balloon launches. Comparisons are made between these observations and outputs from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model version 3.1 with the ACM2 PBL scheme option, as well as outputs from the meteorological modeling that is currently being used to develop ozone control strategies in the HGB area. Results show that the WRF-ACM2 combination is much more accurate at representing the spatial and temporal evolution of the PBL in Eastern Texas.
QCD sum rule study of hidden-charm pentaquarks
Creators: name: Chen, Hua-Xing
name: Cui, Er-Liang
name: Chen, Wei
name: Steele, T. G.
name: Liu, Xiang
name: Zhu, Shi-Lin
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the mass spectra of hidden-charm pentaquarks having spin $J = {1\over2}/{3\over2}/{5\over2}$ and quark contents $uud c \bar c$. We systematically construct all the relevant local hidden-charm pentaquark currents, and select some of them to perform QCD sum rule analyses. We find that the $P_c(4380)$ and $P_c(4450)$ can be identified as hidden-charm pentaquark states composed of an anti-charmed meson and a charmed baryon. Besides them, we also find a) the lowest-lying hidden-charm pentaquark state of $J^P = 1/2^-$ has the mass $4.33^{+0.17}_{-0.13}$ GeV, while the one of $J^P = 1/2^+$ is significantly higher, that is around $4.7-4.9$ GeV; b) the lowest-lying hidden-charm pentaquark state of $J^P = 3/2^-$ has the mass $4.37^{+0.18}_{-0.13}$ GeV, consistent with the $P_c(4380)$ of $J^P = 3/2^-$, while the one of $J^P = 3/2^+$ is also significantly higher, that is above $4.6$ GeV; c) the hidden-charm pentaquark state of $J^P = 5/2^-$ has a mass around $4.5-4.6$ GeV, slightly larger than the $P_c(4450)$ of $J^P = 5/2^+$.
description: 18 pages, 5 figures and 3 tables. Accepted by Eur. Phys. J. C
Adolescent Health and Educational Attainment: Understanding Patterns by Race and Gender
Creators: name: Roberts, Cheryl Ann
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: The health of individuals in their childhood has critical consequences for their life course. Researchers have recently begun to explore the influence of adolescent health on educational attainment. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study investigates the relationship between self-rated health in adolescence (grades 7-12) and educational attainment in early adulthood among black and white males and females. The study reveals a graduated pattern in the relationship between health and educational attainment among the subgroups examined. All groups with fair or poor self-rated health show similar dramatic declines in their odds of completing high school or entering college. Patterns diverge by race and gender with more modest health deficits. White women with less than excellent/very good health show the steepest reduction in their educational attainment. Academic, behavioral, and psychological factors, as well as timing, help to explain the association between health and educational attainment.
Jet or Shock Breakout? The Low-Luminosity GRB 060218
Creators: name: Irwin, C. M.
name: Chevalier, R. A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We consider a model for the low-luminosity gamma-ray burst GRB 060218 that plausibly accounts for multiwavelength observations to day 20. The model components are: (1) a long-lived ($t_j \sim 3000$ s) central engine and accompanying low-luminosity ($L_j \sim 10^{47}$ erg s$^{-1}$), semirelativistic ($γ\sim 10$) jet; (2) a low-mass ($ \sim 10^{-2} M_\odot$) envelope surrounding the progenitor star; and (3) a modest amount of dust ($A_V \sim 0.1$ mag) in the interstellar environment. Blackbody emission from the transparency radius in a low-power jet outflow can fit the prompt thermal X-ray emission, and the nonthermal X-rays and gamma-rays may be produced via Compton scattering of thermal photons from hot leptons in the jet interior or the external shocks. The later mildly relativistic phase of this outflow can produce the radio emission via synchrotron radiation from the forward shock. Meanwhile, interaction of the associated SN 2006aj with a circumstellar envelope extending to $\sim10^{13}$ cm can explain the early optical emission. The X-ray afterglow can be interpreted as a light echo of the prompt emission from dust at $\sim 30$ pc. Our model is a plausible alternative to that of Nakar, who recently proposed shock breakout of a jet smothered by an extended envelope as the source of prompt emission. Both our results and Nakar's suggest that bursts such as GRB 060218 may originate from unusual progenitors with extended circumstellar envelopes, and that a jet is necessary to decouple the prompt emission from the supernova.
description: 28 pages, 8 figures, submitted to MNRAS
Trusted routing vs. VPN for secured data transfer over IP-networks/Internet
Creators: name: Tiamiyu, Osuolale Abdulrahamon
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Though objectives of trusted routing and virtual private networks (VPN) data transfer methods are to guarantee data transfer securely to from senders to receivers over public networks like Internet yet there are paramount differences between the two methods. This paper analyses their differences.
description: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1507.06538
IMAGINING SPACE, CREATING COMMUNITY: EMERGING TABLA PRACTICE IN THE INDO-GUYANESE DIASPORA
Creators: name: Levine, Michael
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2018

