cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
title: For Me and Not Thee: Critiquing the Abstract Conception of Freedom of Expression Under the Charter
Creators: name: Byram, Joseph
Publisher: name: Law
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: freedom of expression
subject: free speech
subject: constitutional rights
subject: queer theory
subject: digital regulation
subject: legal theory
subject: constitutional law
subject: Charter of Rights and Freedoms
subject: section 2(b)
subject: freedom
subject: polarization
subject: Law
subject: FOS: Law

description: In this thesis, I argue through a queer, critical lens that the doctrine of freedom of expression under section 2(b) of the Charter and Rights and Freedoms rests on an abstract conception of freedom of expression that inadequately protects individual difference and marginalized expression. This theoretical, doctrinal thesis begins from the observation that the Charter freedom of expression doctrine is failing to respond to social and political issues of expression, stemming from the abstract “ideal of impartiality” that runs through liberal rights which creates problems for the regulatory and social responses to issues of expression, particularly in the digital age. The doctrine, ultimately, fails to articulate an adequate conception of freedom of expression that can protect individual difference and advance social justice. The doctrine abstracts expression and expressive freedom away from its social and emotional roots, and eventually, from social conditions and inevitable moral judgments. Resultingly, the doctrine lacks conceptions of the value of expression and threats to expressive freedom in conceiving expressive freedom as non-interference of the state. This leads to two key problems. First, the doctrine inadequately answers the question of scope and limits of protection: how can freedom of expression be fundamental to the individual and yet limited by social interests? Instead of confronting this problem, the doctrine abstracts it away. Second, stemming from this inadequacy, the broad scope of protection under section 2(b) overprotects expression (here, so-called ‘antiqueer’ expression) that undermines the expressive freedom of others, and the limits under section 1 allow for ideological and moral judgments to impinge on marginalized (here, queer) expression. I conclude by suggesting that we ought to consider expression in relation to the lived experiences of individuals and that oppression is a preferable basis for conceptualizing freedom of expression protection for the digital age.
A Constrained Random Demodulator for Sub-Nyquist Sampling
Creators: name: Harms, Andrew
name: Bajwa, Waheed U.
name: Calderbank, Robert
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Information Theory (cs.IT)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: This paper presents a significant modification to the Random Demodulator (RD) of Tropp et al. for sub-Nyquist sampling of frequency-sparse signals. The modification, termed constrained random demodulator, involves replacing the random waveform, essential to the operation of the RD, with a constrained random waveform that has limits on its switching rate because fast switching waveforms may be hard to generate cleanly. The result is a relaxation on the hardware requirements with a slight, but manageable, decrease in the recovery guarantees. The paper also establishes the importance of properly choosing the statistics of the constrained random waveform. If the power spectrum of the random waveform matches the distribution on the tones of the input signal (i.e., the distribution is proportional to the power spectrum), then recovery of the input signal tones is improved. The theoretical guarantees provided in the paper are validated through extensive numerical simulations and phase transition plots.
description: Preprint of a journal paper accepted for publication in: IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, 2013 (copyright has been transferred to IEEE)
Molecular mechanisms underlying sensory-driven structural and functional plasticity in the awake developing brain
Creators: name: Chen, Simon
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2012

