cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Molecular mechanisms of antitumor activity of PAMAM dendrimer conjugates with anticancer drugs and a monoclonal antibody
Creators: name: Marcinkowska, Monika
name: Stanczyk, Maciej
name: Janaszewska, Anna
name: Gajek, Arkadiusz
name: Ksiezak, Malgorzata
name: Dzialak, Paula
name: Klajnert-Maculewicz, Barbara
Publisher: name: Basel : MDPI
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: mitochondrial membrane potential
subject: reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation
subject: taxanes
subject: trastuzumab
subject: tumour targeting
subject: 540

description: Taxanes are considered fundamental drugs in the treatment of breast cancer, but despite the similarities, docetaxel (doc) and paclitaxel (ptx) work differently. For this reason, it is interesting to identify mechanisms of antitumor activity of PAMAM dendrimer conjugates that carry docetaxel or paclitaxel and monoclonal antibody trastuzumab, specifically targeted to cells which overexpressed HER-2. For this purpose, the impact on the level of reactive oxygen species, the mitochondrial membrane potential, cell cycle distribution and the activity of caspases-3/7, -8 and -9 of PAMAM-doc-trastuzumab and PAMAM-ptx-trastuzumab conjugates was determined and compared with free docetaxel and paclitaxel toward HER-2-positive (SKBR-3) and negative (MCF-7) human breast cancer cell lines. Moreover, apoptosis and necrosis were studied using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy, respectively. Our studies show the complexity of the potential mechanism of cytotoxic action of PAMAM-drug-trastuzumab conjugates that should be sought as a resultant of oxidative stress, mitochondrial activation of the caspase cascade and the HER-2 receptor blockade.
Perceptions and evaluation of teaching in higher education in Vietnam: a case study
Creators: name: Tran, ND
Publisher: name: University Of Tasmania
Year: 2023

description: This thesis is a time-fixed snapshot of how teaching is perceived and evaluated in Higher Education in Vietnam. The interest in exploring this question lies in its implications for improving teaching through teaching evaluation practice. Although the thesis is not directed to the teaching evaluation system per se, understanding the perceptions of teaching underlying the system is a prerequisite to teaching improvement. This case study was conducted at a public and a non-public university in Vietnam. Five university administrators ‚Äö- the designers of the Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) instrument, and one hundred teachers participated in this study. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews, survey-questionnaire, and analysis of documents including institutional SET Forms and Guideline on SETs from the Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam. Findings show that in Vietnam tertiary teaching was generally perceived as focusing on the teachers and their teaching, in a linked-chain‚ÄövÑvp fashion, from MOET's policy framework to university administrators, and to teachers. Two approaches to teaching evaluation, that is, student presage-focused, and teaching context-focused were found in this study. These approaches are characterised by congruence of the perception of teaching held by the university administrators, with the focus of teaching evaluation, and the purpose of the evaluation. The research presented in this thesis makes a considerable contribution to the literature. First, it argues for an approach to teaching evaluation underpinned by student-centred perceptions of teaching, that is, teaching as facilitating critical thinking and as enabling conceptual change. The teaching evaluation instrument used for such an approach becomes student evaluation of learning. Second, it extends the understanding of administrators' perceptions of teaching, which were under researched, compared with the prevalent literature on teachers' perceptions of teaching. Third, the study gives prominence to administrators and teachers in the Higher Education (HE) system of a developing country whose views were much less researched than those of developed countries. Finally, the study adds to the present lack of literature on the HE in Vietnam and provides a systemic view of the HE system through the lens of the perceptions of teaching which lie behind the teaching evaluation system. By doing so, it contributes to explanation of the Vietnamese Government's failures in its attempts at quality improvement in HE.
Magnetic fields in the early universe
Creators: name: Subramanian, Kandaswamy
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We give a pedagogical introduction to two aspects of magnetic fields in the early universe. We first focus on how to formulate electrodynamics in curved space time, defining appropriate magnetic and electric fields and writing Maxwell equations in terms of these fields. We then specialize to the case of magnetohydrodynamics in the expanding universe. We emphasize the usefulness of tetrads in this context. We then review the generation of magnetic fields during the inflationary era, deriving in detail the predicted magnetic and electric spectra for some models. We discuss potential problems arising from back reaction effects and from the large variation of the coupling constants required for such field generation.
description: 11 pages, Review for Astronomische Nachrichten, fixed 2 typos
Scientific Relevance and Future of Digital Immortality and Virtual Humans
Creators: name: Cebo, Daniel
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: 100109 Transgenesis
subject: FOS: Agricultural biotechnology
subject: 100404 Regenerative Medicine (incl. Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering)
subject: FOS: Medical biotechnology
subject: 100799 Nanotechnology not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Nanotechnology
subject: 100709 Nanomedicine

