cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Gravitational Condensate Stars: An Alternative to Black Holes
Creators: name: Mazur, Pawel O.
name: Mottola, Emil
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2001
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A new solution for the endpoint of gravitational collapse is proposed. By extending the concept of Bose-Einstein condensation to gravitational systems, a cold, compact object with an interior de Sitter condensate phase and an exterior Schwarzschild geometry of arbitrary total mass M is constructed. These are separated by a phase boundary with a small but finite thickness of fluid with eq. of state p= +rho, replacing both the Schwarzschild and de Sitter classical horizons. The new solution has no singularities, no event horizons, and a global time. Its entropy is maximized under small fluctuations and is given by the standard hydrodynamic entropy of the thin shell, instead of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Unlike black holes, a collapsed star of this kind is thermodynamically stable and has no information paradox.
description: Published, minimally corrected version of gr-qc/0109035, in which the original proposal that the final state of complete gravitational collapse is a non-singular gravitational vacuum condensate star (`gravastar') was made. Includes an extended Appendix, updating the status and developments of the proposal since 2001, under seven subheadings, with additional explanation and references.\
Engineering a feedback-based synthetic gene circuit for targeted continuous evolution of a gene in E. coli
Creators: name: Mallick, Haris
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2020

description: Directed evolution is an invaluable technique for engineering proteins to possess desired physical and chemical properties when very little structural and functional information is known. It is divided into two sequential steps: generating a library of protein variants using mutagenic techniques; and applying a screening or selection strategy to scan the library for variants displaying desired properties. Library generation is performed using either in vitro or in vivo techniques, while screening or selection typically occurs in a suitable host cell. Currently, in vitro methods like error-prone PCR are popular for library generation. However, these techniques can be labour intensive, prone to mutation biases, and generate limited library sizes for screening. In vivo mutagenic techniques overcome these limitations by enabling simultaneous library generation and selection within cells. By generating random mutations in the gene-of-interest within one cell cycle, each cell in a batch culture potentially represents a library variant. Such a continuous evolution system can run for weeks with minimal human intervention, greatly expanding the genetic search space for protein engineering. The challenge lies in developing a mutator system that specifically generates mutations in the target gene, while maintaining the cell’s genomic fidelity. With this goal in mind, a mutator system was engineered in E. coli that introduces targeted cytidine deamination damage and subsequently performs error-prone DNA repair by hijacking the base excision repair pathway. The targeted damage occurs via activation induced cytidine deaminase fused to T7 RNA polymerase, while the error-prone DNA repair is performed by a three-protein fusion comprising a 5’-3’-exonuclease, an AP-endonuclease and an error-prone DNA polymerase. The mutagenic characteristics of this system was tested by knocking out GFP expression and analysing the mutant library using next generation sequencing techniques. The system was also experimentally shown to generate functionally active mutations that reverted inactivated β-lactamase gene variants to confer ampicillin resistance.
Unified treatment of sub-saturation stellar matter at zero and finite temperature
Creators: name: Gulminelli, F.
name: Raduta, Ad. R.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The standard variational derivation of stellar matter structure in the Wigner-Seitz approximation is generalized to the finite temperature situation where a wide distribution of different nuclear species can coexist in the same density and proton fraction condition, possibly out of $β$-equilibrium. The same theoretical formalism is shown to describe on one side the single-nucleus approximation (SNA), currently used in most core collapse supernova simulations, and on the other side the nuclear statistical equilibrium (NSE) approach, routinely employed in r- and p-process explosive nucleosynthesis problems. In particular we show that in-medium effects have to be accounted for in NSE to have a theoretical consistency between the zero and finite temperature modeling. The bulk part of these in-medium effects is analytically calculated and shown to be different from a van der Waals excluded volume term. This unified formalism allows controlling quantitatively the deviations from the SNA in the different thermodynamic conditions, as well as having a NSE model which is reliable at any arbitrarily low value of the temperature, with potential applications for neutron star cooling and accretion problems. We present different illustrative results with several mass models and effective interactions, showing the importance of accounting for the nuclear species distribution even at temperatures lower than 1 MeV.
description: 26 pages, 17 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. C
Sarah Pink, Kerstin Leder Mackley, Roxana Morosanu, Val Mitchell and Tracy Bhamra, Making Homes. Ethnography and Design, Bloomsbury, 2017
Creators: name: Mattozzi, Alvise
Publisher: name: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Year: 2019

description: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018): Tecnoscienza Nr. 18
Barriers and Policy Solutions for Off-Grid Energy Development: Evidence from a Comparative Survey of Private Sector Developers in Eastern Africa
Creators: name: Jeuland, Marc
name: D. Beyene, Abebe
name: Babyenda, Peter
name: Hinju, Gabriel
name: Mulwa, Richard
name: Phillips, Jonathan
name: A. Zewdie, Samuel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: off-grid
subsidies
tariffs
financing
regulation

