cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Neutrino Driven Explosions aided by Axion Cooling in Multidimensional Simulations of Core-Collapse Supernovae
Creators: name: Betranhandy, Aurore
name: O'Connor, Evan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this study, we present the first multidimensional core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) simulations including QCD axions in order to assess the impact on the CCSN explosion mechanism. We include axions in our simulations through the nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung emission channel and as a pure energy-sink term under the assumption that the axions free-stream after being emitted. We perform both spherically symmetric (1D) and axisymmetric (2D) simulations. In 1D, we utilize a parameterized heating scheme to achieve explosions, whereas in 2D we self-consistently realize explosions through the neutrino heating mechanism. Our 2D results for a $20 M_\odot$ progenitor show an impact of the axion emission on the shock behavior and the explosion time when considering values of the Peccei-Quinn energy scale $f_a \leq 2 \times 10^8$ GeV. The strong cooling due to the axion emission accelerates the contraction of the core and leads to more efficient neutrino heating and earlier explosions. For the axion emission formalism utilized, the values of $f_a$ that impact the explosion are close to, but in tension with current limits based on the neutrinos detected from SN1987A. However, given the non-linear behavior of the emission and the multidimensional nature of CCSNe, we suggest that a self-consistent, multidimensional approach to simulating CCSNe, including any late time accretion and cooling, is needed to fully explore the axion bounds from supernovae and the impact on the CCSN explosion mechanism.
description: 18 pages, 12 figures
title: Estimating honeybee forager background mortality: a case study in the Netherlands
Creators: name: Roessink, Ivo
name: Van Der Steen, Sjef
name: Belgers, Dick
name: Baveco, Hans
name: Focks, Andreas
name: Boesten, Jos
Publisher: name: Julius Kühn-Institut
Year: 2018

description: Julius-Kühn-Archiv, 462 (Hazards of pesticides to bees : 13th International Symposium of the ICP-PR Bee Protection Group ; 18. - 20. October 2017, València (Spain) - Proceedings -)
Aggregating human judgment probabilistic predictions of COVID-19 transmission, burden, and preventative measures
Creators: name: Codi, Allison
name: Luk, Damon
name: Braun, David
name: Cambeiro, Juan
name: Besiroglu, Tamay
name: Chen, Eva
name: de C`esaris, Luis Enrique Urtubey
name: Bocchini, Paolo
name: McAndrew, Thomas
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Applications (stat.AP)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Aggregated human judgment forecasts for COVID-19 targets of public health importance are accurate, often outperforming computational models. Our work shows aggregated human judgment forecasts for infectious agents are timely, accurate, and adaptable, and can be used as tool to aid public health decision making during outbreaks.
Collective Modes in the Cooperative Jahn-Teller Model: Path Integral Approach
Creators: name: Ivanov, Peter A
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We discuss analytical approximations to the ground-state phase diagram and the elementary excitations of the cooperative Jahn-Teller model describing strongly correlated spin-boson system on a lattice in various quantum optical systems. Based on the mean-field theory approach we show that the system exhibits quantum magnetic structural phase transition which leads to magnetic ordering of the spins and formation of the bosonic condensates. We determine existing of one gapless Goldstone mode and two gapped amplitude modes inside the symmetry-broken phase.
description: 7 pages, 1 figure
An automated integrated platform for rapid and sensitive multiplexed protein profiling using human saliva samples
Creators: name: Miller, Scott E.
name: Little, Frédéric F.
name: Zhang, Huaibin
name: Wang, Peidong
name: Dennis, Patty J.
name: Wu, Yue
name: Oppenheim, Frank G.
name: Nie, Shuai
name: Walt, David R.
name: Oblath, Emily A.
name: Henley, W. Hampton
name: Alarie, Jean Pierre
name: Mayer, Kathryn M.
name: Ramsey, J. Michael
name: Uluer, Ahmet Z.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2014

description: During the last decade, saliva has emerged as a potentially ideal diagnostic biofluid for noninvasive testing. In this paper, we present an automated, integrated platform useable by minimally trained personnel in the field for the diagnosis of respiratory diseases using human saliva as a sample specimen. In this platform, a saliva sample is loaded onto a disposable microfluidic chip containing all the necessary reagents and components required for saliva analysis. The chip is then inserted into the automated analyzer, the SDReader, where multiple potential protein biomarkers for respiratory diseases are measured simultaneously using a microsphere-based array via fluorescence sandwich immunoassays. The results are read optically, and the images are analyzed by a custom-designed algorithm. The fully automated assay requires as little as 10 μL of saliva sample, and the results are reported in 70 min. The performance of the platform was characterized by testing protein standard solutions, and the results were comparable to those from the 3.5-h lab bench assay that we have previously reported. The device was also deployed in two clinical environments where 273 human saliva samples collected from different subjects were successfully tested, demonstrating the device’s potential to assist clinicians with the diagnosis of respiratory diseases by providing timely protein biomarker profiling information. This platform, which combines non-invasive sample collection and fully automated analysis, can also be utilized in point-of-care diagnostics.