description: We are on the threshold of a significant change in the way we view digital life, which will have a major effect on the physical world. Computers have increasingly emulated deceased human beings through growing awareness in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning, and have symbolically managed to overcome death with the help of technology. One thing is clear, though: now that there are proper and legitimate discussions happening about human immortality, we can be certain that the future is upon us. This article attempts to explain and challenge the ways in which digital immortality, in particular, has manifested itself. This paper summarizes the technological solutions, research findings and technical challenges of major researchers by reviewing the key technologies and general technical schemes in the field of digital human beings. The prospects of digital human beings are being investigated.
title: Evaluation of a Planning Methodology: Integrating Land Use Information in Water Quality Planning
Creators: name: Conover, Matthew B.
Publisher: name: Utah State University
Year: 1980

description: The case study investigated was the 208 water quality planning conducted in the Ashley Valley, around Vernal, Utah. The region is expected to urbanize rapidly due to energy development on adjacent state and federal land. The water quality planning was being conducted in the absence of substantial prior land use planning.
A method is developed in the thesis for evaluating plans and methodologies. The method utilizes preformulated evaluation criteria to analyze structure and function of the methdology, political context, informational inputs, limiting factors, trigger factors, causeeffect relationships, and impacts of methodology on planning recommendations. The criteria collected from the literature and agency guidelines are consolidated into an evaluation model. Data were collected through field interviews, on-site inspection, and examination of workplans, critical path charts and plan documents.
The planning was well conducted overall. However, the water quality planning methodology did not maximize the utilization of land use information, nor did it integrate the available land use information into the analysis as fully as possible. Utilization of land use information could have been increased through greater emphasis on land use in the original workplan, more guidance to staff through specification of land use analysis subtasks, tighter coordination of staff, and consideration of a broader range of alternative scenarios.
The cursory nature of the land use analysis limited the number of alternative land use patterns identified. This in turn limited the number of potential pollution sources identified. The local political context discouraged serious consideration of some alternative land use patterns, and the use of land use controls as a management strategy.
Pneumatic-modulation comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography for environmental analysis
Creators: name: Harvey, PM
Publisher: name: University Of Tasmania
Year: 2023