description: Off-grid solutions with falling costs and maturing business models could fulfil the energy needs of remote low-income communities. Yet, numerous barriers impede their implementation and understanding perceptions of key barriers and opportunities among private developers remains limited. Survey data from nearly 200 companies in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda reveal common and differentiated challenges within and across countries and different types of firms, as well as important trade-offs in regulatory designs and support for the sector. While the policy climate makes a big difference in the perceptions of opportunities and barriers, companies' preferences regarding tariffs, grid encroachment, and licensing alternatives differ according to their business models, which challenges construction of simple and workable solutions. Achieving SDG7 (sustainable, modern, affordable, and reliable energy for all) needs more policy attention.
description: This material has been produced under the Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) programme. CCG brings together leading research organizations and is led out of the STEER centre, Loughborough University. CCG is funded by UK aid from the UK government. However, the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the UK government's official policies.
De-noising of galaxy optical spectra with autoencoders
Creators: name: Scourfield, M.
name: Saintonge, A.
name: de Mijolla, D.
name: Viti, S.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Optical spectra contain a wealth of information about the physical properties and formation histories of galaxies. Often though, spectra are too noisy for this information to be accurately retrieved. In this study, we explore how machine learning methods can be used to de-noise spectra and increase the amount of information we can gain without having to turn to sample averaging methods such as spectral stacking. Using machine learning methods trained on noise-added spectra - SDSS spectra with Gaussian noise added - we investigate methods of maximising the information we can gain from these spectra, in particular from emission lines, such that more detailed analysis can be performed. We produce a variational autoencoder (VAE) model, and apply it on a sample of noise-added spectra. Compared to the flux measured in the original SDSS spectra, the model values are accurate within 0.3-0.5 dex, depending on the specific spectral line and S/N. Overall, the VAE performs better than a principle component analysis (PCA) method, in terms of reconstruction loss and accuracy of the recovered line fluxes. To demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of the method in the context of large optical spectroscopy surveys, we simulate a population of spectra with noise similar to that in galaxies at $z = 0.1$ observed by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We show that we can recover the shape and scatter of the MZR in this "DESI-like" sample, in a way that is not possible without the VAE-assisted de-noising.
description: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS
MOESM5 of Multiple comparisons analysis of serological data from an area of low Plasmodium falciparum transmission
Creators: name: Rogier, Eric
name: Wiegand, Ryan
name: Delynn Moss
name: Priest, Jeff
name: Angov, Evelina
name: Sheetij Dutta
name: Journel, Ito
name: Jean, Samuel
name: Mace, Kimberly
name: Chang, Michelle
name: Lemoine, Jean
name: Venkatachalam Udhayakumar
name: Barnwell, John
Publisher: name: Figshare
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Space Science
subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Physiology
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: 19999 Mathematical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Inorganic Chemistry
subject: Science Policy
subject: 110309 Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences

description: Additional file 5. Figure: Two-component finite mixture model fitting to each antigenâ  s signal intensity from both immunoassays. For each immunoassay, top histograms are loge transformed data and bottom histograms are non-transformed data. For seropositivity cutoffs in TableÂ 1, the mean and standard deviation of the first (leftmost) component was used. Maximum likelihood estimation methods were unable to fit a second component to the ELISA AMA-1 data.
Fast and sensitive screening of transparent composite materials using polarized light image processing
Creators: name: Weiss, Ingrid M.
name: Heiland, Birgit
Publisher: name: Saarbrücken : Leibniz-Institut für Neue Materialien
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: 570