Mockingbird lattices
Creators: name: Giraudo, Samuele
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Combinatorics (math.CO)
subject: Logic in Computer Science (cs.LO)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: We study combinatorial and order theoretic structures arising from the fragment of combinatory logic spanned by the basic combinator ${\bf M}$. This basic combinator, named as the Mockingbird by Smullyan, is defined by the rewrite rule ${\bf M} x_1 \to x_1 x_1$. We prove that the reflexive and transitive closure of this rewrite relation is a partial order on terms on ${\bf M}$ and that all connected components of its rewrite graph are Hasse diagrams of lattices. This last result is based on the introduction of lattices on some forests. We enumerate the elements, the edges of the Hasse diagrams, and the intervals of these lattices with the help of formal power series on terms and on forests.
description: 12 pages
In vitro generation of colonic epithelium from primary cells guided by microstructures
Creators: name: Magness, Scott T.
name: Sims, Christopher E.
name: Wang, Yuli
name: Ahmad, Asad A.
name: Allbritton, Nancy L.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2014

description: The proliferative compartment of the colonic epithelium in vivo is located in the basal crypt where colonic stem cells and transit-amplifying cells reside and fuel the rapid renewal of non-proliferative epithelial cells as they migrate toward the gut lumen. To mimic this tissue polarity, microstructures composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microwells and Matrigel micropockets were used to guide a combined 2-dimensional (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) hybrid culture of primary crypts isolated from the murine colon. The 2D and 3D culture of crypts on a planar PDMS surface was first investigated in terms of cell proliferation and stem cell activity. 3D culture of crypts with overlaid Matrigel generated enclosed, but highly proliferative spheroids (termed colonoids). 2D culture of crypts produced a spreading monolayer of cells, which were non-proliferative. A combined 2D/3D hybrid culture was generated in a PDMS microwell platform on which crypts were loaded by centrifugation into microwells (diameter = 150 μm, depth = 150 μm) followed by addition of Matrigel that formed micropockets locking the crypts within the microwells. Embedded crypts first underwent 3D expansion inside the wells. After the cells filled the microwells, they migrated onto the surrounding surface forming a 2D monolayer in the array regions without Matrigel. This unique 2D/3D hybrid culture generated a continuous, millimeter-scale colonic epithelial tissue in vitro, which resembled the polarized architecture (i.e. distinct proliferative and non-proliferative zones) and geometry of the colonic epithelium in vivo. This work initiates the construction of a “colon-on-a-chip” using primary cells/tissues with the ultimate goal of producing the physiologic structure and organ-level function of the colon.
Οργάνωση και διοίκηση καρδιοχειρουργικού τμήματος
Creators: name: Κριμιώτης, Δημήτριος Πρόδρμου
Publisher: name: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Year: 2023
Subjects: Υπηρεσίες Υγείας
Διαχείριση Αλλαγών
Καρδιοχερουργική
Health Services
Change Management
Cardiac Surgery

description: Οι καρδιαγγειακές παθήσεις είναι κύρια αιτία θανάτου σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο. Η παροχή και η λειτουργία ενός καρδιοχειρουργικού τμήματος με οικονομικά αποδοτικό τρόπο είναι ο βασικός στόχος των οργανισμών και των διευθυντών υγειονομικής περίθαλψης. Η διαχείριση μιας νέας υπηρεσίας υγειονομικής περίθαλψης είναι μια μοναδική ευκαιρία και απαιτεί λεπτομερή σχεδιασμό και εφαρμογή βημάτων που προέρχονται από τη θεωρία της διοίκησης και της οργάνωσης της υγειονομικής περίθαλψης. Αυτά περιλαμβάνουν την εφαρμογή των θεωριών διαχείρισης της αλλαγής, την πρόσβαση σε επαρκείς πόρους (εξειδικευμένο προσωπικό, οικονομικούς πόρους και εξοπλισμό), κατάλληλο χρονοδιάγραμμα, επαρκή αξιολόγηση και εντοπισμό εμποδίων και παραγόντων που επιτρέπουν. Επιπλέον, η νέα καρδιοχειρουργική υπηρεσία θα πρέπει να βασίζεται σε στοιχεία και να αντικατοπτρίζει τα τρέχοντα κλινικά πρότυπα και κατευθυντήριες γραμμές, υπό την καθοδήγηση μιας αποτελεσματικής ηγεσίας. Η διαχείριση της αλλαγής είναι ζωτικής σημασίας για τη δημιουργία μιας νέας υπηρεσίας υγειονομικής περίθαλψης με επίκεντρο τον ασθενή και θα πρέπει να συνδυάζεται με αποτελεσματική επικοινωνία και ομαδική εργασία μεταξύ όλων των ενδιαφερομένων. Υπάρχουν προβλεπόμενες και απρόβλεπτες προκλήσεις που σχετίζονται με οποιοδήποτε έργο, επομένως μπορεί να υπάρξουν παγίδες. Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι η ανασκόπηση της υπάρχουσας γνώσης σχετικά με τα παραπάνω, δίνοντας έμφαση στα μέτρα που μπορούν να ληφθούν για την αποτελεσματικότερη διοίκηση ενός καρδιοχειρουργικού τμήματος.
