cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
title: Interactive whole class teaching in science lessons in Key Stage 2 classes
Creators: name: McMahon, K
Publisher: name: Bath Spa University
Year: 2010

description: This study aims to contribute to the development of models of teaching science at Key Stage 2 (pupils aged 7-11 years) by considering the role of 'interactive whole class teaching', a teaching strategy advocated by the UK government's primary literacy and numeracy strategies in the late 1990s. An exploration of the meaning of 'interactive whole class teaching' brings a sociocultural perspective on the role of talk to the predominantly social constructivist models of teaching science in primary schools. Two case studies of primary teachers' practice have been constructed, each consisting of a sequence of lessons that make up an entire science topic, providing a rich, situated account of the role of interactive whole class teaching in science lessons over an extended time. A key method of enquiry has been the analysis of video data and respondent validation through video stimulated reflective dialogues. The meanings of dialogic and authoritative episodes of whole class teaching are considered in terms of the development of conceptual and procedural scientific knowledge on the social plane of the class over episodes, lessons and sequences of lessons. The findings indicate that whole class teaching has a role in the ongoing elicitation and discussion of children's ideas about concepts and procedures, creating and maintaining an intermental development zone for the class. It also has a role in modelling scientific procedures, and in exploring the relationship between phenomena, experiment and explanations to construct a version of science. Recommendations are made as to how the existing models of teaching science could make the relationships between the nature of whole class interactions, type of teaching activities and pedagogical aims more explicit. The case studies raise questions about determining an appropriate balance between dialogic and authoritative talk in primary science to develop a discourse that values both existing scientific knowledge and children's appropriation and transformation of this knowledge through negotiation within the social plane of the primary classroom.
Numerical simulations of solar macrospicules
Creators: name: Murawski, K.
name: Srivastava, Abhishek K.
name: Zaqarashvili, T. V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Context. We consider a localized pulse in the component of velocity, parallel to the ambient magnetic field lines, that is initially launched in the solar chromosphere. Aims. We aim to generalize the recent numerical model of spicule formation (Murawski & Zaqarashvili 2010) by implementing a VAL-C model of solar temperature. Methods. With the use of the code FLASH we solve two-dimensional ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations numerically to simulate the solar macrospicules. Results. Our numerical results reveal that the pulse located below the transition region triggers plasma perturbations, which exhibit many features of macrospicules. We also present an observational (SDO/AIA 304 A) case study of the macrospicule that approximately mimics the numerical simulations. Conclusions. In the frame of the model we devised, the solar macrospicules can be triggered by velocity pulses launched from the chromosphere.
description: 9 pages, 7 figures, A&A
A legal strategy to revise the approved South Saskatchewan River Basin management plan
Creators: name: Grumbach, Rachelle
Publisher: name: Environmental Design
Year: 2007

description: No bibliography.
description: The Approved South Saskatchewan River Basin Management Plan (SSRBMP) is a multi­phased example of a regional watershed plan recommended by Alberta's Water for Life Strategy. The purpose of this water management plan is to resolve water management issues. There are several challenges for implementation of this plan, including: (1) almost full allocation of the water supply in the Bow and Oldman rivers without commitments to instream flow needs, (2) limited available scientific information for making predictions on the adverse impacts from incremental withdrawal and the benefits of incremental flow restoration, and (3) demand for water is expected to exceed the supply of water when existing licenses, a commitment to protect the aquatic environment, and future growth are factored together. There are tools within the Water Act and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act to implement the goal ofreliable quality water supplies and aquatic ecosystem protection. The precautionary principle may be used to aid in the interpretation of statutory provisions in favour of environmental protection.
Additional file 1: of Effects of traditional Chinese herbal medicine in patients with diabetic kidney disease: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Creators: name: Wang, Mengdi
name: Wang, Zhen
name: Zhou, Jingwei
name: Sun, Weiwei
name: Wang, Ying
name: Han, Mei
name: Yang, Hanwen
name: Liu, Wei
name: Wang, Yaoxian
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2018
Subjects: Medicine
Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
Marine Biology
Science Policy
Virology