description: Hindustani ceremonial tabla drumming, a long-established genre with roots in northern India, remains a cherished and important component for the New York City-based Indo-Guyanese community’s religious services. Through religious Hindustani tabla instruction, repertoire, and performance, members of this immigrant group maintain and construct new cultural links that identify the particular circumstances of their diasporic setting in New York City. What are the socio-musical dynamics that condition those trajectories?
      Through interviews with students and teachers of Hindustani classical music, this thesis highlights aspects of tabla performance and instruction practice particular to this diasporic community. I argue that through disparate cultural influences, the relationship between students and teachers informs ideas of Indian heritage while introducing foreign musical concepts that challenge established markers of Indo-Guyanese heritage. By closely examining this immigrant group’s emerging tabla practices, my project illuminates how New York’s Indo-Guyanese immigrant population actively debates the role of heritage within their community.
Immigration, the frontier, and the EU's reluctant gatekeepers: a comparative assessment of Greece and Poland
Creators: name: Blackwell, Jenni Marie
Publisher: name: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2011

description: Immigration is arguably the greatest and most challenging domestic issues throughout Europe. Since its creation, the European Union has attempted to create cohesive and consistent policy standards that allow states to effectively control immigration. However, today the European Union, and all of its member states, is inundated with undocumented or illegal immigrants. As a consequence, states are being economically, structurally, and socially challenged in many ways. At the frontier of the European Union's battle against immigration are its Border States and most importantly Greece and Poland. Geographically vulnerable, economically disadvantaged and structurally incapable, both Greece and Poland have reluctantly accepted their roles as gatekeepers but are failing to manage immigration for vastly different reasons. Comparatively assessing the critical issues, state response, and the European Union's response to Greece and Poland's immigration shortfalls demonstrates the need for a more comprehensive immigration policy and the resources required to create an unwavering frontier.
"Authors of Their Being": The Enactment of Elite Southern Motherhood, 1750-1820
Creators: name: Smith, Katy Simpson
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2008

description: This thesis explores the lives of elite white women in Virginia and the Carolinas through their letters and diaries in order to gauge the impact of the Revolution on their methods and conceptions of motherhood. Rather than finding the Revolution to be a rupture and the ideology of republican motherhood to mark a sea change in women's lives, I discover a wealth of commonalities between the attitudes and approaches of mothers on both sides of the Revolutionary moment. I argue that the key changes for mothers which emerged between 1750 and 1820 were related not to the Revolution, but to expanding access to educational tools, changing educational philosophy, and increasing secularization, changes which were inextricably entwined with the Enlightenment. By uncovering women's words about childhood education, children's literature, and gendered goals for young sons and daughters, I prove that the gradual spread of the Enlightenment had a greater impact on Southern motherhood than any one political moment.
Pion and kaon in the Beth-Uhlenbeck approach
Creators: name: Dubinin, A.
name: Blaschke, D.
name: Radzhabov, A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In the present work the Mott effect for pions and kaons is described within a Beth- Uhlenbeck approach on the basis of the PNJL model. The contribution of these degrees of freedom to the thermodynamics is encoded in the temperature dependence of their phase shifts. A comparison with results from $N_f = 2 + 1$ lattice QCD thermodynamics is performed.
description: 4 pages, 2 figures, Contribution to the Proceedings of the Conference "Strangeness in Quark Matter", July 6-11, 2015, Dubna, Russia
Random wiring, ganglion cell mosaics, and the functional architecture of the visual cortex
Creators: name: Schottdorf, Manuel
name: Keil, Wolfgang
name: Coppola, David
name: White, Leonard E.
name: Wolf, Fred
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC)
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: The architecture of iso-orientation domains in the primary visual cortex of placental carnivores and primates apparently follows species invariant quantitative laws. Dynamical optimization models assuming that neurons coordinate their stimulus preferences throughout cortical circuits linking millions of cells specifically predict these invariants. This might indicate that V1's intrinsic connectome and its functional architecture adhere to a single optimization principle with high precision and robustness. To validate this hypothesis, it is critical to closely examine the quantitative predictions of alternative candidate theories. Random feedforward wiring within the retino-cortical pathway represents a conceptually appealing alternative to dynamical circuit optimization because random dimension-expanding projections are believed to generically exhibit computationally favorable properties for stimulus representations. Here, we ask whether the quantitative invariants of V1 architecture can be explained as a generic emergent property of random wiring. We generalize and examine the stochastic wiring model proposed by Ringach and coworkers, in which iso-orientation domains in the visual cortex arise through random feedforward connections between semi-regular mosaics of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and visual cortical neurons. We derive closed-form expressions for cortical receptive fields and domain layouts predicted by the model for perfectly hexagonal RGC mosaics [...] We conclude that V1 layout invariants are specific quantitative signatures of visual cortical optimization, which cannot be explained by generic random feedforward-wiring models. *See pdf for the full abstract.*
description: 46 pages; 10 Figures; Manuel Schottdorf and Wolfgang Keil contributed equally to this work. Correspondence should be addressed to Wolfgang Keil
The effect of aerobic exercise on circulating microRNA expression: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Creators: name: Kreutzer, Andreas
name: Shah, Meena
name: Carr, Joshua
name: Porter, Ryan
name: Cheek, Dennis
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Medical Sciences
subject: Sports Sciences
subject: Kinesiology
subject: Exercise Science
subject: Physiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Exercise Physiology
subject: Medicine and Health Sciences
subject: Life Sciences
subject: Physiological Processes
subject: Genetic Processes