description: During early brain development, formation of functional neural circuits requires correct neuronal morphological growth and formation of appropriate synaptic connections. In addition, sensory experience and neural activity impart lasting effects on morphological and functional complexity by directing synapse formation and synaptic plasticity. Errors in these events may result in the creation of dysfunctional circuits underlying common neurodevelopmental disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASDs), schizophrenia, and epilepsy. Therefore, to understand the normal development and the pathophysiology of these disorders, we must decipher the molecular mechanisms regulating developmental neural circuit structural and functional plasticity. This dissertation discusses work on the molecular mechanisms underlying structural and functional plasticity in the developing brain, ranging from cell adhesion molecules involved with initial synapse formation to transcription factors regulating sensory experience-driven functional plasticity. In the first half of the dissertation, using two-photon time-lapse imaging of individual growing neurons within intact and awake embryonic Xenopus brains, I found that the cell adhesion molecules, neurexin (NRX) and neuroligin-1 (NLG1), confer stabilization to labile dendritic filopodia, supporting their transition into longer and persistent branches through an activity-dependent multistep process. Disrupting NRX-NLG1 function destabilizes filopodia and culminates in reduced dendritic arbor complexity as neurons mature over days. These findings suggest that abnormalities in brain neuron structural development may contribute to ASDs. In the second half of the dissertation, I used in vivo two-photon calcium imaging of visual network activity and rapid time-lapse imaging of individual growing brain neurons to identify morphological correlates of experience-driven functional potentiation and depression during critical periods of neural circuit formation. Further, I identified the transcription factor MEF2A/2D as a major regulator of neuronal response to plasticity-inducing stimuli directing both structural and functional changes. Unpatterned sensory stimuli that change plasticity thresholds induce rapid degradation of MEF2A/2D through a classical apoptotic pathway requiring NMDA receptors and caspases-9, 3 and 7, demonstrating natural sensory experience fine-tunes the plasticity thresholds of neurons during neural circuit formation. Together, work in this dissertation provides new insights into the molecular and cellular mechanisms of how sensory experience and synapse formation direct structural and functional plasticity in the embryonic developing brain.
title: The Urge to Fear: External Threat Perceptions and Responses in Soviet Foreign Policy
Creators: name: Lowry, Christian Mark
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Russia
subject: Soviet Union
subject: Soviet foreign policy
subject: Russian foreign policy
subject: Foreign policy
subject: Fear
subject: Insecurity
subject: Security
subject: International relations
subject: Political science
subject: FOS: Political science
subject: Military
subject: Soviet history
subject: Cold War
subject: Second World War
subject: First World War
subject: Russian Civil War
subject: Soviet invasion of Hungary
subject: Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
subject: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
subject: Afghanistan
subject: Hungary
subject: Czechoslovakia
subject: Education--Social Sciences
subject: Economics--History
subject: History--Russian and Soviet
subject: History--Military

description: Given the fragmented nature of the international system, the variable types and degrees of power that individual states possess, and the history of conflict between many of them, there are many specific threats for individual powers to fear in international relations. While all states experience insecurity due to the structural fragmentation of the international system, fear describes the apprehension directed towards specific threats, actual power disparities, and the sense of disadvantage that comes with them. The history of the Soviet Union—especially its foreign policy—contains a variety of illuminating insights about how fear of perceived threats can inform a state’s relations with other states. To assess if, how and why it did so is an enormous task, but what is apparent from much of the research on the Soviet Union is that 'fear' played a major role in shaping Soviet foreign policy. Within this project, I examine the alliances, conflicts, circumstances, and key decisions of Soviet foreign policy, in a relatively comprehensive and interdisciplinary exploration of the topic, utilizing mixed methods in the process. These research methods include varying degrees and applications of qualitative research, case studies of individual phenomena, historical research, limited quantitative methods, and secondary research, spanning the disciplines of political science, history, and international relations. Without determining whether the perceptions or decisions of Soviet policymakers were correct, justifiable or effective, my research nevertheless indicates that a pervasive fear of external security threats and eventualities exerted decisive influence on Soviet foreign policy, rather than more proactive or opportunistic factors. This finding underscores the importance of psychology, ideology, and narratives held by decision makers when interpreting the more objective aspects of Soviet foreign policy and its ripple effects throughout the modern world. They may also be of value in examining the circumstances of other states in the anarchy of the international system, whose fundamental conditions cannot sufficiently explain outlying or individual outcomes.
Multiple Measures Placement Using Data Analytics: An Implementation and Early Impacts Report
Creators: name: Barnett, Elisabeth
name: Bergman, Peter
name: Kopko, Elizabeth Mary
name: Reddy, Vikash T.
name: Belfield, Clive
name: Roy, Susha
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2018
Subjects: Universities and colleges
Community colleges
College placement services
Community colleges--Evaluation
Ability grouping in education
Educational planning

description: Many incoming college students are referred to remedial programs in math or English based on scores they earn on standardized placement tests. Yet research shows that these tests do not always assess student skills accurately, and colleges that rely on them often assign students to remedial courses who could succeed in college-level courses.

Seven community colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system are participating in a random assignment study of a multiple measures placement system based on data analytics to determine whether it yields placement determinations that lead to better student outcomes than a system based on test scores alone. This interim report from the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness (CAPR) examines the implementation of the alternative placement system at the colleges and presents results on first-term impacts for a subset of the students in the study. The early findings show that:

- Many program group students were placed differently than they would have been under the status quo placement system. In math, 14 percent of program group students placed higher than they would have under a test-only system (i.e., in college-level), while 7 percent placed lower (i.e., in remedial). In English, 41.5 percent placed higher, while 6.5 percent placed lower.

- Program group students were 3.1 and 12.5 percentage points more likely than control group students to both enroll in and complete (with a grade of C or higher) a college-level math or English course in the first term.