description: Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) Checklist. (DOC 135 kb)
Unforgeable Noise-Tolerant Quantum Tokens
Creators: name: Pastawski, Fernando
name: Yao, Norman Y.
name: Jiang, Liang
name: Lukin, Mikhail D.
name: Cirac, J. Ignacio
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The realization of devices which harness the laws of quantum mechanics represents an exciting challenge at the interface of modern technology and fundamental science. An exemplary paragon of the power of such quantum primitives is the concept of "quantum money". A dishonest holder of a quantum bank-note will invariably fail in any forging attempts; indeed, under assumptions of ideal measurements and decoherence-free memories such security is guaranteed by the no-cloning theorem. In any practical situation, however, noise, decoherence and operational imperfections abound. Thus, the development of secure "quantum money"-type primitives capable of tolerating realistic infidelities is of both practical and fundamental importance. Here, we propose a novel class of such protocols and demonstrate their tolerance to noise; moreover, we prove their rigorous security by determining tight fidelity thresholds. Our proposed protocols require only the ability to prepare, store and measure single qubit quantum memories, making their experimental realization accessible with current technologies.
description: 18 pages, 5 figures
CustomProcessingUnit: Reverse Engineering and Customization of Intel Microcode
Creators: name: Borrello, Pietro
name: Easdon, Catherine
name: Schwarzl, Martin
name: Czerny, Roland
name: Schwarz, Michael
Publisher: name: CISPA
Year: 2023

description: Microcode provides an abstraction layer over the instruction set to decompose complex instructions into simpler micro-operations that can be more easily implemented in hardware. It is an essential optimization to simplify the design of x86 processors. However, introducing an additional layer of software beneath the instruction set poses security and reliability concerns. The microcode details are confidential to the manufacturers, preventing independent auditing or customization of the microcode. Moreover, microcode patches are signed and encrypted to prevent unauthorized patching and reverse engineering. However, recent research has recovered decrypted microcode and reverse-engineered read/write debug mechanisms on Intel Goldmont (Atom), making analysis and customization of microcode possible on a modern Intel microarchitecture. In this work, we present the first framework for static and dynamic analysis of Intel microcode. Building upon prior research, we reverse-engineer Goldmont microcode semantics and reconstruct the patching primitives for microcode customization. For static analysis, we implement a Ghidra processor module for decompilation and analysis of decrypted microcode. For dynamic analysis, we create a UEFI application that can trace and patch microcode to provide complete microcode control on Goldmont systems. Leveraging our framework, we reverse-engineer the confidential Intel microcode update algorithm and perform the first security analysis of its design and implementation. In three further case studies, we illustrate the potential security and performance benefits of microcode customization. We provide the first x86 Pointer Authentication Code (PAC) microcode implementation and its security evaluation, design and implement fast software breakpoints that are more than 1000x faster than standard breakpoints, and present constant-time microcode division, illustrating the potential security and performance benefits of microcode customization.
Long-term low salt diet increases blood pressure by activation of the renin-angiotensin and sympathetic nervous systems
Creators: name: Wang, Jialiang
name: Deng, Yi
name: Zou, Xue
name: Luo, Hao
name: Jose, Pedro A.
name: Fu, Chunjiang
name: Yang, Jian
name: Zeng, Chunyu
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Medicine
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Physiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Inorganic Chemistry
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Science Policy

description: Background The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of long-term low salt diet on blood pressure and its underlying mechanisms. Methods Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into normal salt diet group (0.4%) and low salt diet group (0.04%). Blood pressure was measured with the non-invasive tail-cuff method. The contractile response of isolated mesenteric arteries was measured using a small vessel myograph. The effects on renal function of the intrarenal arterial infusion of candesartan (10 μg/kg/min), an angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1R) antagonist, were also measured. The expressions of renal AT1R and mesenteric arterial α1A, α1B, and α1D adrenergic receptors were quantified by immunoblotting. Plasma levels of angiotensin II were also measured. Results Systolic blood pressure was significantly increased after 8 weeks of low salt diet. There were no obvious differences in the renal structure between the low and normal salt diet groups. However, the plasma angiotensin II levels and renal AT1R expression were higher in low than normal salt diet group. The intrarenal arterial infusion of candesartan increased urine flow and sodium excretion to a greater extent in the low than normal salt diet group. The expressions of α1A and α1D, but not α1B, adrenergic receptors, and phenylephrine-induced contraction were increased in mesenteric arteries from the low salt, relative to the normal salt diet group. Conclusion Activation of the renin-angiotensin and sympathetic nervous systems may be involved in the pathogenesis of long-term low salt diet-induced hypertension.
title: Space, place and site through moving image installation art practice: entering elsewhere
Creators: name: Whiting, M
Publisher: name: Bath Spa University
Year: 2010