description: Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death worldwide. Providing and operating a cardiac surgery department in a cost-effective manner is the primary objective of healthcare organizations and managers. Managing a new health care service is a unique opportunity and requires detailed planning and implementation of steps derived from health care management and organization theory. These include the application of change management theories, access to adequate resources (skilled staff, financial resources and equipment), appropriate timing, adequate assessment and identification of barriers and enablers. In addition, the new cardiac surgery service should be evidence-based and reflect current clinical standards and guidelines, guided by effective leadership. Change management is vital to creating a new patient-centred healthcare service and should be coupled with effective communication and teamwork between all stakeholders. There are foreseen and unforeseen challenges associated with any project, so there can be pitfalls. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing knowledge regarding the above, emphasizing the measures that can be taken for the more efficient management of a cardiac surgery department.
A swarm optimization algorithm inspired in the behavior of the social-spider
Creators: name: Cuevas, Erik
name: Cienfuegos, Miguel
name: Zaldivar, Daniel
name: Perez, Marco
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Neural and Evolutionary Computing (cs.NE)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Swarm intelligence is a research field that models the collective behavior in swarms of insects or animals. Several algorithms arising from such models have been proposed to solve a wide range of complex optimization problems. In this paper, a novel swarm algorithm called the Social Spider Optimization (SSO) is proposed for solving optimization tasks. The SSO algorithm is based on the simulation of cooperative behavior of social-spiders. In the proposed algorithm, individuals emulate a group of spiders which interact to each other based on the biological laws of the cooperative colony. The algorithm considers two different search agents (spiders): males and females. Depending on gender, each individual is conducted by a set of different evolutionary operators which mimic different cooperative behaviors that are typically found in the colony. In order to illustrate the proficiency and robustness of the proposed approach, it is compared to other well-known evolutionary methods. The comparison examines several standard benchmark functions that are commonly considered within the literature of evolutionary algorithms. The outcome shows a high performance of the proposed method for searching a global optimum with several benchmark functions.
description: 21 Pages
Relativistic nonlinear axion magnetohydrodynamics
Creators: name: Alpin, Timur Yu.
name: Balakin, Alexander B.
name: Vorohov, Alexei V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The new nonlinear axionically extended version of the general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics is formulated. The self-consistent formalism of this theory is based on the introduction into the Lagrangian of the new unified scalar invariant, which is quadratic in the Maxwell tensor, and contains two periodic functions of the pseudoscalar (axion) field. The constructed unified invariant and the elaborated nonlinear theory as a whole, are invariant with respect to two symmetries: first, the discrete symmetry associated with the properties of the axion field; second, the Jackson's SO(2) type symmetry intrinsic for the electromagnetism. The subsystem of the master equations, which describes the velocity four-vector of the hydrodynamic flow, is constructed in the framework of Eckart's theory of viscous heat-conducting fluid. The axionically extended nonlinear Faraday, Gauss and Ampere equations are supplemented by the ansatz about the large electric conductivity of the medium, which is usually associated with vanishing of the electric field. We have suggested two essentially new nonlinear models, in the framework of which the anomalous electric conductivity is being compensated by the appropriate behavior of the finite pseudoscalar (axion) field, providing the electric field in the magnetohydrodynamic flow to be finite (either to be proportional to the magnetic field, or to the angular velocity of the medium rotation)
description: 12 pages, 0 figures
UV activation of polymeric high aspect ratio microstructures: ramifications in antibody surface loading for circulating tumor cell selection
Creators: name: Yeh, Jen Jen
name: Aufforth, Rachel D.
name: Pullagurla, Swathi
name: Hupert, Mateusz L.
name: Brady, Charles
name: Torphy, Robert J.
name: Kamande, Joyce
name: Jackson, Joshua M.
name: Witek, Małgorzata A.
name: Tignanelli, Christopher J.