description: Environmental petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) monitoring is a major challenge. Analytical methods must be robust; operate with minimal user intervention; be suitable for remote field operation; and furnish analytical data that allows the different mechanisms of PHC environmental fate to be investigated. PHC are amenable to analysis by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC). However, conventional GCxGC instrumentation relies on bulky thermal modulation systems. Thus alternative approaches based on fluidic modulation were investigated to determine their suitability for environmental PHC monitoring. First, a dynamic flow model, which maps carrier gas pressure and flow rate through the first-dimension separation column, the modulator sample loop, and the seconddimension column(s) in a fluidic modulation GCxGC system is described. The dynamic flow model assists design of a pneumatic modulation ensemble and leads to rapid determination of pneumatic conditions, timing parameters, and the dimensions of the separation columns and connecting tubing used to construct the GCxGC system. Three significant innovations are introduced, that were all uncovered by using the dynamic flow model, viz. i) a symmetric flow path‚ÄövÑvp modulator improved baseline stability, ii) appropriate selection of flow restrictors in the first dimension column assembly provides a generally more stable and robust system, and iii) these restrictors increase the modulation period flexibility of the GCxGC system. Next, a model was developed that permitted a systematic investigation of peak shape in fluidic modulation. In the case of a non-focusing modulator for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography, the systematic distortions induced when the modulator loads the second-dimension column give rise to a characteristic peak shape. Depending on the operating conditions this systematic distortion can be the dominant component of the second-dimension elution profiles. Understanding the factors that cause different peak shape observations provides a rugged approach to method development. It is shown that low flow ratio can lead to significant peak skewing and increasing the flow ratio reduces the magnitude of peak skewing. Validation of the peak shape model is made by comparison with experimental data. Finally GCxGC methodology was developed and applied to analysis of PHC contaminated soil. GCxGC results met or exceeded, the standards set by regulators and environmental scientists. Fluidic modulation approaches provided excellent sensitivity and permitted detailed monitoring of key PHC transport and degradation pathways, including evaporation, dissolution, and biodegradation.
Nonenzymatic post-translational modifications in peptides by cold plasma-derived reactive oxygen and nitrogen species
Creators: name: Wenske, Sebastian
name: Lackmann, Jan-Wilm
name: Bekeschus, Sander
name: Weltmann, Klaus-Dieter
name: Von Woedtke, Thomas
name: Wende, Kristian
Publisher: name: Melville, NY : AIP
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: reactive oxygen species (ROS)
subject: reactive nitrogen species (RNS)
subject: plasma sources (kINPen and COST-Jet)
subject: post-translational modifications (PTMs)
subject: 570

description: Cold physical plasmas are emerging tools for wound care and cancer control that deliver reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrogen species (RNS). Alongside direct effects on cellular signaling processes, covalent modification of biomolecules may contribute to the observed physiological consequences. The potential of ROS/RNS generated by two different plasma sources (kINPen and COST-Jet) to introduce post-translational modifications (PTMs) in the peptides angiotensin and bradykinin was explored. While the peptide backbone was kept intact, a significant introduction of oxidative PTMs was observed. The modifications cluster at aromatic (tyrosine, histidine, and phenylalanine) and neutral amino acids (isoleucine and proline) with the introduction of one, two, or three oxygen atoms, ring cleavages of histidine and tryptophan, and nitration/nitrosylation predominantly observed. Alkaline and acidic amino acid (arginine and aspartic acid) residues showed a high resilience, indicating that local charges and the chemical environment at large modulate the attack of the electron-rich ROS/RNS. Previously published simulations, which include only OH radicals as ROS, do not match the experimental results in full, suggesting the contribution of other short-lived species, i.e., atomic oxygen, singlet oxygen, and peroxynitrite. The observed PTMs are relevant for the biological activity of peptides and proteins, changing polarity, folding, and function. In conclusion, it can be assumed that an introduction of covalent oxidative modifications at the amino acid chain level occurs during a plasma treatment. The introduced changes, in part, mimic naturally occurring patterns that can be interpreted by the cell, and subsequently, these PTMs allow for prolonged secondary effects on cell physiology. © 2020 Author(s).
Victims of crime : the experience of criminal justice activities
Creators: name: Scott, Janita J
Publisher: name: University Of Tasmania
Year: 2023