description: Composite materials of natural origin have remarkable material properties. In order to mimic the various functions of such materials for technical applications, it is necessary to understand the structure and the mechanisms of their formation, a scientific field which is called structural biology. A milestone in the era of structural biology was the application of the polarized light microscope for investigating biological specimens by W. J. Schmidt in 1924. A recent development in polarization technology is the LC-PolScope (Abrio IM™ Imaging System) that has been developed by R. Oldenbourg and his colleagues during the past 20 years. Like conventional polarization microscopy, it probes the local anisotropy of the specimen’s optical properties, such as birefringence or dichroism. Since there is a close relationship between such properties and molecular order in bulk materials, polarization microscopy can be regarded as a submicroscopic technique. The LC-PolScope is especially suitable for investigating biological materials without the need for using contrasting agents such as fluorescent markers. We demonstrated the applicability of this technique for the fast and sensitive screening of biological composite materials. Implications for the characterization of biomineralization phenomena in a quantitative manner are discussed.
A multi-scale approach to the electronic structure of doped semiconductor surfaces
Creators: name: Sinai, Ofer
name: Hofmann, Oliver T.
name: Rinke, Patrick
name: Scheffler, Matthias
name: Heimel, Georg
name: Kronik, Leeor
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The inclusion of the global effects of semiconductor doping poses a unique challenge for first-principles simulations, because the typically low concentration of dopants renders an explicit treatment intractable. In systems which do not display long-range band bending, a satisfactory remedy is offered by the use of "pseudoatoms", with a fractional nuclear charge matching the bulk doping concentration. However, this alone is not always sufficient for charged surfaces, where the width of the space-charge region (SCR) often exceeds realistic supercell dimensions. One generalization of the pseudoatom approach which overcomes this difficulty relies on the introduction of an artificially high doping level within a slab calculation, in conjunction with a multi-scale electrostatic energy correction. Here, we present an alternative technique that naturally extends the pseudoatom approach while bypassing the need for calculations with an unrealistically high doping level. It is based on the introduction of excess charge, mimicking free charge carriers from the SCR, along with a fixed sheet of counter-charge mimicking the SCR-related field. Self-consistency is obtained by imposing charge conservation and Fermi level equilibration between the bulk, treated semi-classically, and the electronic states of the slab/surface, which are treated quantum-mechanically. The method, which we call CREST - the Charge-Reservoir Electrostatic Sheet Technique - can be used with standard electronic structure codes. We validate the approach using a simple tight-binding model, which allows for comparison of its results with calculations encompassing the full SCR explicitly. We then employ it with density functional theory, where it is used to obtain insights into the electronic structures of the "clean-cleaved" Si(111) surface and its buckled (2x1) reconstruction, at various doping densities.
description: 28 pages, 8 figures
Medoid Silhouette clustering with automatic cluster number selection
Creators: name: Lenssen, Lars
name: Schubert, Erich
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: Machine Learning (stat.ML)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: The evaluation of clustering results is difficult, highly dependent on the evaluated data set and the perspective of the beholder. There are many different clustering quality measures, which try to provide a general measure to validate clustering results. A very popular measure is the Silhouette. We discuss the efficient medoid-based variant of the Silhouette, perform a theoretical analysis of its properties, provide two fast versions for the direct optimization, and discuss the use to choose the optimal number of clusters. We combine ideas from the original Silhouette with the well-known PAM algorithm and its latest improvements FasterPAM. One of the versions guarantees equal results to the original variant and provides a run speedup of $O(k^2)$. In experiments on real data with 30000 samples and $k$=100, we observed a 10464$\times$ speedup compared to the original PAMMEDSIL algorithm. Additionally, we provide a variant to choose the optimal number of clusters directly.
description: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2209.12553
Shockwave for abrogation of heart failure in ischaemia-reperfusion injury
Creators: name: Narodden, Mohamad Noorsalomon
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2020

description: BACKGROUND: Although reperfusion of STEMI has markedly improved acute patients’ survival, more patients are living with heart failure. Theoretically, more myocardial tissue is salvageable if reperfusion injury could be alleviated, limiting the risk of developing heart failure. AIM: To assess the combination shockwave treatment with DPP4-inhibitor as a treatment adjunct for cardiac IR injury. HYPOTHESIS: Shockwave provides cardioprotection from IR injury, improves cardiac function and cell-homing, and when shockwave used in conjunction with DPP4-inhibitor, the effects are augmented. METHOD: In-vivo: Surgical IR-rat models imaged using Bruker-BioSpec-9.4T. Multi-sequence CMR similar to clinical multi-planar acquisition using: (a) FLASH-CINE, (b) INTRAGATE-CINE, (c) MESE-T2-map, (d) T2-star, and (e) IR-LGE; in experimental groups: (1) Healthy versus IR-MI [a,b,c,e]; (2) Healthy versus Healthy-SW [a,b] ; (3) Healthy-SW versus Healthy-SW-inhibitor [a]; (4) IR-MI versus IR-MI-SW versus IR-MI-SW-inhibitor [a,b,c,e]; (5) iron pretreament then shockwave [c]; and (6) shockwave BOLD [d]. Segment(Medviso) post-processing to derive EDV, ESV, SV, CO, EF, T2-maps and T2star-maps; and Image-Arena(Tomtec) to derive GLS, GCS, GRS and segmental-strains; (6)multi-colour-flow-cytometry CD45-CD90+ and CD45+CD34+ on PBMC after shockwave. In-vitro: (7) Shockwave-treated HCF, HVT, HUVEC, and cardiomyocytes qPCR-assessed for SDF1. (8) Shockwave or SDF1-spiking treatment on oxygen-deprived cardiomyocytes and assessed for viability. RESULTS: (1) Segmental-strains distinguished phenotypes of Healthy, AAR and Infarction; global-strains detected IR-MI better than EF. (2) Shockwave induced inotropy. (3) DPP4-inhibitor prolonged shockwave-inotropic effect. (4) Smaller infarction in shockwave group; reduced transmurality with DPP4-inhibitor; stronger GLS, GCS, GRS in IR-MI-SW than IR-MI; stronger GLS and GRS in IR-MI-SW-inhibitor had than IR-MI-SW while GCS was unchanged. (5) Shockwave reduced T2, signifying cell-homing. (6) Shockwave increased BOLD signifying angiogenesis. (7) SDF1 expression increased in HCF, HVT, HUVEC but not in cardiomyocytes. (8) Shockwave and SDF1-spiking improved cardiomyocytes viability. CLINICAL CONTEXT: Shockwave with DPP4-inhibitor treatment in reperfused-STEMI could limit infarct size and improve cardiac function.
Collective Biopolitic. The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Genetic Research
Creators: name: Garba, Ibrahim
Publisher: name: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Year: 2019