name: Soper, Steven A.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2014

description: The need to activate thermoplastic surfaces using robust and efficient methods has been driven by the fact that replication techniques can be used to produce microfluidic devices in a high production mode and at low cost, making polymer microfluidics invaluable for in vitro diagnostics, such as circulating tumor cell (CTC) analysis, where device disposability is critical to mitigate artifacts associated with sample carryover. Modifying the surface chemistry of thermoplastic devices through activation techniques can be used to increase the wettability of the surface or to produce functional scaffolds to allow for the covalent attachment of biologics, such as antibodies for CTC recognition. Extensive surface characterization tools were used to investigate UV activation of various surfaces to produce uniform and high surface coverage of functional groups, such as carboxylic acids in microchannels of different aspect ratios. We found that the efficiency of the UV activation process is highly dependent on the microchannel aspect ratio and the identity of the thermoplastic substrate. Colorimetric assays and fluorescence imaging of UV-activated microchannels following EDC/NHS coupling of Cy3-labeled oligonucleotides indicated that UV-activation of a PMMA microchannel with an aspect ratio of ∼3 was significantly less efficient toward the bottom of the channel compared to the upper sections. This effect was a consequence of the bulk polymer's damping of the modifying UV radiation due to absorption artifacts. In contrast, this effect was less pronounced for COC. Moreover, we observed that after thermal fusion bonding of the device's cover plate to the substrate, many of the generated functional groups buried into the bulk rendering them inaccessible. The propensity of this surface reorganization was found to be higher for PMMA compared to COC. As an example of the effects of material and microchannel aspect ratios on device functionality, thermoplastic devices for the selection of CTCs from whole blood were evaluated, which required the immobilization of monoclonal antibodies to channel walls. From our results, we concluded the CTC yield and purity of isolated CTCs were dependent on the substrate material with COC producing the highest clinical yields for CTCs as well as better purities compared to PMMA.
Scattering through a straight quantum waveguide with combined boundary conditions
Creators: name: Briet, Ph.
name: Dittrich, J.
name: Soccorsi, E.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: 81U15, 81V99

description: Scattering through a straight two-dimensional quantum waveguide Rx(0,d) with Dirichlet boundary conditions on (-\infty,0)x{y=0} \cup (0,\infty)x{y=d} and Neumann boundary condition on (-infty,0)x{y=d} \cup (0,\infty)x{y=0} is considered using stationary scattering theory. The existence of a matching conditions solution at x=0 is proved. The use of stationary scattering theory is justified showing its relation to the wave packets motion. As an illustration, the matching conditions are also solved numerically and the transition probabilities are shown.
description: 26 pages, 3 figures
Design of Novel Algorithm and Architecture for Gaussian Based Color Image Enhancement System for Real Time Applications
Creators: name: Hanumantharaju, M. C.
name: Ravishankar, M.
name: Rameshbabu, D. R.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Hardware Architecture (cs.AR)
subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: This paper presents the development of a new algorithm for Gaussian based color image enhancement system. The algorithm has been designed into architecture suitable for FPGA/ASIC implementation. The color image enhancement is achieved by first convolving an original image with a Gaussian kernel since Gaussian distribution is a point spread function which smoothen the image. Further, logarithm-domain processing and gain/offset corrections are employed in order to enhance and translate pixels into the display range of 0 to 255. The proposed algorithm not only provides better dynamic range compression and color rendition effect but also achieves color constancy in an image. The design exploits high degrees of pipelining and parallel processing to achieve real time performance. The design has been realized by RTL compliant Verilog coding and fits into a single FPGA with a gate count utilization of 321,804. The proposed method is implemented using Xilinx Virtex-II Pro XC2VP40-7FF1148 FPGA device and is capable of processing high resolution color motion pictures of sizes of up to 1600x1200 pixels at the real time video rate of 116 frames per second. This shows that the proposed design would work for not only still images but also for high resolution video sequences.
description: 15 pages, 15 figures
High levels of Epstein–Barr virus DNA in latently infected gastric adenocarcinoma
Creators: name: Thorne, Leigh B
name: Booker, Jessica K
name: Morgan, Douglas R
name: Gulley, Margaret L
name: Mino-Kenudson, Mari
name: Lauwers, Gregory Y
name: Ryan, Julie L
name: Elmore, Sandra H
name: Dominguez, Ricardo L
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2009

description: Gastric adenocarcinoma is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is present in the malignant cells of approximately 10% of cases. It is unclear whether EBV is being missed in some gastric adenocarcinomas due to insensitive test methods or partial EBV genome loss. In the current study, we screened 113 gastric adenocarcinomas from low and high incidence regions (United States and Central America) for the presence of EBV using a battery quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) assays targeting disparate segments of the EBV genome (BamH1W, EBNA1, LMP1, LMP2, BZLF1, EBER1) and histochemical stains targeting EBV-encoded RNA (EBER), the latent proteins LMP1 and LMP2, and the lytic proteins BMRF1 and BZLF1. EBV DNA was detected by Q-PCR in 48/75 United States cancers (64%) and in 38/38 Central American cancers (100%), which was a significant differrence. EBER was localized to malignant epithelial cells in 8/48 (17%) United States and 3/38 (8%) Central American cancers. Viral loads were considerably higher for EBER-positive versus EBER-negative cancers (mean 162,986 versus 62 EBV DNA copies per 100,000 cells). A viral load of 2,000 copies per 100,000 cells is recommended as the threshold distinguishing EBER-positive from EBER-negative tumors. One infected cancer selectively failed to amplify the LMP2 gene because of a point mutation, while another cancer had an atypical pattern of Q-PCR positivity suggesting deletion of large segments of the EBV genome. Three different viral latency profiles were observed in the cancers based on constant expression of EBER and focal or variable expression of LMP1 or LMP2, without lytic protein expression. We conclude that EBV DNA levels generally reflect EBER status, and a panel of at least two Q-PCR assays is recommended for sensitive identification of infected cancers.