description: The purpose of this project is to perform a critical review and meta-analysis of studies investigating the effect of aerobic exercise on circulating microRNA expression in healthy adult humans.
RATIONAL DESIGN AND SYNTHESIS OF SMALL MOLECULES TARGETED AGAINST NEURODEGENERATIVE PROCESSES AND DISEASES
Creators: name: GORNATI, DAVIDE
Publisher: name: Universit� degli Studi di Milano
Year: 2019

description: Improved sanitary conditions, disease prevention (e.g., vaccinations) and treatment (e.g., antibiotics) have increased life expectancy, up to the 67.2 years value in 2010. Unfortunately, living longer a poor life does not represent anyone?s dream, mostly due to neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). Alzheimer?s Disease International (ADI) estimates in its 2013 report that there are more than 35 million people with dementia worldwide as of 2010, and that this number will double by 2030 and triplicate by 2050. In industrialized countries the prevalence of Parkinson?s disease (PD) is about 1% for people over 60, with estimates of up to 4% for people in the highest age groups. In 2016 the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that between 14,000 - 15,000 Americans suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). These and other NDDs are the result of neurodegenerative processes, that entail the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, eventually causing their death. Symptomatic treatment strategies available on the market for NDDs are inadequate, as they offer only temporary relief without changing the ultimate NDD outcome. Effective treatment of NDDs should be based on small molecules able to modulate disease-modifying pathways involved in the development and/or the progression of NDDs, to cause their remission. In my Ph.D. work I focused on four different pathways (each described in a dedicated Chapter) involved in the development of multiple NDDs. With the aim to therapeutically modulate them by promoting and/or inhibiting those targets, I?ve rationally designed and synthetized several classes of compounds. My research group established a multi-disciplinary approach in collaboration with bioinformatics, biologists, pharmacologists and clinicians; thus, my putative NDD treatments were tested by our collaborators in different Universities and Institutes (CIBIO, University of Trento; San Raffaele Research Institute, Milan; Department of Neuroscience, Federico II University, Naples).
Target Tracking in Confined Environments with Uncertain Sensor Positions
Creators: name: Savic, Vladimir
name: Wymeersch, Henk
name: Larsson, Erik G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Other Computer Science (cs.OH)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: To ensure safety in confined environments such as mines or subway tunnels, a (wireless) sensor network can be deployed to monitor various environmental conditions. One of its most important applications is to track personnel, mobile equipment and vehicles. However, the state-of-the-art algorithms assume that the positions of the sensors are perfectly known, which is not necessarily true due to imprecise placement and/or dropping of sensors. Therefore, we propose an automatic approach for simultaneous refinement of sensors' positions and target tracking. We divide the considered area in a finite number of cells, define dynamic and measurement models, and apply a discrete variant of belief propagation which can efficiently solve this high-dimensional problem, and handle all non-Gaussian uncertainties expected in this kind of environments. Finally, we use ray-tracing simulation to generate an artificial mine-like environment and generate synthetic measurement data. According to our extensive simulation study, the proposed approach performs significantly better than standard Bayesian target tracking and localization algorithms, and provides robustness against outliers.
description: IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 2015