description: This essay considers issues implicated in biobanking with indigenous peoples, a population increasingly recognized as having a collective right to participation under international law (e.g., the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007)). In contrast, prevailing notions of participation within the field of human rights (including the right to health) presuppose an individualist notion of citizenship. This essay compares the indigenous collective right to participation with “molecularized biopower”, the theory that biopolitics in modern democracies is becoming increasingly individualized in an unprecedented way. Using a US biobanking case study, this essay argues that two aspects of the indigenous collective right to participation (i.e., self-determination and the “empowerment” framework), not only counter the claim for a pervasively individualized biopolitics, but also demonstrate the importance of collective rights for indigenous participation in genetic research generally.
description: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018): Tecnoscienza Nr. 18
A Density Turán Theorem
Creators: name: Narins, Lothar
name: Tran, Tuan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Combinatorics (math.CO)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: Let $F$ be a graph which contains an edge whose deletion reduces its chromatic number. For such a graph $F,$ a classical result of Simonovits from 1966 shows that every graph on $n\ge n_0(F)$ vertices with more than $\frac{χ(F)-2}{χ(F)-1}\cdot \frac{n^2}{2}$ edges contains a copy of $F$. In this paper we derive a similar theorem for multipartite graphs. For a graph $H$ and an integer $\ell \geq v(H)$, let $d_{\ell}(H)$ be the minimum real number such that every $\ell$-partite graph whose edge density between any two parts is greater than $d_{\ell}(H)$ contains a copy of $H$. Our main contribution is to show that $d_{\ell}(H)=\frac{χ(H)-2}{χ(H)-1}$ for $\ell \ge \ell_0(H)$ sufficiently large if and only if $H$ admits a vertex-colouring with $χ(H)-1$ colours such that all colour classes but one are independent sets, and the exceptional class induces just a matching. When $H$ is a clique, this recovers a result of Pfender [Complete subgraphs in multipartite graphs, Combinatorica 32 (2012), 483--495]. We also consider several extensions of Pfender's result.
description: 28 pages, 2 figures
Femtosecond laser-written fibre Bragg gratings for future all-fibre mid-infrared laser systems
Creators: name: Bharathan, Gayathri
Publisher: name: Macquarie University
Year: 2023
Subjects: Other education not elsewhere classified