Timp-3 deficiency impairs cognitive function in mice
Creators: name: Takemura, Yukihiro
name: Iwanami, Jun
name: Ohishi, Mitsuru
name: Fukuo, Keisuke
name: Baba, Yoshichika
name: Maeda, Nobuyo
name: Mogi, Masaki
name: Yasuda, Osamu
name: Rakugi, Hiromi
name: Horiuchi, Masatsugu
name: Doe, Nobutaka
name: Ishikawa, Yasuyuki
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2009

description: Extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation is performed primarily by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). MMPs have recently been shown to regulate synaptic activity in the hippocampus and to affect memory and learning. The tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (Timp) is an endogenous factor that controls MMP activity by binding to the catalytic site of MMPs. At present, four Timp isotypes have been reported (Timp-1 through Timp-4) with 35–50% amino-acid sequence homology. Timp-3 is a unique member of Timp proteins in that it is bound to the ECM. In this study, we used the passive avoidance test, active avoidance test, and water maze test to examine the cognitive function in Timp-3 knockout (KO) mice. Habituation was evaluated using the open-field test. The water maze test showed that Timp-3 KO mice exhibit deterioration in cognitive function compared with wild-type (WT) mice. The open-field test showed decreased habituation of Timp-3 KO mice. Immunostaining of brain slices revealed the expression of Timp-3 in the hippocampus. In situ zymography of the hippocampus showed increased gelatinolytic activity in Timp-3 KO mice compared with WT mice. These results present the first evidence of Timp-3 involvement in cognitive function and hippocampal MMP activity in mice. Moreover, our findings suggest a novel therapeutic target to be explored for improvement of cognitive function in humans.
Online Tracking of Skin Colour Regions Against a Complex Background
Creators: name: Basu, Subhadip
name: Chakraborty, S.
name: Mukherjee, K.
name: Pandit, S. K.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Online tracking of human activity against a complex background is a challenging task for many applications. In this paper, we have developed a robust technique for localizing skin colour regions from unconstrained image frames. A simple and fast segmentation algorithm is used to train a multiplayer perceptron (MLP) for detection of skin colours. Stepper motors are synchronized with the MLP to track the movement of the skin colour regions.
Evolution of the $γ$-ray strength function in neodymium isotopes
Creators: name: Guttormsen, M.
name: Ay, K. O.
name: Ozgur, M.
name: Algin, E.
name: Larsen, A. C.
name: Garrote, F. L. Bello
name: Berg, H. C.
name: Campo, L. Crespo
name: Dahl-Jacobsen, T.
name: Furmyr, F. W.
name: Gjestvang, D.
name: Görgen, A.
name: Hagen, T. W.
name: Ingeberg, V. W.
name: Kheswa, B. V.
name: Kullmann, I. K. B.
name: Klintefjord, M.
name: Markova, M.
name: Midtbø, J. E.
name: Modamio, V.
name: Paulsen, W.
name: Pedersen, L. G.
name: Renstrøm, T.
name: Sahin, E.
name: Siem, S.
name: Tveten, G. M.
name: Wiedeking, M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)
subject: Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The experimental gamma-ray strength functions (gamma-SFs) of 142,144-151Nd have been studied for gamma-ray energies up to the neutron separation energy. The results represent a unique set of gamma-SFs for an isotopic chain with increasing nuclear deformation. The data reveal how the low-energy enhancement, the scissors mode and the pygmy dipole resonance evolve with nuclear deformation and mass number. The data indicate that the mechanisms behind the low-energy enhancement and the scissors mode are decoupled from each other.
description: 14 pages and 10 figures
Fractal solutions of linear and nonlinear dispersive partial differential equations
Creators: name: Chousionis, V.
name: Erdoğan, M. Burak
name: Tzirakis, Nikolaos
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Analysis of PDEs (math.AP)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: In this paper we study fractal solutions of linear and nonlinear dispersive PDE on the torus. In the first part we answer some open questions on the fractal solutions of linear Schrödinger equation and equations with higher order dispersion. We also discuss applications to their nonlinear counterparts like the cubic Schrödinger equation (NLS) and the Korteweg-de Vries equation (KdV). In the second part, we study fractal solutions of the vortex filament equation and the associated Schrödinger map equation (SM). In particular, we construct global strong solutions of the SM in $H^s$ for $s>\frac32$ for which the evolution of the curvature is given by a periodic nonlinear Schrödinger evolution. We also construct unique weak solutions in the energy level. Our analysis follows the frame construction of Chang {\em et al.} \cite{csu} and Nahmod {\em et al.} \cite{nsvz}.