description: This practice-led thesis primarily investigates space, place and site through experiencing moving image installation art practice, focusing on ways in which artists use site as moving image subject. Integral to this examination is my own work, exploring specific sites through filming, editing and installation. By purposeful experimentation, visual finding and discoveries, questions emerging from practice are raised, and are examined through practice and mutual engagement with other contemporary art works. An experiential and comparative approach has led to critical engagement of strategies and tactics used by contemporary artists, shown in the U.K. between 2002 and 2009, including Willie Doherty, Ori Gersht, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Matt White and Lucy Gunning. I also draw upon selected works from moving image’s history, through which further commonalities are made apparent, examining works by Robert Smithson, Andy Warhol, Margaret Tait, William Raban and Tacita Dean (among others). The works are investigated through first hand experience, through visual analysis including artist and gallerist interviews, and through articulating the making of my own installations. Space, place and site are critically examined through encountering the projected image, acknowledging that while the works experienced possess powerful imagery, their impact extends beyond purely aesthetic definitions. This written component engages with the event of the artwork as a mode of being that occurs in the interval between the viewer and the observed subject. Relevant theoretical approaches are used to consider the works drawing on a broad base of literature, including: Edward Soja, Doris von Drathan and Irit Rogoff in order to investigate the central concepts. The discursive account interrogates a complex terrain, opening out apperceptive approaches made in terms of filming, editing and installation, constructing a vibrant and reciprocal research field; one that suggests that there exists a collective field of work, which until now has lain submerged in the broader picture of moving image installation. It emerges here for the first time as a (selected) focused view of a significant body of site oriented moving image installations, thus serving as a context for approaches made in my own art practice.
Dealing with doubts: georeferencing in archaeology and the geosciences
Creators: name: Thiery, Florian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023

description: Archaeological research must handle doubts such as vagueness and uncertainty in data modelling. This occurs especially in georeferencing. Creating reproducible and comprehensible data for re-use, while guaranteeing data quality in archaeological data, involves disclosing any doubts and ambiguities. This is also important for data FAIRification, addressed in the NFDI. Especially vagueness and uncertainty must be modelled to work with geodata.  However, for linking data and FAIRification graph-based modelling as Linked  Open  Data  (LOD) proposed by Berners-Lee is the method and technique of choice. Due to the huge variety of research domains, an interdisciplinary commonly understandable modelling of uncertainties and vagueness in research data is extremely challenging. 

This paper discusses three data-driven interdisciplinary use cases of dealing with and modelling vague and uncertain geo-references (findspots) based on literature as LOD from the archaeological and geosciences domain.
Amor Fati: Nietzsche's formula for human greatness (A philosophical guide to saying Yes to life)
Creators: name: Hulbert-Smith, Shelley Ann
Publisher: name: Arts
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Nietzsche, Friedrich
subject: Amor Fati
subject: Philosophy
subject: FOS: Philosophy, ethics and religion