description: The mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelength regime in the electromagnetic spectrum has invited extensive attention in today’s world due to its unique overlap with the vibrational molecular resonances of atmospheric gases and liquid water. This extraordinary feature of the mid-IR spectral region has found great interest in various applications such as remote gas sensing, material processing, ablative surgery of soft and hard tissues. Therefore, lasers emitting at mid-IR wavelengths have received significant attention in ongoing research and development. Fibre lasers are a powerful tool to generate light at mid-IR wavelengths. However, mid-IR fibre laser development remains challenging, mainly due to the unavailability of fibre coupled optical components to create all-fibre laser cavities, which severely limits their practical applications. This thesis investigates the feasibility of using femtosecond laser (fs) pulses to inscribe in-fibre components such as uniform fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs), tilted fibre Bragg gratings (TFBGs) and chirped fibre Bragg gratings (CFBGs) which can add a new perspective for mid-IR all-fibre lasers. Here we explore the potential of fs laser beams to directly inscribe type-I fibre gratings into the core of passive and active soft-glass fibres. We investigated and compared various fabrication methods and techniques to tailor the FBG properties, therefore, we could develop highly reflective and low loss gratings in the mid-IR regime. Temperature stabilization of the gratings via annealing was also performed to enable the development of high power, high efficiency, alignment-free all-fibre laser systems in the mid-IR region. In this thesis we have demonstrated, the first in-fibre polarizer for the mid-IR region and the first linearly-polarized all-fibre mid-IR laser system by using a 45° TFBG. Another major achievement presented in this thesis is the demonstration of an in-band pumped grating stabilized Fabry-Perot laser cavity generating up to 1.06 W at 3.15 µm wavelength using dysprosium-doped fibre with a record high slope efficiency of 73%. Later, we also experimentally demonstrated the first stable mode-locking from an Er3+ doped fluoride fibre laser cavity using the novel two-dimensional saturable absorber materials PtSe2 and MXene operating near 2.8 µm wavelength. This linear cavity contained a high reflective CFBG to provide wavelength stability. Our results presented in this thesis demonstrate the feasibility of developing potential in-fibre components for the mid-IR wavelength regime thereby paving way to the development of robust high-power, alignment-free, all-fiber mid-IR laser systems.
The proton conductivity in benzimidazolium azelate under moderate pressure
Creators: name: Masłowski, T.
name: Drzewiński, A.
name: Ławniczak, P.
name: Zdanowska-Frączek, M.
name: Ulner, J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The kinetic Monte Carlo method is applied to examine effects of hydrostatic pressure on the benzimidazolium azelate (BenAze) proton conductivity. Following the experimental indications the recently proposed model has been modified to simulate the transport phenomena under moderate pressure, resulting in a very good agreement between numerical and experimental results. We demonstrate that the pressure-induced changes in the proton conductivity can be attributed to solely two parameters: the length of the hydrogen bond and the amplitude of lattice vibrations while other processes play a more minor role. It may provide an insight into tailoring new materials with improved proton-conducting properties. Furthermore, in high-pressure regime we anticipate the crossover from the increasing to decreasing temperature dependence of the proton conductivity resulting from the changes in the hydrogen-bond activation barrier with increased pressure.
description: 12 pages, 3 figures
Beyond the Formal Mechanisms of Public Engagement. Communicating Biobanking Research with Other Means
Creators: name: Beltrame, Lorenzo
name: Martinelli, Lucia
name: Ampollini, Ilaria
Publisher: name: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Year: 2019

description: In this contribution we explore novel, different ways of promoting public engagement in biomedical research using biobanks. Starting from a discussion about the limits of traditional formal procedures of engaging participants in biobanking activities, the contribution proposes two approaches to public involvement that use the Science Museum as an agora for communicating and representing the complex scientific, societal and ethical issues involved in contemporary biomedical research. The role of museum exhibitions, metaphors and languages of art and theater, as well as other forms of dialogues, are discussed as a way of shaping popular imaginaries about scientific research, in order to complement mechanisms of public engagement with novel forms of stimulating public understanding of scientific research using tissues and genomic data.
description: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018): Tecnoscienza Nr. 18
Exploration of tetrahedral structures in silicate cathodes using a motif-network scheme
Creators: name: Zhao, Xin
name: Wu, Shunqing
name: Lv, Xiaobao
name: Nguyen, Manh Cuong
name: Wang, Cai-Zhuang
name: Lin, Zijing
name: Zhu, Zi-Zhong
name: Ho, Kai-Ming
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Using a motif-network search scheme, we studied the tetrahedral structures of the dilithium/disodium transition metal orthosilicates A2MSiO4 with A = Li or Na and M = Mn, Fe or Co. In addition to finding all previously reported structures, we discovered many other different tetrahedral-network-based crystal structures which are highly degenerate in energy. These structures can be classified into structures with 1D, 2D and 3D M-Si-O frameworks. A clear trend of the structural preference in different systems was revealed and possible indicators that affect the structure stabilities were introduced. For the case of Na systems which have been much less investigated in the literature relative to the Li systems, we predicted their ground state structures and found evidence for the existence of new structural motifs.
description: 25 pages, 7 figures
“It’s Actually Part of Clinical Care”. Mediating Biobanking Assets in the Entrepreneurial Hospital
Creators: name: French, Martin
name: Miller, Fiona A.
name: Axler, Renata
Publisher: name: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Year: 2019