description: 28 pages
Difference in expression of hepatic microRNAs miR-29c, miR-34a, miR-155 and miR-200b is associated with strain-specific susceptibility to dietary nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in mice
Creators: name: Beland, Frederick A
name: Starlard-Davenport, Athena
name: Han, Tao
name: Ross, Sharon A
name: Pogribny, Igor P
name: Tryndyak, Volodymyr P
name: Rusyn, Ivan
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: The importance of dysregulation of microRNA (miRNA) expression in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has been increasingly recognized; however, the association between altered expression of miRNAs and pathophysiological features of NASH and whether or not there is a connection between susceptibility to NASH and altered expression of miRNAs are largely unknown. In the present study, male inbred C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice were fed a lipogenic methyl-deficient diet that causes liver injury similar to human NASH, and the expression of miRNAs and the level of proteins targeted by these miRNAs in the livers were determined. The administration of the methyl-deficient diet triggered NASH-specific changes in the livers of C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice with a magnitude being more severe in DBA/2J mice. This was evidenced by a greater extent of expression of fibrosis-related genes in the livers of methyl-deficient DBA/2J mice. The development of NASH was accompanied by prominent changes in the expression of miRNAs, including miR-29c, miR-34a, miR-155, and miR-200b. Interestingly, changes in the expression of these miRNAs and protein levels of their targets, including Cebp-β, Socs 1, Zeb-1, and E-cadherin, in the livers of DBA/2J mice fed a methyl-deficient diet were more pronounced as compared to the C57BL/6J mice. These results demonstrate that alterations in expression of miRNAs are a prominent event during development of NASH induced by methyl deficiency and strongly suggest that severity of NASH and susceptibility to NASH may be determined by variations in miRNA expression response. More importantly, our data provide a mechanistic link between alterations in miRNA expression and pathophysiological and pathomorphological features of NASH.
An intronic LINE-1 element insertion in the dystrophin gene aborts dystrophin expression and results in Duchenne-like muscular dystrophy in the corgi breed
Creators: name: Yue, Yongping
name: Duan, Dongsheng
name: Smith, Bruce F
name: Shin, Jin-Hong
name: Williams, Regina R
name: Woods, Philip R
name: Kornegay, Joe N
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a dystrophin-deficient lethal muscle disease. To date, the catastrophic muscle wasting phenotype has only been seen in dystrophin-deficient humans and dogs. While Duchenne-like symptoms have been observed in more than a dozen dog breeds, the mutation is often not known and research colonies are rarely established. Here we report an independent canine DMD model originally derived from the Pembroke Welsh corgi breed. The affected dogs presented clinical signs of muscular dystrophy. Immunostaining revealed the absence of dystrophin and up-regulation of utrophin. Histopathologic examination showed variable fiber size, central nucleation, calcification, fibrosis, neutrophil and macrophage infiltration and cardiac focal vacuolar degeneration. Carrier dogs also displayed mild myopathy. The mutation was identified as a long interspersed repetitive element-1 (LINE-1) insertion in intron 13 which introduced a new exon containing an in-frame stop codon. Similar mutations have been seen in human patients. A colony was generated by crossing carrier females with normal males. Affected puppies had a normal birth weight but they experienced a striking growth delay in the first 5 days. In summary, the new corgi DMD model offers an excellent opportunity to study DMD pathogenesis and to develop novel therapies.