description: This dissertation might be described as a philosophical biography of an idea —Nietzsche’s idea of ‘amor fati’, ‘love of fate’. First introduced in 1882, amor fati marks a renewed affirmation of life for Nietzsche, a new understanding of what it means to say yes to life. In this thesis I show how loving fate informs both Nietzsche’s critique of Christianity, and proposed replacement of traditional values with life-affirming values. For such an important idea, Nietzsche’s published references to amor fati are not frequent — four occurrences in his published works. In fact, the importance of the idea to Nietzsche is highlighted, not cast into doubt, by a close look at how and when he discusses it in his published works. After he introduces the notion in 1882 as a very important new year’s resolution urging himself to love fate, he returns to it in the final three occurrences at the end of his productive life. I argue that the ambition of loving fate acted as a type of lighthouse – his beacon drawing him back from the dangerous waters of philosophical exploration and the dark clouds of personal suffering. He calls amor fati his “greatest love” and as his “formula for human greatness in a human being”.
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics of stochastic systems with odd and even variables
Creators: name: Spinney, Richard E.
name: Ford, Ian J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The total entropy production of stochastic systems can be divided into three quantities. The first corresponds to the excess heat, whilst the second two comprise the house-keeping heat. We denote these two components the transient and generalised house-keeping heat and we obtain an integral fluctuation theorem for the latter, valid for all Markovian stochastic dynamics. A previously reported formalism is obtained when the stationary probability distribution is symmetric for all variables that are odd under time reversal which restricts consideration of directional variables such as velocity.
Mechanical folding/unfolding of proteins probed by single molecule atomic force microscopy
Creators: name: Peng, Qing
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: The mechanical folding/unfolding of proteins is involved in many biological processes. However, the molecular mechanism underlining the mechanical folding/unfolding of proteins remains an open question. Most of the current knowledge about the protein folding is from ensemble measurements. In the study of the molecular mechanism underlying the mechanical folding/unfolding of proteins, single molecule atomic force microscopy (AFM) has its unique advantages. Although many endeavors have been made by using single molecule AFM to study the mechanical folding/unfolding of proteins and numerous interesting details have been revealed, the underlying mechanism of protein mechanical folding/unfolding remains largely unknown. The main objective of this thesis is to study the mechanical folding/unfolding of some model proteins using single molecule AFM. First, we studied the mechanical unfolding pathways of two domain-insertion proteins: a natural one, T4-lysozyme (T4L), and an artificially designed one, GL5/T4L (GL5: a mutant of protein GB1). Our study on T4L provided the first direct evidence of the kinetic partitioning assumption for protein folding at the single molecule level. Our study on GL5/T4L revealed its mechanical unfolding pathway with a reversed mechanical unfolding hierarchy. The designing of domain-insertion proteins also presented a new concept to program the mechanical unfolding pathway of multi-domain proteins. Second, we studied the mechanical folding/unfolding of TNfn3 domain by combining single molecule AFM with the steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulation and protein engineering. The mechanical design of TNfn3 was found robust and the backbone H-bonds of TNfn3 were found critical for its mechanical stability. Our results showed the first direct evidence that the mechanical folding pathways of TNfn3 are governed by kinetic partitioning. Third, we studied the folding/unfolding kinetics and mechanics of an artificially designed mutually exclusive protein GL5/I27w34f (I27w34f: a tryptophan removed mutant of I27). The mutually exclusive protein GL5/I27w34f is designed to mimic the natural domain-insertion proteins which are typically difficult to study directly. Our study provided the first direct evidence that protein folding can generate sufficient mechanical strain to unravel a host protein and the folding of mutually exclusive proteins involving a tug-of-war. Mutually exclusive proteins provide a new system for manipulating protein folding.
Higher-order renormalization of graphene many-body theory
Creators: name: Gonzalez, J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the many-body theory of graphene Dirac quasiparticles interacting via the long-range Coulomb potential, taking as a starting point the ladder approximation to different vertex functions. We test in this way the low-energy behavior of the electron system beyond the simple logarithmic dependence of electronic correlators on the high-energy cutoff, which is characteristic of the large-N approximation. We show that the graphene many-body theory is perfectly renormalizable in the ladder approximation, as all higher powers in the cutoff dependence can be absorbed into the redefinition of a finite number of parameters (namely, the Fermi velocity and the weight of the fields) that remain free of infrared divergences even at the charge neutrality point. We illustrate this fact in the case of the vertex for the current density, where a complete cancellation between the cutoff dependences of vertex and electron self-energy corrections becomes crucial for the preservation of the gauge invariance of the theory. The other potentially divergent vertex corresponds to the staggered (sublattice odd) charge density, which is made cutoff independent by a redefinition in the scale of the density operator. This allows to compute a well-defined, scale invariant anomalous dimension to all orders in the ladder series, which becomes singular at a value of the interaction strength marking the onset of chiral symmetry breaking (and gap opening) in the Dirac field theory. The critical coupling we obtain in this way matches with great accuracy the value found with a quite different method, based on the resolution of the gap equation, thus reassuring the predictability of our renormalization approach.
description: 27 pages, 7 figures, references added
Localization of fermions in different domain wall models
Creators: name: Castillo-Felisola, Oscar
name: Schmidt, Ivan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Localization of fermions is studied in different gravitational domain wall models. These are generalizations of the brane-world models considered by Randall and Sundrum, but which also allow gravitational localization. Therefore, they might be considered as possible realistic scenarios for phenomenology.
description: RevTeX, 6 pages, 10 figures
An Update of Seismic Monitoring and Research in the Vicinity of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant: January 2013–December 2017
Creators: name: Wang, Zhenming
name: Woolery, Edward W.
name: Carpenter, N. Seth
Publisher: name: Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky
Year: 2019

description: Abstract: From January 2013 to December 2017, the Kentucky Geological Survey monitored earthquakes and conducted research on seismic hazards in the vicinity of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a former uranium enrichment facility, in western Kentucky. Fifteen earthquakes with magnitude greater than 3.0 occurred in the area during this period, and data were collected from the Central U.S. Seismic Observatory and the vertical seismic array at the gaseous diffusion plant. This monitoring improved our understanding of seismic-wave propagation through thick sediments and ground-motion site effects, as well as fault locations in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, ground-motion attenuation, and seismic-hazard assessment. Results have been communicated through publications and presentations at workshops and conferences. The data will contribute to the development of design ground motions for western Kentucky, and specifically for buildings and facilities at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.  Copyright: © 2019 University of Kentucky
Hotel L'informe: using the hotel to implicate social and cultural indifference
Creators: name: Gracey, Bryce
Publisher: name: Environmental Design
Year: 2007