description: A core aspect of the entrepreneurial hospital is the mobilisation of the means of care beyond care itself. In previous work, we showed how the entrepreneurial hospital uses its unique access to patient populations, whose health needs make them available, in order to facilitate research into therapeutic, diagnostic, or service delivery innovation. It ‘entrepreneurialises’ care, we argued, to meet research needs. What may be less obvious in this process, however, is that research, too, is entrepreneurialised to meet care needs. That is, the entrepreneurial hospital not only constitutes its patient populations and care infrastructure as distinctive assets that serve its entrepreneurial aims, but also positions its entrepreneurial aims as a decisive element in the service of care. This article develops the concept of the entrepreneurial hospital to help theorise biobanking. It foregrounds the views of biobankers – drawing from our ethnographic research and especially our interviews with key-informants (2008-2009) who work in some relation to biobanking in a Canadian province – thereby providing a window onto an important, yet under-examined, set of rationales motivating the entrepreneurial integration of care and research through biobanks.
description: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018): Tecnoscienza Nr. 18
Reconstruction of $f(T,\mathcal{T})$ Lagrangian for various cosmological scenarios
Creators: name: Ghorui, Tuhina
name: Rudra, Prabir
name: Rahaman, Farook
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this paper, we explore a reconstruction scheme in the background of the $f(T,\mathcal{T})$ gravity theory for different cosmological scenarios, where $T$ is the scalar torsion and $\mathcal{T}$ is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. Using the reconstruction technique $f(T, \mathcal{T})$ Lagrangian is constructed for different cosmological eras such as dust, $ΛCDM$, perfect fluid, etc. Both minimal and non-minimal matter-coupled models are considered for this purpose. Different cosmological scenarios such as power law expansion, de-Sitter expansion, etc. have been considered, and using them Lagrangian functionals are constructed. Mathematical viabilities of all the constructed functionals have been investigated. The physical implications of the obtained solutions are discussed in detail. To check the cosmological compatibility of the constructed $f(T,\mathcal{T})$ functionals we have generated plots of important parameters like the equation of state parameter and deceleration parameter. It is seen that the reconstructed models are perfectly compatible with the late-time accelerated expansion of the universe.
description: 23 pages, 4 figures
On spinless null propagation in five dimensional space-times with approximate space-like Killing symmetry
Creators: name: Breban, Romulus
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Five-dimensional (5D) space-time symmetry greatly facilitates how a 4D observer perceives the propagation of a single spinless particle in a 5D space-time. In particular, if the 5D geometry is independent of the fifth coordinate then the 5D physics may be interpreted as 4D quantum mechanics. In this work we address the case where symmetry is approximate, focusing on the case where the 5D geometry depends weakly on the fifth coordinate. We show that concepts developed for the case of exact symmetry approximately hold when other concepts such as decaying quantum states, resonant quantum scattering and Stokes drag are adopted, as well. We briefly comment on the optical model of the nuclear interactions and Millikan's oil drop experiment.
description: 6 pages, Typos corrected
Functional surfaces for controlled adhesion
Creators: name: Arzt, Eduard
name: Del Campo, Aranzazu
Publisher: name: Saarbrücke : Leibniz-Institut für Neue Materialien
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: 540

description: Adhesive joining with molecular (van der Waals) interactions without chemical glue is presently receiving much attention because of many potential applications. Research on how insects, spiders and geckos stick to surfaces has inspired a new paradigm: fibrillar surfaces with appropriate design can show much higher adhesion performance than flat surfaces. The insight gained in studying biological systems can be transferred to the development of optimized artificial attachment devices. By systematic variations of fiber diameter, aspect ratio and contact shape, we have produced, on a laboratory scale, artificial structures with adhesion strengths similar to the gecko. Further advances with switchable adhesion ("smart adhesives") have been demonstrated and may lead to interesting applications in medical products, sports equipment, construction materials and microfabrication.
Universal mechanism for air entrainment during liquid impact
Creators: name: Hendrix, Maurice H. W.
name: Bouwhuis, Wilco
name: van der Meer, Devaraj
name: Lohse, Detlef
name: Snoeijer, Jacco H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: When a mm-sized liquid drop approaches a deep liquid pool, both the interface of the drop and the pool deform before the drop touches the pool. The build up of air pressure prior to coalescence is responsible for this deformation. Due to this deformation, air can be entrained at the bottom of the drop during the impact. We quantify the amount of entrained air numerically, using the Boundary Integral Method (BIM) for potential flow for the drop and the pool, coupled to viscous lubrication theory for the air film that has to be squeezed out during impact. We compare our results to various experimental data and find excellent agreement for the amount of air that is entrapped during impact onto a pool. Next, the impact of a rigid sphere onto a pool is numerically investigated and the air that is entrapped in this case also matches with available experimental data. In both cases of drop and sphere impact onto a pool the numerical air bubble volume V_b is found to be in agreement with the theoretical scaling V_b/V_{drop/sphere} ~ St^{-4/3}, where St is the Stokes number. This is the same scaling that has been found for drop impact onto a solid surface in previous research. This implies a universal mechanism for air entrainment for these different impact scenarios, which has been suggested in recent experimental work, but is now further elucidated with numerical results.
Banking on Participation. Exploring the Co-production of Population and Public in Swiss Biobanking
Creators: name: Bühler, Nolwenn
name: Barazzetti, Gaia
name: Kaufmann, Alain
Publisher: name: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Year: 2019