- Implementation of the alternative system added roughly $110 per student to status quo fall-term costs for testing and placing students at the colleges; ongoing costs in the subsequent fall term were roughly $40 per student above status quo costs.

The final report, to be released in 2019, will examine a range of student outcomes for three cohorts, including completion of introductory college-level courses, persistence, and the accumulation of college credits over the long term.
High-Fidelity Polarization Storage in a Gigahertz Bandwidth Quantum Memory
Creators: name: England, D. G.
name: Michelberger, P. S.
name: Champion, T. F. M.
name: Reim, K. F.
name: Lee, K. C.
name: Sprague, M. R.
name: Jin, X. -M.
name: Langford, N. K.
name: Kolthammer, W. S.
name: Nunn, J.
name: Walmsley, I. A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We demonstrate a dual-rail optical Raman memory inside a polarization interferometer; this enables us to store polarization-encoded information at GHz bandwidths in a room-temperature atomic ensemble. By performing full process tomography on the system we measure up to 97\pm1% process fidelity for the storage and retrieval process. At longer storage times, the process fidelity remains high, despite a loss of efficiency. The fidelity is 86\pm4% for 1.5 μs storage time, which is 5,000 times the pulse duration. Hence high fidelity is combined with a large time-bandwidth product. This high performance, with an experimentally simple setup, demonstrates the suitability of the Raman memory for integration into large-scale quantum networks.
description: 10 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics B
Particle transport and heating in the microturbulent precursor of relativistic shocks
Creators: name: Plotnikov, Illya
name: Pelletier, Guy
name: Lemoine, Martin
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Collisionless relativistic shocks have been the focus of intense theoretical and numerical investigations in recent years. The acceleration of particles, the generation of electromagnetic microturbulence and the building up of a shock front are three interrelated essential ingredients of a relativistic collisionless shock wave. In this paper we investigate two issues of importance in this context: (1) the transport of suprathermal particles in the excited microturbulence upstream of the shock and its consequences regarding particle acceleration; (2) the preheating of incoming background electrons as they cross the shock precursor and experience relativistic oscillations in the microturbulent electric fields. We place emphasis on the importance of the motion of the electromagnetic disturbances relatively to the background plasma and to the shock front. This investigation is carried out for the two major instabilities involved in the precursor of relativistic shocks, the filamentation instability and the oblique two stream instability. Finally, we use our results to discuss the maximal acceleration at the external shock of a gamma-ray burst; we find in particular a maximal synchrotron photon energy of the order of a few GeV.
description: 14 pages, 6 figures. Revised version
Building Guided Pathways to Community College Student Success: Promising Practices and Early Evidence From Tennessee
Creators: name: Jenkins, Davis
name: Brown, Amy E.
name: Fink, John
name: Lahr, Hana Elizabeth
name: Yanagiura, Takeshi
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2018
Subjects: Universities and colleges
Community colleges
Universities and colleges--Evaluation
Community colleges--Evaluation
Counseling in higher education

description: Among state community college systems, the 13 community colleges under the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) are probably the furthest along in implementing guided pathways reforms. All 13 colleges are implementing what they call “Tennessee completion practices”—reforms to help students choose, enter, navigate, and complete programs that prepare them for further education and careers.

This report describes how the colleges are operationalizing the Tennessee completion practices in their own contexts, as well as how trends in leading indicators of student completion have changed since the reforms began. Drawing on colleges’ detailed self-assessments of their progress and telephone interviews with college administrators, staff, and faculty, the authors discuss how far along the colleges are in implementing completion practices in each of the four major areas of guided pathways reforms:

1. mapping pathways to student end goals,
2. helping students choose and enter a program pathway,
3. keeping students on path, and
4. ensuring that students are learning.

They then examine promising trends in first-year momentum among entering students, with a focus on students’ accumulation of college credits and completion of gateway college math and English courses in their first year. In addition to looking at overall improvements in early momentum metrics, the authors review the extent to which the colleges have made progress in closing equity gaps by race/ethnicity and age.