description: The present study investigated the severity and intensity of peritraumatic responses of individuals during criminal victimisation and while engaging in a police interview and court testimony. Of particular interest were the different aspects of these criminal justice events that might contribute to their stressful nature. A personalised, staged guided imagery methodology was employed to assess the peritraumatic psychological and psychophysiological reactions of the 43 victims of crime. As predicted, results of the crime analysis indicated that victims respond in negative ways to criminal victimisation, more so than emotionally neutral events. Although perceived risk to life did not impact the severity of all responses to criminal activity, it did increase the overall sense of threat, violation and fear in victims. As expected, results of the police interview analysis also indicated that police interviews elicit stronger psychophysiological and psychological responses in victims than neutral events. However, victims are affected differently during police interviews in comparison to crimes. A perceived need to prove victimisation during police interview impacted on victims' feelings of control and violation at different stages of their experiences. However, contrary to the hypothesis, the perceived support received from police officers did not impact on victims' experiences. When considering the results of the court testimony analysis (n=19), the psychological and psychophysiological ratings again provided support for the hypothesis, in this case, that testifying in court is a distressing event when compared to emotionally neutral events. Further, the need to prove victimisation during testimony increased feelings of anger during this stage and a general sense of threat throughout the entire courtroom experience. Against predictions, levels of violation, lack of control and anger were elevated when the perpetrator was absent from the courtroom. The results add to the literature on, and provide some interesting insights into, the complex impact of involvement in criminal justice system on victims' posttraumatic wellbeing.
Crystal Methamphetamine Use Among HIV-Positive Gay And Bisexual Men
Creators: name: Cebo, Daniel
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: 210201 Archival, Repository and Related Studies
subject: FOS: Media and communications

description: This study describes factors associated with methamphetamine initiation in a racially diverse sample of 340 methamphetamine-using, HIV-positive gay and bisexual men. A factor analysis was conducted on reasons for the initiation, and four factors were identified: to party, to cope, for energy, and to improve self-esteem. Methamphetamine to party accounted for more than one-third of the variance in the factor analysis. Methamphetamine to cope captured almost 9% of the variance, methamphetamine for energy accounted for approximately 8% of the variance, and methamphetamine for self esteem accounted for approximately 7% of the variance. Regression analyses revealed differential associations between methamphetamine initiation factors and HIV risk behaviours. Methamphetamine for self esteem predicted binge methamphetamine use, while methamphetamine to cope was associated with injecting methamphetamine. Using methamphetamine for energy was associated with a number of illicit drugs used and using methamphetamine to party was associated with having a greater number of STIs. These findings suggest that methamphetamine initiation among gay and bisexual men is multifaceted, which could have implications for intervention development
OCK – Open Climate Knowledge
Creators: name: Murray-Rust, Peter
name: Worthington, Simon
Publisher: name: Meyrin : CERN
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: climate change
subject: climate science
subject: data mining
subject: contentmine
subject: opennotebook
subject: 020

description: 100% open collaborative research for climate change knowledge / using data mining & open science publishing. The climate crisis of the predicted atmosphere temperatures rising to 1.5C + makes it imperative that research related to climate change be put to better use by being open and digitally connected. We are concerned with making all aspects of research open, but as an example, less than 30% of research papers related to climate change are Open Access (Tai and Robinson 2018). This must change now!
Crystal Methamphetamine Use Among HIV-Positive Gay And Bisexual Men
Creators: name: Cebo, Daniel
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: 210201 Archival, Repository and Related Studies
subject: FOS: Media and communications