description: Bibliography: p. 80-81
description: Some pages are in colour.
description: The 'culture industry' is a concept developed by cultural critic Theodor Adorno to describe how entertainment and leisure time, privilege, vacant aesthetics, and materialistic consumption preoccupy the Western social majority. Involvement in the culture industry results in a degradation of subjectivity and the propagation of indifference. Architecture's involvement in the culture industry is most pronounced in the up-scale or grand hotel. The grand hotel envelops its guests in the pretty and seemingly harmonious aesthetic of the culture industry, encouraging them to 'get away from it all' by preoccupying the guests with the hotel's enchantment and amenities. Meanwhile, pressing social and cultural ailments are segregated to the exterior to the hotel's confines. Adorno suggests that instilling a sense of tension within the aesthetic conditions found in the products of the culture industry through the inclusion of that which is not socially preapproved (the ugly within the pretty), may disrupt the culture industry's influence. As a stratified typology serving the entire social spectrum, the hotel manifests itself in various formal and functional variations. It can be the pretty grand hotel, a product of the culture industry serving the affluent, but also the lodging hotel, an ugly strictly utilitarian product serving the destitute population marginalized by the culture industry, the working poor and homeless. After a description of the two hotel types, there will be a more thorough exploration of the concept of the culture industry and of the tension which has the potential to disrupt it. This formulation of tension will then be transposed to an architectural methodology through a comparison of Adorno's formulation of the ugly/pretty and George Bataille's conception of l 'informe (the formless). Finally, this methodology will be applied to the design of a hotel with the intention to disrupt the culture industry's propagation of indifference within the grand hotel by placing a lodging hotel within it. The ornate neo-classical Bank of Montreal building on the Northeast corner of Stephen Avenue and 1st Southwest, Calgary, AB will be the site of this exploration.
Exact Sequences for the Homology of the Matching Complex
Creators: name: Jonsson, Jakob
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Combinatorics (math.CO)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 55U10, 05E25

description: Building on work by Bouc and by Shareshian and Wachs, we provide a toolbox of long exact sequences for the reduced simplicial homology of the matching complex $M_n$, which is the simplicial complex of matchings in the complete graph $K_n$. Combining these sequences in different ways, we prove several results about the 3-torsion part of the homology of $M_n$. First, we demonstrate that there is nonvanishing 3-torsion in $H_d(M_n;Z)$ whenever $ν_n \le d \le (n-6}/2$, where $ν_n= \lceil (n-4)/3 \rceil$. By results due to Bouc and to Shareshian and Wachs, $H_{ν_n}(M_n;Z)$ is a nontrivial elementary 3-group for almost all $n$ and the bottom nonvanishing homology group of $M_n$ for all $n \neq 2$. Second, we prove that $H_d(M_n;Z)$ is a nontrivial 3-group whenever $ν_n \le d \le (2n-9)/5$. Third, for each $k \ge 0$, we show that there is a polynomial $f_k(r)$ of degree 3k such that the dimension of $H_{k-1+r}(M_{2k+1+3r};Z_3)$, viewed as a vector space over $Z_3$, is at most $f_k(r)$ for all $r \ge k+2$.
description: 31 pages
Quantum Hall effect on centimeter scale chemical vapor deposited graphene films
Creators: name: Shen, Tian
name: Wu, Wei
name: Yu, Qingkai
name: Richter, Curt A
name: Elmquist, Randolph
name: Newell, David
name: Chen, Yong P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report observations of well developed half integer quantum Hall effect (QHE) on mono layer graphene films of 7 mm \times 7 mm in size. The graphene films are grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on copper, then transferred to SiO_{2} /Si substrates, with typical carrier mobilities \approx 4000 cm^{2} /Vs. The large size graphene with excellent quality and electronic homogeneity demonstrated in this work is promising for graphene-based quantum Hall resistance standards, and can also facilitate a wide range of experiments on quantum Hall physics of graphene and practical applications exploiting the exceptional properties of graphene.
Long-term low salt diet increases blood pressure by activation of the renin-angiotensin and sympathetic nervous systems
Creators: name: Wang, Jialiang
name: Deng, Yi
name: Zou, Xue
name: Luo, Hao
name: A. Jose, Pedro
name: Fu, Chunjiang
name: Yang, Jian
name: Zeng, Chunyu
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Medicine
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Physiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Inorganic Chemistry
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Science Policy