The report concludes with a consideration of critical next frontiers for the Tennessee community colleges, along with future directions for CCRC’s continuing research partnership with TBR and the Tennessee community colleges.
title: Supramolecular Coordination Compounds as Recyclable Templates for Mesoporous Silica
Creators: name: Lin, Giselle
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: supramolecular chemistry
subject: nanoscience
subject: porous materials
subject: Chemistry--Inorganic
subject: Chemistry--Physical

description: Porous solid sorbents have emerged as a promising class of materials for capture and storage of guests. One of the most common sorbents is porous silica, which is used in capture and separations, biomedical and research purposes. Porous silica is templated with organic surfactant groups which yield high porosity materials and a specific pore size. However, the templated organics are usually removed by calcination, which generates emissions and does not allow the template to be recycled. Additionally, inducing pores in the size regime of 1-3 nm is often challenging due to the lack of suitable templates. This thesis proposes an alternative strategy that yields pores in this range and a template that can be regenerated. This thesis involves the development of two supramolecular coordination compounds that were used as templates in the synthesis of mesoporous silica. The lanthanum-based coordination compounds (La(CSA)3 and La(TBSA)3) exhibited reversible shifting of peaks in their PXRD patterns with the addition or removal of different solvents. Porous silicas were synthesized upon crosslinking within a silica network, and the template was removed by washing the samples. Changing concentrations and solvents were found to affect the packing of the templates, which affected the porosity of the templated silica. Pore size distribution models applied to the samples calculated that the smallest micropore size was approximately the same size as the width of a single template molecule, showing the ability of these templates to act as porogens for the 1-3nm size range. However, much larger pores were induced by aggregation of the templates and more work is needed to enhance the consistency of the pore size distributions.
title: Information Literacy Practices and Scientific Publishing: An Exploration of Discourse about Knowledge Work
Creators: name: Luke-Killam, Anya
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: discourse analysis
subject: information literacy
subject: knowledge work
subject: scientific publishing
subject: qualitative case study
subject: Linguistics
subject: FOS: Languages and literature
subject: Education--Adult and Continuing

description: This study investigated information literacy practices at a non-profit research organization in the United States of America. The specific goal of this study was to explore individuals’ information experiences as they coordinate the scientific publishing process. Of particular interest were the discourses and language-based interactions of those responsible for complying with a United States federal policy that mandates public access to the published results of government-funded research. This study addressed a gap in the literature by considering how information literacy practices are socially enacted within the context of archiving peer-reviewed manuscripts in an online repository of scientific research. Adopting a qualitative case study research design, the investigation used a discourse analytic approach to examine data collected through document review, a focus group, and workplace interviews. The study findings suggested that a number of organizational narratives and institutional norms interrelate and shape the collaborative practices associated with the development and dissemination of scientific publications.
Testing regularity of black holes with X-rays and Gravitational Waves
Creators: name: Shashank, Swarnim
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Physically relevant solutions in general relativity often contain spacetime singularities, which are typically interpreted as a sign of breakdown of the theory at high densities/curvatures. Hence, there has been a growing interest in exploring phenomenological scenarios that describe singularity-free black holes, gravitational collapses, and cosmological models. We examine the metric put forth by Mazza, Franzin \& Liberati for a rotating regular black hole and estimate the regularization parameter $l$ based on existing X-ray and gravitational wave data for black holes. When $l=0$, the solution corresponds to the singular Kerr solution of general relativity, while a non-zero value of $l$ yields a regular black hole or a regular wormhole. The analysis reveals that the available data support a value of $l$ that is close to zero.
description: 2 pages, contribution to the 2023 Gravitation session of the 57th Rencontres de Moriond
Papers in South-East Asian Linguistics No. 10: Khmu, a minority language of Thailand
Creators: name: Premsrirat, Suwilai (Ed.)
Publisher: name: Pacific Linguistics
Year: 1987

description: A-75
description: Contents iii{Suwilai Premsrirat} 1A KHMU GRAMMAR 1. Introduction 1 2. Khmu phonology 5 3. Morphological remarks 25 4. Intra-clausal syntax: phrase structure 29 5. Intra-clausal syntax: clause structure 46 6. Interclausal syntax: sentence structure 72 7. Types of utterances including intonation patterns 94 8. Syntax in the setting of discourse 104 Acknowledgements 137 Notes 137 Bibliography 139{Suwilai Premsrirat} 145A STUDY OF THAI AND KHMU CUTTING WORDS 1. Aspects of word semantics 145 2. Thai cutting words 150 3. Khmu cutting words 170 4. Comparison of some aspects of Khmu and Thai cutting words 178 5. Conclusion 185 Notes 185 Bibliography 186 Index 188
Robust laser frequency stabilization by serrodyne modulation
Creators: name: Kohlhaas, Ralf
name: Vanderbruggen, Thomas
name: Bernon, Simon
name: Bertoldi, Andrea
name: Landragin, Arnaud
name: Bouyer, Philippe
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report the relative frequency stabilization of a distributed feedback erbium-doped fiber laser on an optical cavity by serrodyne frequency shifting. A correction bandwidth of 2.3 MHz and a dynamic range of 220 MHz are achieved, which leads to a strong robustness against large disturbances up to high frequencies. We demonstrate that serrodyne frequency shifting reaches a higher correction bandwidth and lower relative frequency noise level compared to a standard acousto-optical modulator based scheme. Our results allow to consider promising applications in the absolute frequency stabilization of lasers on optical cavities.
description: 3 pages, accepted for publication in Optics Letters
title: Characterization of (In)Validation in Adolescent Chronic Pain Care: Pain Intensity, Pain Disability, and Psychological Correlates
Creators: name: Li, Queenie Kwan Wing
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Pediatric chronic pain
subject: adolescents
subject: validation
subject: invalidation
subject: clinical encounter
subject: Psychology--Clinical