Απάτη με υπολογιστή
Creators: name: Συμεωνίδου, Αναστασία Τιμόθεου
Publisher: name: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Year: 2023
Subjects: Απάτη
Υπολογιστής
Κυβερνοέγκλημα
Fraud
Computer
Cyber Crime

description: Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας, είναι η ανάλυση των βασικότερων εννοιών του ηλεκτρονικού εγκλήματος, το νομοθετικό πλαίσιο αντιμετώπισης αυτού τόσο σε ευρωπαϊκό όσο και σε εθνικό επίπεδο, η αυξητική περιπτωσιολογία του ανωτέρω εγκλήματος με ενδεικτική στατιστική ανάλυση, καθώς και μια συγκριτική παρουσίαση μεταξύ του νέου και του παλαιού άρθρου 386Α ΠΚ, με περαιτέρω ανάλυση των αλλαγών που επέφερε ο νόμος 4947/2022, αναφορά στην ποινικοποίηση της παράνομης χρήσης άυλων μέσων πληρωμής και ενδεικτική αναφορά στις πράξεις του phishing, pharming, hacking και ransomware
description: The purpose of this paper is the analysis of the most basic concepts of electronic crime, the legislative framework for dealing with it both at the European and national level, the increasing incidence of the above crime with an indicative statistical analysis, as well as a comparative presentation between the new and the of old article 386A of the Civil Code, with further analysis of the changes brought about by law 4947/2022, reference to the criminalization of the illegal use of immaterial means of payment and indicative reference to the acts of phising, pharming, hacking and ransomware
Effects of conservation policies on forest cover change in giant panda habitat regions, China
Creators: name: Chen, Xiaodong
name: Viña, Andrés
name: Li, Yu
name: Zhang, Jindong
name: Liu, Jianguo
name: Yang, Wu
name: Ouyang, Zhiyun
name: Liang, Zai
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: After long periods of deforestation, forest transition has occurred globally, but the causes of forest transition in different countries are highly variable. Conservation policies may play important roles in facilitating forest transition around the world, including China. To restore forests and protect the remaining natural forests, the Chinese government initiated two nationwide conservation policies in the late 1990s -- the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) and the Grain-To-Green Program (GTGP). While some studies have discussed the environmental and socioeconomic effects of each of these policies independently and others have attributed forest recovery to both policies without rigorous and quantitative analysis, it is necessary to rigorously quantify the outcomes of these two conservation policies simultaneously because the two policies have been implemented at the same time. To fill the knowledge gap, this study quantitatively evaluated the effects of the two conservation policies on forest cover change between 2001 and 2008 in 108 townships located in two important giant panda habitat regions -- the Qinling Mountains region in Shaanxi Province and the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary in Sichuan Province. Forest cover change was evaluated using a land-cover product (MCD12Q1) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This product proved to be highly accurate in the study region (overall accuracy was ca. 87%, using 425 ground truth points collected in the field), thus suitable for the forest change analysis performed. Results showed that within the timeframe evaluated, most townships in both regions exhibited either increases or no changes in forest cover. After accounting for a variety of socioeconomic and biophysical attributes, an Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model suggests that the two policies had statistically significant positive effects on forest cover change after seven years of implementation, while population density, percent agricultural population, road density, and initial forest cover (i.e. in 2001) had significant negative effects. The methods and results from this study will be useful for continuing the implementation of these conservation policies, for the development of future giant panda habitat conservation projects, and for achieving forest sustainability in China and elsewhere.
Correct-by-design Control Synthesis for Multilevel Converters using State Space Decomposition
Creators: name: Feld, Gilles
name: Fribourg, Laurent
name: Labrousse, Denis
name: Revol, Bertrand
name: Soulat, Romain
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Systems and Control (eess.SY)
subject: Software Engineering (cs.SE)
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: B.6.3; D.2.4; G.1.7

description: High-power converters based on elementary switching cells are more and more used in the industry of power electronics owing to various advantages such as lower voltage stress and reduced power loss. However, the complexity of controlling such converters is a major challenge that the power manufacturing industry has to face with. The synthesis of industrial switching controllers relies today on heuristic rules and empiric simulation. The state of the system is not guaranteed to stay within the limits that are admissible for its correct electrical behavior. We show here how to apply a formal method in order to synthesize a correct-by-design control that guarantees that the power converter will always stay within a predefined safe zone of variations for its input parameters. The method is applied in order to synthesize a correct-by-design control for 5-level and 7-level power converters with a flying capacitor topology. We check the validity of our approach by numerical simulations for 5 and 7 levels. We also perform physical experimentations using a prototype built by SATIE laboratory for 5 levels.
description: In Proceedings FSFMA 2014, arXiv:1407.1952
Alexa as an Active Listener: How Backchanneling Can Elicit Self-Disclosure and Promote User Experience
Creators: name: Cho, Eugene
name: Motalebi, Nasim
name: Sundar, S. Shyam
name: Abdullah, Saeed
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Active listening is a well-known skill applied in human communication to build intimacy and elicit self-disclosure to support a wide variety of cooperative tasks. When applied to conversational UIs, active listening from machines can also elicit greater self-disclosure by signaling to the users that they are being heard, which can have positive outcomes. However, it takes considerable engineering effort and training to embed active listening skills in machines at scale, given the need to personalize active-listening cues to individual users and their specific utterances. A more generic solution is needed given the increasing use of conversational agents, especially by the growing number of socially isolated individuals. With this in mind, we developed an Amazon Alexa skill that provides privacy-preserving and pseudo-random backchanneling to indicate active listening. User study (N = 40) data show that backchanneling improves perceived degree of active listening by smart speakers. It also results in more emotional disclosure, with participants using more positive words. Perception of smart speakers as active listeners is positively associated with perceived emotional support. Interview data corroborate the feasibility of using smart speakers to provide emotional support. These findings have important implications for smart speaker interaction design in several domains of cooperative work and social computing.
description: To appear in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACM HCI). The paper will be presented in CSCW 2022 (https://cscw.acm.org/2022)
Spin Physics Experiments at NICA-SPD with polarized proton and deuteron beams
Creators: name: Savin, I. A.
name: Efremov, A. V.
name: Peshekhonov, D. V.