description: Background The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of long-term low salt diet on blood pressure and its underlying mechanisms. Methods Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into normal salt diet group (0.4%) and low salt diet group (0.04%). Blood pressure was measured with the non-invasive tail-cuff method. The contractile response of isolated mesenteric arteries was measured using a small vessel myograph. The effects on renal function of the intrarenal arterial infusion of candesartan (10 μg/kg/min), an angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1R) antagonist, were also measured. The expressions of renal AT1R and mesenteric arterial α1A, α1B, and α1D adrenergic receptors were quantified by immunoblotting. Plasma levels of angiotensin II were also measured. Results Systolic blood pressure was significantly increased after 8 weeks of low salt diet. There were no obvious differences in the renal structure between the low and normal salt diet groups. However, the plasma angiotensin II levels and renal AT1R expression were higher in low than normal salt diet group. The intrarenal arterial infusion of candesartan increased urine flow and sodium excretion to a greater extent in the low than normal salt diet group. The expressions of α1A and α1D, but not α1B, adrenergic receptors, and phenylephrine-induced contraction were increased in mesenteric arteries from the low salt, relative to the normal salt diet group. Conclusion Activation of the renin-angiotensin and sympathetic nervous systems may be involved in the pathogenesis of long-term low salt diet-induced hypertension.
The Leaky Web: Automated Discovery of Cross-Site Information Leaks in Browsers and the Web
Creators: name: Rautenstrauch, Jannis
name: Pellegrino, Giancarlo
name: Stock, Ben
Publisher: name: CISPA
Year: 2023

description: When browsing the web, none of us want sites to infer which other sites we may have visited before or are logged in to. However, attacker-controlled sites may infer this state through browser side-channels dubbed Cross-Site Leaks (XS-Leaks). Although these issues have been known since the 2000s, prior reports mostly found individual instances of issues rather than systematically studying the problem space. Further, actual impact in the wild often remained opaque. To address these open problems, we develop the first automated framework to systematically discover observation channels in browsers. In doing so, we detect and characterize 280 observation channels that leak information cross-site in the engines of Chromium, Firefox, and Safari, which include many variations of supposedly fixed leaks. Atop this framework, we create an automatic pipeline to find XS-Leaks in real-world websites. With this pipeline, we conduct the largest to-date study on XS-Leak prevalence in the wild by performing visit inference and a newly proposed variant cookie acceptance inference attack on the Tranco Top10K. In addition, we test 100 websites for the classic XS-Leak attack vector of login detection. Our results show that XS-Leaks pose a significant threat to the web ecosystem as at least 15%, 34%, and 77% of all tested sites are vulnerable to the three attacks. Also, we present substantial implementation differences between the browsers resulting in differing attack surfaces that matter in the wild. To ensure browser vendors and web developers alike can check their applications for XS-Leaks, we open-source our framework and include an extensive discussion on countermeasures to get rid of XS-Leaks in the near future and ensure new features in browsers do not introduce new XS-Leaks.
On the Origin of the Trigger-Angle Dependence of the Ridge Structure
Creators: name: Hama, Yogiro
name: Andrade, Rone P. G.
name: Grassi, Frederique
name: Qian, Wei-Liang
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The origin of the trigger-angle dependence of the ridge structure in two-hadron long-range correlations, as observed at RHIC, is discussed as due to an interplay between the elliptic flow caused by the initial state global geometry and flow produced by fluctuations.
description: 4 pages, 4 figures, prepared for ISMD 2011 Proceedings
Region- and layer-specific mechanical and microstructural properties of human ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms
Creators: name: Sattari, Samaneh
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Ascending aortic aneurysm
subject: Layer-specific biaxial data
subject: Region-specific properties
subject: Stiffness
subject: Anisotropy
subject: Histology
subject: Engineering--Biomedical
subject: Engineering--Mechanical

description: Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms are pathological enlargements of the vessel at the level of the thoracic ascending aorta. Understanding the biomechanical properties of the aorta may provide complementary information to aneurysm morphology to improve risk of rupture assessment. In this research, layer- and region-specific mechanical and microstructural properties of aneurysmal and healthy tissues were studied using biaxial tensile tests and histology. Aorta consists of four regions including anterior, posterior, large and small curvatures. From each of these regions, two adjacent specimens were harvested. One of them was considered as composite wall, while two layers of intima/media and adventitia were separated for the adjacent specimen and tested individually. Our results showed no significant regional differences in mechanical characterizations and elastin contents of the both healthy and aneurysmal specimens. However, significant differences were found in mechanical and structural properties between media and adventitia layers.
Complete mitochondrial genomes of two damselfly species in coenagrionidae and phylogenetic implications
Creators: name: Jiang, Bin
name: Li, Jia
name: Zhang, Yongmei
name: Sun, Yang
name: He, Shulin
name: Yu, Guozhi
name: Lv, Guosheng
name: Mikolajewski, Dirk J.
Publisher: name: Freie Universität Berlin
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Coenagrionidae
subject: damselfly
subject: mitogenomes
subject: phylogeny
subject: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie

description: Agriocnemis femina (Brauer, 1868) and Ischnura senegalensis (Rambur, 1842) are two damselflies inhabiting paddy lands. As an intermediate predator, they play an important role in controlling certain crop pest and mosquitoes. In this study, we sequenced complete mitogenomes of these two species. The total length of mitogenomes is 15,936 bp in A. femina and 15,762 bp in I. senegalensis. Both of mitogenomes consist of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, and one control region. The close relationship between I. senegalensis and I. elegans was further proved by phylogenetic analysis. Our phylogenetic analysis indicated a clear two lineages in Coenagrionidae (Core and ridge-faced Coenagrionidae). Ridge-faced Coenagrionidae consisted of Megaloprepus caerulatus and Ceriagrion fallax. In core Coenagrionidae, Ischnura and Enallagma are most closely related; they formed one clade with Agriocnemis and then grouped together with Paracerion. Our study provides new genetic information for further study in phylogenetic analysis of Coenagrionidae.
The curvature tensor of almost cosymplectic and almost Kenmotsu (κ,μ,ν)-spaces
Creators: name: Carriazo, Alfonso
name: Martín-Molina, Verónica
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Differential Geometry (math.DG)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 53C15, 53C25

description: We study the Riemann curvature tensor of (κ,μ,ν)-spaces when they have almost cosymplectic and almost Kenmotsu structures, giving its writing explicitly. This leads to the definition and study of a natural generalisation of the contact metric (κ,μ,ν)-spaces. We present examples or obstruction results of these spaces in all possible cases.
A Randomized Phase IIa Trial with Temsirolimus versus Sunitinib in Advanced Non-Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma: An Intergroup Study of the CESAR Central European Society for Anticancer Drug Research-EWIV and the Interdisciplinary Working Group on Renal Cell Cancer (IAGN) of the German Cancer Society
Creators: name: Bergmann, Lothar
name: Grünwald, Viktor
name: Maute, Luise
name: Grimm, Marc-Oliver
name: Weikert, Steffen
name: Schleicher, Jan
name: Klotz, Theodor
name: Greiner, Jochen
name: Flörcken, Anne
name: Hartmann, Arndt
name: Gauler, Thomas
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Non-clear cell renal cell cancer
subject: Sunitinib
subject: Temsirolimus
subject: Randomized trial
subject: Phase II trial
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Background:Non-clear cell renal cell cancers (nccRCC) are rare entities, and the optimal therapy in metastatic disease has still to be defined. Methods:In this small prospectively randomized phase IIa multicenter trial, we investigated temsirolimus (TEM) versus sunitinib (SUN) as first-line therapy in patients with metastatic nccRCC. The patients were randomized 1:1 to either TEM in a dose of 25 mg i.v. once a week or SUN with 50 mg p.o. daily for 4 weeks on and 2 weeks off. Primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). In total, 22 patients were included with predominantly papillary RCC (16/22) followed by chromophobe RCC and others. Results:The male to female ratio was 16:6. The tumor control rate (CR + PR + SD) was 58% for TEM and 90% for SUN-treated patients. There was also a trend for improved PFS with 9.3 versus 13.2 months (HR 1.64; 95% CI 0.65-4.18) in favor of SUN. There was no trend for overall survival. Conclusions:Despite this trial had to be terminated earlier due to low recruitment, the results match the other studies published so far with the mTOR inhibitor everolimus and SUN, which show a trend in favor of SUN for ORR and PFS.
A new connection between the opening angle and the large-scale morphology of extragalactic radio sources
Creators: name: Krause, Martin
name: Alexander, Paul
name: Riley, Julia
name: Hopton, Daniel
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In the case of an initially conical jet, we study the relation between jet collimation by the external pressure and large-scale morphology. We first consider the important length-scales in the problem, and then carry out axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations that include, for certain parameters, all these length-scales. We find three important scales related to the collimation region: (i) where the sideways ram-pressure equals the external pressure, (ii) where the jet density equals the ambient density, and (iii) where the forward ram-pressure falls below the ambient pressure. These scales are set by the external Mach-number and opening angle of the jet. We demonstrate that the relative magnitudes of these scales determine the collimation, Mach-number, density and morphology of the large scale jet. Based on analysis of the shock structure, we reproduce successfully the morphology of Fanaroff-Riley (FR) class I and II radio sources. Within the framework of the model, an FR I radio source must have a large intrinsic opening angle. Entrainment of ambient gas might also be important. We also show that all FR I sources with radio lobes or similar features must have had an earlier FR II phase.
description: 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRAS, same as previous version
Practical Timing Side-Channel Attacks on Memory Compression
Creators: name: Schwarzl, Martin
name: Borrello, Pietro
name: Saileshwar, Gururaj
name: Müller, Hanna
name: Schwarz, Michael
name: Gruss, Daniel
Publisher: name: CISPA
Year: 2023