description: BACKGROUND. Pediatric chronic pain is associated with significant personal, familial, and societal burden. The dearth of effective treatments for chronic pain in youth suggests that there may be neglected socioenvironmental determinants in its etiology and occurrence. (In)validation (i.e., communicating that an individual’s feelings, thoughts, or actions are [not] understandable or legitimate) during chronic pain treatment is a patient-identified priority; further, individuals with marginalized identities overwhelmingly report experiences of invalidation in healthcare. Research has yet to systematically describe (in)validation in the clinical encounter. This study aimed to: (1) characterize to what extent physicians (in)validate adolescents with chronic pain (AWCP) and their parents during four distinct sections of a clinical encounter; (2) investigate whether (in)validation differs by AWCP sociodemographic factors; and (3) explore preliminary associations between (in)validation during the clinical encounter and pain correlates at followup. METHOD. Video recordings of 39 AWCP and their parents who presented to a tertiary pediatric pain clinic were coded and analyzed. Separate validation and invalidation scores were assigned using a behavioural coding scheme drawn from the psychopathology field. A subset of 24 participants who completed follow-up questionnaires were included in an exploratory analysis of (in)validation and pain correlates. RESULTS. Physicians were most invalidating towards AWCP and their parents at the beginning of the clinical encounter (i.e., history taking) and least validating towards AWCP during physical examination. Boys and their parents were more invalidated throughout the encounter than girls and their parents. Parents of white AWCP were significantly more invalidated during history taking than the rest of the encounter, whereas invalidation towards parents of racialized AWCP did not differ significantly across encounter sections. Finally, invalidation was associated with worse AWCP pain disability at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS. There is opportunity for physicians to be mindful of invalidation towards patients from the outset of their pain treatment. (In)validation towards AWCP and their families differed depending on demographic characteristics, indicating the need for equity considerations to improve clinical encounters. Invalidation was associated with worse pain disability over time; thus, there is early justification for developing interventions that minimize physician invalidation of families seeking chronic pain care.
Resource allocation and scheduling in wireless mesh networks
Creators: name: Ronasi, Keivan
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2012

description: The unreliability of wireless mesh networks creates challenge in designing high performance wireless networks in terms of network throughput, end-to-end delay, and fairness provisioning. In this thesis, the goal is to improve the network performance in terms of these metrics. We explore several techniques such as multipath routing, channel coding, network coding, and interference alignment. We consider resource allocation both in terms of average data rate provisioning and scheduling policies in a time slot basis. First, we propose data rate and channel code rate allocation algorithms for networks with multiple paths to maximize the network throughput while all users can fairly exploit the network resources. We study the effect of adaptive and non-adaptive channel coding schemes. We also consider the end-to-end delay that each network flow experiences for data transmission. For that purpose, we formulate the problem of decreasing the end-to-end delay for network flows while improving the network throughput. Simulation results show that we can decrease the delay at the cost of a slight decrease in network throughput. We also formulate a data rate allocation problem in networks with network coding. Simulation results show that considering link reliabilities in the network coding design dramatically increases the network performance. Data rate allocation algorithms provide the average data rates at which the source must transmit data. They do not determine scheduling on a time slot basis. To address that, we consider transmission scheduling in wireless networks. We also compare the suggested algorithm with a centralized optimal data rate allocation algorithm to verify that our algorithm follows the optimal solution. Through simulations, we show that fairness provisioning leads to higher network performance. We show that the suggested algorithm outperforms the current algorithms in the literature in terms of both network throughput and fairness provisioning. Finally, we consider transmission scheduling in wireless multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems. We formulate the problem of joint scheduling, interference alignment, and admission control in those networks and use Lyapunov stability theory to solve it. We also develop a heuristic approach to solve the problem in a semi-distributed manner.
title: Commitment and Infidelity: How Do They Relate Across Two Different Cultures?
Creators: name: Salavati, Sara
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: commitment
subject: infidelity
subject: monogamy maintenance
subject: transformation of motivation
subject: accommodation
subject: willingness to sacrifice
subject: interdependence theory
subject: culture
subject: collectivism-individualism
subject: Psychology--Social
subject: Psychology
subject: FOS: Psychology