description: This paper explores enactments of participation in two Swiss biobanking configurations, a cohort biobank and a general biobank. It sheds light on the role of Personalized Health endeavours, in which biobanks play a crucial role. In order to contribute to the understanding of the role of participation in biomedical research dynamics, the analysis focuses on the processes of co-production of identity and biobanks (Tupasela et al. 2015). It documents the overlaps between the population – providers of biological samples – and the public, the collective who is expected to give its opinion on issues raised by the reconfiguration of the research/healthcare interface. It shows that modalities of participation impact the potential scientific value derived from the biobank’s population, but also that the reconfiguration of the research/healthcare interface at the core of biobanking contributes to the current blooming of discourses and practices of participation. It argues that the forms of collective identity shaped through participation as population and/or public, exceed formal strategies of participatory governance and may play an even more important role in the shaping of biobanking configurations.
description: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018): Tecnoscienza Nr. 18
Holographic Calculations of Euclidean Wilson Loop Correlator in Euclidean anti-de Sitter Space
Creators: name: Ziama, Sannah
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The correlation functions of two or more Euclidean Wilson loops of various shapes in Euclidean anti-de Sitter space are computed by considering the minimal area surfaces connecting the loops. The surfaces are parametrized by Riemann theta functions associated with genus three hyperelliptic Riemann surfaces. In the case of two loops, the distance $L$ by which they are separated can be adjusted by continuously varying a specific branch point of the auxiliary Riemann surface. When $L$ is much larger than the characteristic size of the loops, then the loops are approximately regarded as local operators and their correlator as the correlator of two local operators. Similarly, when a loop is very small compared to the size of another loop, the small loop is considered as a local operator corresponding to a light supergravity mode.
description: 30 pages, 10 figures
Participation in the BioResource. Biobanking and Value in the Changing NHS
Creators: name: Wyatt, David
name: Cook, Jenny
name: McKevitt, Christopher
Publisher: name: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Year: 2019

description: The National Institute for Health Research BioResource is not a typical biobank. It banks biological samples and other data, but also volunteer commitment to potential future research participation. Researchers can then, using the BioResource as an intermediary, invite volunteers who meet specific genotypic or phenotypic criteria to participate in studies. Using participant observation and semi-structured interviews with those involved in recruiting new and engaging existing volunteers, this paper explores how participation is understood and cultivated, and how (bio)value is produced in routine BioResource work. We contribute insights into a different configuration of biosocial participation where the engaged individual, as opposed to biological sample, is the site of value. Foregrounding the often ignored work of biobank staff, we demonstrate the iterative and reflexive way value is created and maintained through staff activity, and the different way actors make sense of the site and stability of this value.
description: Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018): Tecnoscienza Nr. 18
Electrically controlled quantum transition to an anomalous metal in 2D
Creators: name: Halder, Soumyadip
name: Garg, Mona
name: Gawande, Shreekant
name: Mehta, Nikhlesh Singh
name: Kumari, Anamika
name: Chakraverty, Suvankar
name: Kumar, Sanjeev
name: Sheet, Goutam
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The mechanism through which superconductivity is destroyed upon controlled disordering often holds the key to understanding the mechanism of emergence of superconductivity. Here we demonstrate an $in$-$situ$ mechanism to control the fraction of disorder in a 2D superconductor. By controlling an electric field V$_G$, we created an assembly of segregated superconducting nano-islands and varied the inter-island distance to accomplish a quantum phase transition from a superconducting phase to a strange quantum anomalous metallic (QAM) phase at LaVO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interfaces. In the QAM phase, the resistivity dropped below a critical temperature (T$_{CM}$) as if the system was approaching superconductivity, and then saturated, indicating the destruction of global phase coherence and the emergence of a phase where metal-like transport of Bosons (a Bose metal) becomes a possibility. The unprecedented control over the island size is obtained through the control of nanometer scale ferroelectric domains formed in the SrTiO$_3$ side of the interface due to a low-temperature structural phase transition.
description: To be published in ACS Applied Electronic Materials
Characterisation of xenometabolome signatures in complex biomatrices for enhanced human population phenotyping
Creators: name: David, Mark John
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2020