description: This study describes factors associated with methamphetamine initiation in a racially diverse sample of 340 methamphetamine-using, HIV-positive gay and bisexual men. A factor analysis was conducted on reasons for the initiation, and four factors were identified: to party, to cope, for energy, and to improve self-esteem. Methamphetamine to party accounted for more than one-third of the variance in the factor analysis. Methamphetamine to cope captured almost 9% of the variance, methamphetamine for energy accounted for approximately 8% of the variance, and methamphetamine for self esteem accounted for approximately 7% of the variance. Regression analyses revealed differential associations between methamphetamine initiation factors and HIV risk behaviours. Methamphetamine for self esteem predicted binge methamphetamine use, while methamphetamine to cope was associated with injecting methamphetamine. Using methamphetamine for energy was associated with a number of illicit drugs used and using methamphetamine to party was associated with having a greater number of STIs. These findings suggest that methamphetamine initiation among gay and bisexual men is multifaceted, which could have implications for intervention development
Path following and numerical continuation methods for non-linear MEMS and NEMS
Creators: name: Steeneken, Peter G.
name: Stulemeijer, Jiri
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Non-linearities play an important role in micro- and nano- electromechanical system (MEMS and NEMS) design. In common electrostatic and magnetic actuators, the forces and voltages can depend in a non-linear way on position, charge, current and magnetic flux. Mechanical spring structures can cause additional non-linearities via material, geometrical and contact effects. For the design and operation of non-linear MEMS devices it is essential to be able to model and simulate such non-linearities. However, when there are many degrees of freedom, it becomes difficult to find all equilibrium solutions of the non-linear equations and to determine their stability. In these cases path following methods can be a powerful mathematical tool. In this paper we will show how path following methods can be used to determine the equilibria and stability of electromechanical devices. Based on the energy, work and the Hamiltonian of electromechanical systems (section 1), the equations of motion (section 2), the equilibrium (section 3) and stability conditions (section 6) are derived. Examples of path following simulations (section 4) in Mathematica (section 5), Matcont (section 7) and using FEM methods in Comsol (section 8) are given to illustrate the methods.
Collisional decoherence of internal state superpositions in a trapped ultracold gas
Creators: name: Hemming, C. J.
name: Krems, R. V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We analyze collisional decoherence of atoms or molecules prepared in a coherent superposition of nondegenerate internal states at ultralow temperatures and placed in an ultracold buffer gas. Our analysis is applicable for an arbitrary bath particle/tracer particle mass ratio. Both elastic and inelastic collisions contribute to decoherence. We obtain an expression relating the observable decoherence rate to pairwise scattering properties, specifically the low-temperature scattering amplitudes. We consider the dependence on the bath particle/tracer particle mass ratio for the case of light bath and heavy tracer particles. The expressions obtained may be useful in low-temperature applications where accurate estimates of decoherence rates are needed. The results suggest a method for determining the scattering lengths of atoms and molecules in different internal states by measuring decoherence-induced damping of coherent oscillations.
description: 32 pages, 2 figures. Changes for v.2: background discussion expanded; references to and discussion of related work added to and expanded; calculation of an additional quantity characterizing coherence added (Fig. 2 added in relation to this); Eq. (19) of v.1 was not correct
Raman spectroscopy-based identification of toxoid vaccine products
Creators: name: Silge, Anja
name: Bocklitz, Thomas W.
name: Becker, Bjoern
name: Matheis, Walter
name: Popp, Jürgen
name: Bekeredjian-Ding, Isabelle
Publisher: name: Berlin : Nature Publishing
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Vaccines
subject: quality control
subject: manufacturing
subject: 610

description: Vaccines are complex biomedicines. Manufacturing is time consuming and requires a high level of quality control (QC) to guarantee consistent safety and potency. An increasing global demand has led to the need to reduce time and cost of manufacturing. The evolving concepts for QC and the upcoming threat of falsification of biomedicines define a new need for methods that allow the fast and reliable identification of vaccines. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive technology already established in QC of classical medicines. We hypothesized that Raman spectroscopy could be used for identification and differentiation of vaccine products. Raman maps obtained from air-dried samples of combination vaccines containing antigens from tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (DTaP vaccines) were summarized to compile product-specific Raman signatures. Sources of technical variance were emphasized to evaluate the robustness and sensitivity in downstream data analysis. The data management approach corrects for spatial inhomogeneities in the dried sample while offering a proper representation of the original samples inherent chemical signature. Reproducibility of the identification was validated by a leave-one-replicate-out cross-validation. The results highlighted the high specificity and sensitivity of Raman measurements in identifying DTaP vaccine products. The results pave the way for further exploitation of the Raman technology for identification of vaccines in batch release and cases of suspected falsification.
Additional file 1 of Boosting immunogenic cell death via hollow MnO2-based multiple stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems for improved cancer immunotherapy
Creators: name: Wu, Yueyao
name: Wang, Runtian
name: Shen, Peiliang
name: Zhou, Weijia
name: Chen, Chao
name: Yang, Kaiyong
name: Yang, Jingjing
name: Song, Yujun
name: Han, Xin
name: Guan, Xiaoxiang
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine

description: Additional file 1. Figure S1. Synthesis process of hollow MnO2. Figure S2. UV–vis-NIR spectra of MnO2-Ce6-HA and MnO2-MTZ-HA. Figure S3. Physiological stability evaluation: Digital images of H-MnO2 and MnO2-C/M-HA dispersed in H2O, PBS and DMEM solution for 24 h. Figure S4. TEM image of H-MnO2 at pH 7.4 and pH 5.5. Figure S5. Fluorescence microscopic images of 4T1 cells incubated with Free Ce6 or MnO2-Ce6-HA at different time points. Scale bar: 50 μm. Figure S6. Cell viability of 4T1 with different concentrations of MTZ with or without 660 nm (1.0 W·cm-2, 15 min) for 24 h. Figure S7. Cell viability of 4T1 with different concentrations of MnO2-HA for 24 h. Figure S8. Cell viability of 4T1 with different concentrations of MnO2-C/M-HA with or without 660 nm (1.0 W·cm-2, 15 min) for 24 h. Figure S9. The cytotoxicity of 4T1 cells of varying formulations with or without 660 nm (1.0 W·cm-2, 15 min) for 24 h in hypoxia. Figure S10. Fluorescence microscope images of ROS generation by DCFH-DA staining in cells in hypoxia. Scale bar: 100 μm. Figure S11. Intracellular ATP level after various treatments. Figure S12. Schematic diagram of co-culture by non-contact communication cell chip. Figure S13. Local structure of non-contact communication cell chip. Figure S15. Immunofluorescence of CD11c in 3D-cell cultures of BMDCs. Scale bar: 50 μm. Figure S15. Immunofluorescence of CD80/CD86 in 3D-cell cultures of BMDCs. Scale bar: 50 μm. Figure S16. Ex vivo fluorescence images (12 h post-injection) of 4T1 tumor-bearing mice organs or tissue treated with free Ce6 and MnO2-C/M-HA. Figure S17. H&E staining of heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney at the end of antitumor study. Scale bar: 100 μm. Figure S18. Hemolysis rate by incubating RBCs with MnO2-HA and MnO2-C/M-HA at different concentrations (25-100 µg/mL) for 4 h. Figure S19. Blood biochemical indices of healthy mice at day 1, 4 and 7 after intravenous injection of MnO2-C/M-HA. Figure S20. The whole tumor staining of TUNEL. Scale bar: 1000 μm. Figure S21. Immunohistochemical assay of CRT and HMGB1 in the tumor tissues after various treatments. Scale bar: 200 µm. Figure S22. Representative flow cytometry plots showing mature DCs (CD11c+CD80+CD86+) after various treatments. Figure S23. Representative flow cytometry plots showing cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CD3+CD8+) after various treatments. Table S1. Antibodies were used for WB, FC or IF/IHC in this study.
Iacopone e la musica
Creators: name: Lannutti, Maria Sofia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: music, poetry, Middle Ages, Iacopone da Todi

description: La musica conservata nel Laudario di Santo Spirito prospetta un’esecuzione musicale, già nel Trecento, della poesia di Iacopone davanti a un pubblico costituito almeno dai membri delle confraternite laiche. I “cantasi come” delle raccolte quattrocentesche indicano inoltre il persistere nel secolo successivo di un’esecuzione musicale pubblica delle laude di Iacopone, che è suggerita anche dalla pervasiva componente dialogica e drammatica. Non si può però dare per scontato che la musica accompagnasse ab origine la poesia di Iacopone. Si deve piuttosto pensare che le laude iacoponiche furono lambite da una fortuna musicale complementare alla fortuna letteraria testimoniata dall’ampia tradizione manoscritta, una fortuna alla quale Guittone d’Arezzo, l’altro grande autore di poesia sacra entro il Duecento, rimase invece estraneo.
Transnational Figurations of Displacement - Exploring new solutions to protracted displacement
Creators: name: Noack, Marion
name: Wagner, Martin
name: Etzold, Benjamin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: protracted displacement
protracted refugee situations
refugees
IDPs
figurational sociology
translocality
connectivity
mobility
agency
durable solutions
complementary pathway