name: Kovalenko, A. D.
name: Teryaev, O. V.
name: Shevchenko, O. Yu.
name: Nagajcev, A. P.
name: Guskov, A. V.
name: Kukhtin, V. V.
name: Topilin, N. D.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We propose to perform measurements of asymmetries of the Drell-Yan (DY) pairs production in collisions of non-polarized, longitudinally and transversally polarized protons and deuterons which provide an access to all leading twist collinear and TMD PDFs of quarks and anti-quarks in nucleons. The measurements of asymmetries in production of J/Ψand direct photons will be performed as well simultaneously with DY using dedicated triggers. The set of these measurements will supply complete information for tests of the quark-parton model of nucleons at the QCD twist-two level with minimal systematic errors.
description: Letter of Intent, 54 pages, 54 fugures
Consequences of out-migration for land use in rural Ecuador
Creators: name: Bilsborrow, Richard E.
name: Gray, Clark L.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2014

description: In rural Ecuador and elsewhere in Latin America, the departure of migrants and the receipt of migrant remittances have led to declining rural populations and increasing cash incomes. It is commonly assumed that these processes will lead to agricultural abandonment and the regrowth of native vegetation, thus undermining traditional livelihoods and providing a boon for biodiversity conservation. However, an increasing number of household-level studies have found mixed and complex effects of out-migration and remittances on agriculture. We advance this literature by using household survey data and satellite imagery from three study areas in rural Ecuador to investigate the effects of migration and remittances on agricultural land use. Multivariate methods are used to disaggregate the effects of migration and remittances, to account for other influences on land use and to correct for the potential endogeneity of migration and remittances. Contrary to common assumptions but consistent with previous studies, we find that migrant departure has a positive effect on agricultural activities that is offset by migrant remittances. These results suggest that rural out-migration alone is not likely to lead to a forest transition in the study areas.
A national-level analysis of neighborhood form metrics
Creators: name: Popkin, Barry
name: Gordon-Larsen, Penny
name: Song, Yan
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: Interest in urban neighborhood form is strong among scholars trained in multiple disciplines. The increasing popularity of this field calls for a set of metrics that can be used to describe meaningful patterns of built features in neighborhood environments. This study employs national-level datasets from Add Health, the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) 2001, the U.S. Census TIGER, and the U.S. Geological Survey to construct neighborhood form metrics for 20,467 residents, whose residential environments cover a wide array of geographic areas representative of comprehensive neighborhood types across the United States. Buffers of different sizes (1 km, 3 km, 5 km, and 8 km, respectively) are drawn around each resident’s location as the unit of analysis. For the four sets of 20,467 neighborhood environments, 27 neighborhood form metrics are selected, computed, and further reduced through factor analysis. The results suggest that the derived subsets of univariate metrics can be applied across neighborhood types to characterize diverse neighborhood environments.
An Automated Group Key Authentication System Using Secret Image Sharing Scheme
Creators: name: Kole, Dipak Kumar
name: Basu, Subhadip
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: In an open network environment, privacy of group communication and integrity of the communication data are the two major issues related to secured information exchange. The required level of security may be achieved by authenticating a group key in the communication channel, where contribution from each group member becomes a part of the overall group key. In the current work, we have developed an authentication system through Central Administrative Server (CAS) for automatic integration and validation of the group key. For secured group communication, the CAS generates a secret alphanumeric group key image. Using secret image sharing scheme, this group key image shares are distributed among all the participating group members in the open network. Some or all the secret shares may be merged to reconstruct the group key image at CAS. A k-nearest neighbor classifier with 48 features to represent the images, is used to validate the reconstructed image with the one stored in the CAS. 48 topological features are used to represent the reconstructed group key image. We have achieved 99.1% classification accuracy for 26 printed English uppercase characters and 10 numeric digits.
Simulated village locations in Thailand: a multi-scale model including a neural network approach
Creators: name: Entwisle, Barbara
name: Tang, Wenwu
name: Malanson, George P.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2009

description: The simulation of rural land use systems, in general, and rural settlement dynamics in particular has developed with synergies of theory and methods for decades. Three current issues are: linking spatial patterns and processes, representing hierarchical relations across scales, and considering nonlinearity to address complex non-stationary settlement dynamics. We present a hierarchical simulation model to investigate complex rural settlement dynamics in Nang Rong, Thailand. This simulation uses sub-models to allocate new villages at three spatial scales. Regional and sub-regional models, which involve a nonlinear space-time autoregressive model implemented in a neural network approach, determine the number of new villages to be established. A dynamic village niche model, establishing pattern-process link, was designed to enable the allocation of villages into specific locations. Spatiotemporal variability in model performance indicates the pattern of village location changes as a settlement frontier advances from rice-growing lowlands to higher elevations. Experiments results demonstrate this simulation model can enhance our understanding of settlement development in Nang Rong and thus gain insight into complex land use systems in this area.