description: Metabolic phenotyping facilitates the analysis of low molecular weight compounds in complex biological samples, with resulting metabolite profiles providing a window on endogenous processes and xenobiotic exposures. Accurate characterisation of the xenobiotic component of the metabolome (the xenometabolome) is particularly valuable when metabolic phenotyping is used for epidemiological and clinical population studies where exposure of participants to xenobiotics is unknown or difficult to control/estimate. Additionally, as metabolic phenotyping has increasingly been incorporated into toxicology and drug metabolism research, phenotyping datasets may be exploited to study xenobiotic metabolism at the population level. This thesis describes novel analytical and data-driven strategies for broadening xenometabolome coverage to allow effective partitioning of endogenous and xenobiotic metabolome signatures. The data driven strategy was multi-faceted, involving the generation of a reference database and the application of statistical methodologies. The database contains over 100 common xenobiotics profiles - generated using established liquid chromatography-mass-spectrometry methods – and provided the basis for an empirically derived screen for human urine and blood samples. The prevalence of these xenobiotics was explored in an exemplar phenotyping dataset (ALZ; n = 650; urine), with 31 xenobiotics detected in an initial screen. Statistical based methods were tailored to extract xenobiotic-related signatures and evaluated using drugs with well-characterised human metabolism. To complement the data-driven strategies for xenometabolome coverage, a more analytical based strategy was additionally developed. A dispersive solid phase extraction sample preparation protocol for blood products was optimised, permitting efficient removal of lipids and proteins, with minimal effect on low molecular weight metabolites. The suitability and reproducibility of this method was evaluated in two independent blood sample sets (AZstudy12; n=171, MARS; n=285). Finally, these analytical and statistical strategies were applied to two existing large-scale phenotyping study datasets: AIRWAVE (n = 3000 urine, n=3000 plasma samples) and ALZ (n= 650 urine, n= 449 serum) and used to explore both xenobiotic and endogenous responses to triclosan and polyethylene glycol exposure. Exposure to triclosan highlighted affected pathways relating to sulfation, whilst exposure to PEG highlighted a possible perturbation in the glutathione cycle. The analytical and statistical strategies described in this thesis allow for a more comprehensive xenometabolome characterisation and have been used to uncover previously unreported relationships between xenobiotic and endogenous metabolism.
The contribution of Giordano Bruno to the principle of relativity
Creators: name: De Angelis, Alesandro
name: Santo, Catarina Espirito
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The trial and condemnation of Giordano Bruno was mainly based on arguments of philosophical and theological nature, and therefore different from Galilei's. Such elements contribute to unfairly devalue the scientific contribution of Bruno and do not properly account in particular for his contribution to physics. This paper discusses the contribution of Bruno to the principle of relativity. According to common knowledge, the special principle of relativity was first enunciated in 1632 by Galileo Galilei in his Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo (Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems), using the metaphor today known as "Galileo's ship": in a boat moving at constant speed, the mechanical phenomena can be described by the same laws holding on Earth. We shall show that the same metaphor and some of the examples in Galilei's book were already contained in the dialogue La cena de le Ceneri (The Ash Wednesday Supper) published by Giordano Bruno in 1584. In fact, Giordano Bruno largely anticipated the arguments of Galilei on the relativity principle. It is likely that Galilei was aware of Bruno's work, and it is possible that the young Galilei discussed with Bruno, since they both stayed in Venezia for long periods in 1592.
description: 6 pages, 1 figure
ChatGPT v Bard v Bing v Claude 2 v Aria v human-expert. How good are AI chatbots at scientific writing?
Creators: name: Lozić, Edisa
name: Štular, Benjamin
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Computation and Language (cs.CL)
subject: Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
subject: Computers and Society (cs.CY)
subject: Emerging Technologies (cs.ET)
subject: Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: I.2.0
subject: 68T01

description: Historical emphasis on writing mastery has shifted with advances in generative AI, especially in scientific writing. This study analysed six AI chatbots for scholarly writing in humanities and archaeology. Using methods that assessed factual correctness and scientific contribution, ChatGPT-4 showed the highest quantitative accuracy, closely followed by ChatGPT-3.5, Bing, and Bard. However, Claude 2 and Aria scored considerably lower. Qualitatively, all AIs exhibited proficiency in merging existing knowledge, but none produced original scientific content. Inter-estingly, our findings suggest ChatGPT-4 might represent a plateau in large language model size. This research emphasizes the unique, intricate nature of human research, suggesting that AI's emulation of human originality in scientific writing is challenging. As of 2023, while AI has transformed content generation, it struggles with original contributions in humanities. This may change as AI chatbots continue to evolve into LLM-powered software.
description: This is Preprint with Graphical abstract and Highlights. Please cite the peer-reviewed open access publication at https://doi.org/10.3390/fi15100336