description: According to the UNHCR’s latest estimates 15.9 million people are living in protracted refugee situations at the end of the year 2018. This corresponds to more than three-quarter of all refugees. Resolving protracted refugee situations is a fundamental global challenge, yet progress remains stalled. TRAFIG aims to contribute to the development of alternative solutions to protracted displacement. This Practice Note summarizes our approach. It highlights four key points: Protracted displacement situations arise when and where durable solutions are not made available or progress towards achieving these is stalled. In the absence of long-term solutions provided by states, displaced people are engaged in creating and finding solutions on their own, building on multiple local and translocal social networks. Translocal connectivity and mobility can form part of a solution to protracted displacement. New approaches are needed to better utilise and support practices applied by displaced people in their everyday lives, in particular their translocal connectivity and mobility.
description: TRAFIG Practice Note No.1
title: Religious Educators' Experiences With Self-Directed Learning in Professional Development: A Qualitative Study
Creators: name: Porter, Brandon D.
Publisher: name: Utah State University
Year: 2014

description: In 2012, Seminaries and Institutes of Religion (S&I), a division of The Church Educational System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, introduced a self-directed professional development program that allowed educators to obtain two certification credentials by completing 12 certification projects per credential. This qualitative study used phenomenology to examine the following question: “What are S&I educators’ experiences with self-directed learning in doing certification projects?” Data were obtained through one-on-one, semistructured interviews with seven professionalS&I educators who described their lived experiences with this phenomenon. Self-directed learning theory, as influenced by andragogy, provided the theoretical and conceptual framework for this study and contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the data and findings. Findings indicate that personal and contextual factors influence how self-directed learning for purposes of professional development is experienced; understanding program requirements, expectations, and processes, and possessing sufficient motivation and justification, facilitate involvement in this form of self-directed learning; collaborative learning can be used in self-directed learning and can lead to improved learning and practice-related outcomes; and self-directed learning for purposes of professional development can result in meaningful learning experiences, changes in instructional practice, and perceived professional growth, especially when aligned with compelling professional learning needs and interests. This study concluded by offering recommendations for potentially facilitating S&I educators’ involvement in self-directed learning in doing certification projects and for increasing the impact of such projects on educators’ professional growth.
title: Deficit Irrigation of Kentucky Bluegrass for Intermountain West Urban Landscapes
Creators: name: Duong, Hang T. T.
Publisher: name: Utah State University
Year: 2014

description: Due to end users irrigating with excess water, water conservation of turfgrass can make a large impact in urban water conservation by reducing water applied while still maintaining visual appearance. This study was conducted to determine if Kentucky bluegrass (Poapratensis L.) can be deficit irrigated to maintain minimum acceptable appearance while conserving water. The study investigated water stress in terms of stomatal conductance, chlorophyll index, leaf temperature and predawn leaf water potential at the point of water stress, or where visual quality no longer meets expectations during dry down conditions. Water use was measured over well established Kentucky bluegrass with an eddy covariance system that was validated with soil water measurements. Turfgrass was irrigated at 80% of reference evapotranspiration based on allowable depletion of 12 mm of soil water during growing season that was considered to be well-watered. Two dry downs were conducted over a two-year period (early and late summer). Turfgrass was allowed to dry down without irrigation until visual quality reached the minimum acceptable points (score ≤ 6). During drying periods, visual rating, chlorophyll index, predawn leaf water potential, and leaf temperature with stomatal conductance rapidly decreased once stomatal conductance fell to approximately half of well-watered levels. Both soil water content and evapotranspiration had weak correlation with stomatal conductance; however, stomatal conductance tended to have higher correlation with the change in soil moisture than with the change in crop evapotranspiration. Soil water use and eddy covariance data in terms of crop evapotranspiration had high correlation. The plant water use factor ranged from around 0.8 to 1.1 under well-watered condition corresponding to visual rating from 7 to 9. At the minimum acceptable point of visual rating, which is 5.5 to 6, the plant factor ranged from 0.65 to 0.87. This value of plant factor is quite high at this point. Even when Kentucky bluegrass went below acceptable visual quality, the grass still used significant amounts of water with the plant factor value ranging from 0.6 to 0.8. The data suggested that deficit irrigation cannot be applied with Kentucky bluegrass in the Intermountain West area.
title: Assessing the Impact of Supplements, Food Aversions, and Silica on Medusahead Use by Sheep
Creators: name: Hamilton, Tyler
Publisher: name: Utah State University
Year: 2014