description: This research aimed to investigate a novel mechanism that could explain how commitment predicts infidelity across diverse cultural contexts. I examined transformation of motivation—a shift from self-centered to relationship- and partner-oriented interests—as a potential mediator. The objectives of Studies 1 and 2 were to explore whether commitment leads to transformation of motivation (Study 1; N = 71) and whether priming transformation of motivation influences monogamy maintenance efforts (Study 2; N = 104). I collected data from undergraduate samples for both studies. The attempt to prime commitment in Study 1 failed, underscoring the need for valid and reliable manipulations given the importance of commitment in interdependence theory. In Study 2, priming transformation of motivation did not impact monogamy maintenance efforts, suggesting that transformation of motivation may not the primary factor driving monogamy maintenance efforts, and other processes, such as cognitive dissonance, may be more influential. In Study 3, using a social media sample, I examined commitment, transformation of motivation, infidelity, and their associations across two cultures: Iran and Canada (N = 142 in Iran; N = 153 in Canada). Satisfaction was the primary predictor of global commitment, and structural commitment, specifically social pressure, was higher in Iran than in Canada. The results comparing markers of transformation of motivation (e.g., willingness to sacrifice, accommodative behaviours, and cognitive interdependence) across cultural samples were inconsistent. Iranian participants reported higher levels of destructive accommodation strategies, such as exit and neglect, but also a greater willingness to sacrifice compared to Canadians. These findings suggest that the hypothesized markers of transformation of motivation do not form a unidimensional construct and may be shaped by distinct cultural factors. Regarding infidelity, Iranian participants reported lower rates of emotional infidelity than Canadians, with no significant differences found for other types of infidelity. The findings have important implications for refining theory concerning transformation of motivation and for developing a more culturally sensitive understanding of commitment—one that extends beyond individual factors to consider the influence of social processes on relationship stability.
Credential Production by Field and Labor Market Alignment at Minority-Serving Institutions: A Descriptive Analysis
Creators: name: Edgecombe, Nicole Diane
name: Sanders, Jasmine
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2018
Subjects: Minorities--Education (Higher)
Education, Higher
Labor market
Universities and colleges
College graduates--Employment

description: Scholarship on minority-serving institutions (MSIs) has established the critical role they play in spite of significant financial constraints. At the same time, descriptive statistical analyses have also found that MSIs, as a group, have lower completion rates than the national average. More research is thus needed on the factors underlying the institutional performance of MSIs.

This CAPSEE working paper presents broad analyses intended to provide a snapshot of one facet of MSI institutional performance—credential production. The authors conduct a descriptive analysis of credential production by field of study across the two- and four-year postsecondary education sectors and compare results for MSIs and non-MSIs. They find that for each credential type they examine—certificates, associate degrees, and bachelor’s degrees—MSIs and non-MSIs have very similar credential production patterns by field. They also find that much of the credential production is concentrated in a relatively narrow set of fields.