description: Compression algorithms have side channels due to their data-dependent operations. So far only the compression-ratio side channel was exploited, e.g., the compressed data size. In this paper, we present Decomp+Time, the first memory compression attack exploiting a timing side channel in compression algorithms. While Decomp+Time affects a much broader set of applications than prior work, a key challenge is precisely crafting attacker-controlled compression payloads to enable the attack with sufficient resolution. We develop an evolutionary fuzzer, Comprezzor, to find effective Decomp+Time payloads that optimize latency differences and find payloads that are so effective that decompression timing can even be exploited in remote Decomp+Time attacks across the Internet. Decomp+Time has a capacity of 9.73 kB/s locally, and 10.72 bit/min across the internet (14 hops, > 700 miles). Using Comprezzor, we develop attacks that leak data byte-by-byte in four different case studies: First, we leak 1.50 bit/min from Memcached on a remote server running a PHP application. Second, we leak database records with 2.69 bit/min from PostgreSQL, managed by a Python-Flask application, over the internet. Third, we leak secrets with 49.14 bit/min locally from ZRAM-compressed pages on Linux. Fourth, we leak internal heap pointers from the V8 engine within the Google Chrome browser on a system using ZRAM. This highlights the importance of re-evaluating the use of compression on sensitive data even if the application is only reachable via a remote interface.
Optimal Time Point Locations on a Markovian Bus Route
Creators: name: Klumpenhouwer, Willem
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: transit operations
subject: holding control
subject: schedule design
subject: Optimization
subject: Markov chain
subject: Sociology--Transportation

description: Transit agencies struggle daily with the randomness experienced by vehicles as they traverse their routes. Since reliability is one of the most important factors in determining the quality of a transit system, it is important that agencies use effective and data-informed strategies to combat this randomness as much as possible. One commonly used strategy is holding control, where early buses are held at specifically chosen stops known as time points. This strategy presents a trade-off between improved reliability and longer overall travel time, and leads to the central research question: for a route with varied travel times between stops and fluctuating passenger demand, what is the optimal number and location of time points along a route? This thesis develops a mathematical Markov chain model of bus behaviour on an urban bus route which can capture the effects of time point placement and is sensitive to individual inter-stop travel times. After formulating a cost function to account for the various impacts of unreliability on passengers and operators, two algorithms are presented to optimally locate time points, with an improvement on existing configurations used by Calgary Transit in Calgary, Canada. Finally, a simulation model shows that holding control drastically reduces the occurrence of the phenomenon of bus bunching.
Biological invasions in Singapore and Southeast Asia: data gaps fail to mask potentially massive economic costs
Creators: name: Haubrock, Phillip J.
name: Cuthbert, Ross N.
name: Yeo, Darren C. J.
name: Banerjee, Achyut Kumar
name: Liu, Chunlong
name: Diagne, Christophe
name: Courchamp, Franck
Publisher: name: Freie Universität Berlin
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Ecosystem services
subject: imports
subject: InvaCost
subject: monetary impact
subject: tropics
subject: socioeconomic sectors
subject: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie

description: The impacts of invasive alien species are well-known and are categorised as a leading contributor to biodiversity loss globally. However, relatively little is known about the monetary costs incurred from invasions on national economies, hampering management responses. In this study, we used published data to describe the economic cost of invasions in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Singapore – a biodiversity-rich, tropical island city state with small size, high human density and high trade volume, three factors likely to increase invasions. In this country, as well as in others in Southeast Asia, cost data were scarce, with recorded costs available for only a small fraction of the species known to be invasive. Yet, the overall available economic costs to Singapore were estimated to be ~ US$ 1.72 billion in total since 1975 (after accounting for inflation), which is approximately one tenth of the total cost recorded in all of Southeast Asia (US$ 16.9 billion). These costs, in Singapore and Southeast Asia, were mostly linked to insects in the family Culicidae (principally Aedes spp.) and associated with damage, resource loss, healthcare and control-related spending. Projections for 11 additional species known to be invasive in Singapore, but with recorded costs only from abroad, amounted to an additional US$ 893.13 million, showing the potential huge gap between recorded and actual costs (cost records remain missing for over 90% of invasive species). No costs within the database for Singapore – or for other Southeast Asian countries – were exclusively associated with proactive management, highlighting that a shortage of reporting on the costs of invasions is mirrored by a lack of investment in management. Moreover, invasion cost entries in Singapore were under-reported relative to import levels, but total costs exceeded expectations, based on land area and population size, and to a greater extent than in other Southeast Asian countries. Therefore, the evaluation and reporting of economic costs of invasions need to be improved in this region to provide efficient data-based support for mitigation and management of their impacts.