The authors complement the credential production analysis with an exploratory analysis of the extent to which the fields in which these credentials were earned align with employment in Alabama and California. They find state-level differences in the alignment between high-employment industries and the production of credentials in certain fields. They conclude the paper with a discussion of the research and policy implications of these findings.
Dark Matter Evidence, Particle Physics Candidates and Detection Methods
Creators: name: Bergström, Lars
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The problem of the dark matter in the universe is reviewed. A short history of the subject is given, and several of the most obvious particle candidates for dark matter are identified. Particular focus is given to weakly interacting, massive particles (WIMPs) of which the lightest supersymmetric particle is an interesting special case and a usful template. The three detection methods: in particle accelerators, by direct detection of scattering in terrestrial detectors, and indirect detection of products from dark matter particle annihilation in the galactic halo, are discussed and their complementarity is explained. Direct detection experiments have revealed some possible indications of a dark matter signal, but the situation is quite confusing at the moment. Very recently, also indirect detection has entered a sensitivity region where some particle candidates could be detectable. Indeed, also here there are some (presently non-conclusive) indications of possible dark matter signals, like an interesting structure at 130 GeV gamma-ray energy found in publicly available data from the Fermi-LAT space detector. The future of the field will depend on whether WIMPs are indeed the dark matter, something that may realistically be probed in the next few years. If this exciting scenario turns out to be true, we can expect a host of other, complementary experiments in the coming decade. If it is not true, the time scale and methods for detection will be much more uncertain.
description: To be published in Annalen der Physik special issue DARK MATTER edited by M. Bartelmann and V. Springel; Ann.Phys. (Berlin) 524, (2012)
Quantum State-Channel Duality for the calculation of Standard Model scattering amplitudes
Creators: name: Altomonte, Clelia
name: Barr, Alan J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Recent instances of successful application of quantum information techniques to particle physics problems invite for an analysis of the mathematical details behind such connection. In this paper, we identify the Choi-Jamiolkowski isomorphism, or state-channel duality, as a theoretical principle enabling the application of the theory of quantum information to the scattering amplitudes associated with Standard Model processes.
description: First submitted to arXiv: 6 October 2022
Fluid Elasticity Can Enable Propulsion at Low Reynolds Number
Creators: name: Keim, Nathan C.
name: Garcia, Mike
name: Arratia, Paulo E.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Conventionally, a microscopic particle that performs a reciprocal stroke cannot move through its environment. This is because at small scales, the response of simple Newtonian fluids is purely viscous and flows are time-reversible. We show that by contrast, fluid elasticity enables propulsion by reciprocal forcing that is otherwise impossible. We present experiments on rigid objects actuated reciprocally in viscous fluids, demonstrating for the first time a purely elastic propulsion set by the object's shape and boundary conditions. We describe two different artificial "swimmers" that experimentally realize this principle.
description: 5 pages, 4 figures
Relativistic and nonrelativistic bound states of the isotonic oscillator by Nikiforov-Uvarov method
Creators: name: Ikhdair, Sameer M.
name: Sever, Ramazan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A nonpolynomial one-dimensional quantum potential in the form of an isotonic oscillator (harmonic oscillator with a centripetal barrier) is studied. We provide the non-relativistic bound state energy spectrum E_{n} and the wave functions ψ_{n}(x) in terms of the associated Laguerre polynomials in the framework of the Nikiforov-Uvarov method. Under the spin and pseudospin symmetric limits, the analytic eigenvalues and the corresponding two-component upper- and lower-spinors of the Dirac particle are obtained, in closed form.
description: 15 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0711.4899
title: Stress and Cannabinoids in Seizure-Induced Emotional Comorbidities
Creators: name: Gom, Renaud Christopher
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Epilepsy
subject: Seizure
subject: Stress
subject: Cannabinoid
subject: Neuroscience

description: Epilepsy encompasses all symptomologies including neurobiological, psychological, and behavioural alterations – a perspective that is frequently underappreciated and understudied. Up to half of people with epilepsy also endure paralleled seizure-related comorbidities which often manifest as alteration in emotional behaviour. Together, these changes can severely impact quality of life and often impose a greater burden than the seizure itself. Alterations in emotionality following repeated seizures have previously been linked to endocannabinoid system dysfunction however the upstream mechanisms are still undetermined. I hypothesized that repeated amygdala seizures would produce a robust corticosterone release which governs changes in emotional behaviours. I tested this by utilizing pharmacological tools which can manipulate stress signaling and prevent these changes. I also determined that phytocannabinoids have the potential to restore seizure-induced behavioural dysfunctions. Using a kindled rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy, I established that the behavioural manifestations are driven by a large corticosterone surge following each seizure and that these changes can be prevented through the pharmacological blockade of both mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors. The data collected throughout the thesis provides evidence that seizure induced stress drives changes in emotional behaviours that are linked to significant reductions in the endocannabinoid anandamide and that these changes can be reversed. These studies contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying seizure-induced behavioural changes and suggests potential therapeutic targets to alleviate these comorbidities.
Search for neutrino emission of gamma-ray flaring blazars with the ANTARES telescope
Creators: name: Dornic, D.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The ANTARES telescope is well suited to detect neutrinos produced in astrophysical transient sources as it can observe a full hemisphere of the sky at all times with a high duty cycle. The background and point source sensitivity can be drastically reduced by selecting a narrow time window around the assumed neutrino production period. Radio-loud active galactic nuclei with their jets pointing almost directly towards the observer, the so- called blazars, are particularly attractive potential neutrino point sources, since they are among the most likely sources of the observed ultra high energy cosmic rays and therefore, neutrinos and gamma-rays may be produced in hadronic interactions with the surrounding medium. The gamma-ray light curves of blazars measured by the LAT instrument on-board the Fermi satellite reveal important time variability information. A strong correlation between the gamma-ray and the neutrino fluxes is expected in this scenario. An unbinned method based on the minimization of a likelihood ratio was applied to a subsample data collected in 2008 (61 days live time). By looking for neutrinos detected in the high state periods of the AGN light curve, the sensitivity to these sources has been improved by about a factor 2 with respect to a standard time-integrated point source search. First results on the search for ten bright and variable Fermi sources are presented.
description: 2011 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C110509
title: Lend Me Your Ear: Testing Hypotheses of Tylopod (Artiodactyla) Relationships Using Otic Region Morphology
Creators: name: Robson, Selina Viktor
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Phylogenetics
subject: Artiodactyla
subject: Otic region
subject: Morphology
subject: Tylopoda
subject: Education--Sciences
subject: Anatomy
subject: Paleontology
subject: Paleozoology

description: Tylopoda are an artiodactyl suborder that includes camelids and their putative extinct relatives. A vast number of extinct species have been referred to Tylopoda, but the composition of the suborder remains unclear—few characters unite all purported tylopods, and those that do are ancestral features. Furthermore, the position of the suborder within Artiodactyla has recently come into question because of conflicting results from morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses. Given that morphological and molecular data are unable to resolve these taxonomic problems, new lines of evidence are needed. The otic region, which includes the petrosal and bony labyrinth, is thought to be relatively slow-evolving, likely to retain phylogenetic characters important for resolving deep evolutionary relationships; these data have historically been inaccessible without destructive sampling, but with the proliferation of μCT scanning, the otic region is becoming increasingly easy to study. In this thesis, I describe the otic region of several early camelids and purported tylopods, including the dichobunoid Bunomeryx, two protoceratids, and two oromerycids. I used these data in conjunction with a larger unpublished dataset to code a taxon-character matrix primarily composed of otic region characters, which then analyzed with both parsimony and Bayesian analysis. All my analyses recovered a monophyletic Camelidae with Eotylopus, an oromerycid, the sister to Camelidae; I consider Tylopoda to include Camelidae and Oromerycidae. No other clade was consistently recovered with camelids, although oreodonts, anthracotheriids, and protoceratids all held that position in the results of some analyses. The placement of anthracotheriids was unexpected, but this appears to be the result of homoplasy; with additional dental, cranial, and postcranial characters, anthracotheriids are recovered sister to suoids. Based on my morphological descriptions and phylogenetic analyses, the otic region—particularly the petrosal—is not evolutionarily static. While the relative amount of homoplasy in the otic region compared to other skeletal regions was not tested, a large amount of intraspecific variation was observed in camelids, and all recovered (parsimony) topologies had a homoplasy index of over 0.70. This suggests that the petrosal is not as “slow evolving” as previously thought, an avenue of research that bears further investigation.
Targeting Kruppel-like Factor 9 in Excitatory Neurons Protects against Chronic Stress-Induced Impairments in Dendritic Spines and Fear Responses
Creators: name: Besnard, Antoine
name: Langberg, Tomer
name: Levinson, Sally
name: Chu, Duong
name: Vicidomini, Cinzia
name: Scobie, Kimberly N.
name: Dwork, Andrew Jay
name: Arango, Victoria
name: Rosoklija, Gorazd B.
name: Mann, J. John
name: Hen, Rene
name: Leonardo, Eduardo David
name: Boldrini, Maura
name: Sahay, Amar
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2018
Subjects: Neurons
Dendrites
Fear--Physiological aspects
Nervous system
Psychobiology

description: Stress exposure is associated with the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Here, we show in rodents that chronic stress exposure rapidly and transiently elevates hippocampal expression of Kruppel-like factor 9 (Klf9). Inducible genetic silencing of Klf9 expression in excitatory forebrain neurons in adulthood prior to, but not after, onset of stressor prevented chronic restraint stress (CRS)-induced potentiation of contextual fear acquisition in female mice and chronic corticosterone (CORT) exposure-induced fear generalization in male mice. Klf9 silencing prevented chronic CORT and CRS induced enlargement of dendritic spines in the ventral hippocampus of male and female mice, respectively. KLF9 mRNA density was increased in the anterior dentate gyrus of women, but not men, with more severe recent stressful life events and increased mortality. Thus, Klf9 functions as a stress-responsive transcription factor that mediates circuit and behavioral resilience in a sex-specific manner.