description: Ranchers, farmers, land managers, and resource management agencies have been plagued with various types of invasive weeds for decades, ultimately affecting millions of acres of viable wildlife habitat, grazing, and recreational opportunities. Invasive weeds often have nutritional contexts that negatively affect animals in some way, increasing the incentive to avoid consuming it by various animal species and domestic livestock. With the current amount of land infested with this weed, and the limited knowledge of the reason for avoidance, the underlying causes of livestock avoidance require in-depth and fundamental understanding.
In my MS program, I sought to explore the relationship of plant and herbivore interactions in regards to grazing, animal diet selection through the use of supplementation, along with understanding the chemical compounds that cause avoidance of medusahead by domestic animals. This research will help us better understand the reasoning behind grazing avoidance and preference, and provide further understanding and management approaches using livestock as an alternative management tool in hopes of creating sustainable ecosystems with complementary benefits for soils, plants, animals, and land managers.
title: Programme dementia prevention (pdp): A nationwide programme for personalized prevention in Luxembourg
Creators: name: Valerie Schröder
name: Amna Skrozic
name: Dorothée Erz
name: Anne Kaysen
name: Joëlle Fritz
name: Joao Manuel Loureiro
name: Deborah Mcintyre
name: Laure Pauly
name: Jennifer Kemp
name: Sabine Katharina Schmitz
name: Sophie Wagner
name: Margarita Reyes
name: Ruxandra Soare-Lelubre
name: Venkata Pardhasaradhi Satagopam
name: Carlos Vega Moreno
name: Piotr Gawron
name: Kirsten Rump
name: Patricia Martins Conde
name: Jochen Klucken
name: Sebastian Köhler
name: Tobias Hartmann
name: Richard Dodel
name: Anja K. Leist
name: Elke Kalbe
name: Rejko Krüger
Publisher: name: LCSB
Year: 2023

description: BACKGROUND: With continuously ageing societies, an increase in the number of people with cognitive decline is to be expected. Aside from the development of causative treatments, the successful implementation of prevention strategies is of utmost importance to reduce the high societal burden caused by neurodegenerative diseases leading to dementia among which the most common cause is Alzheimer’s disease.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of the Luxembourgish “programme dementia prevention (pdp)” is to prevent or at least delay dementia in an at-risk population through personalized multi-domain lifestyle interventions. The current work aims to provide a detailed overview of the methodology and presents initial results regarding the cohort characteristics and the implementation process.
METHODS: In the frame of the pdp, an extensive neuropsychological evaluation and risk factor assessment is conducted for each participant. Based on these results, individualized multi-domain lifestyle interventions are suggested.
RESULTS: A total number of 450 participants (Mean age = 69.5 years; SD = 10.8) have been screened at different recruitment sites throughout the country, among whom 425 participants (94.4%) met the selection criteria.
CONCLUSION: We provide evidence supporting the feasibility of implementing a nationwide dementia prevention programme and achieving successful recruitment of the target population by establishing a network of different healthcare providers.
title: Modeling methylation dynamics with simultaneous changes in CpG islands
Creators: name: Grosser, Konrad
name: Metzler, Dirk
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2020

description: Background: In vertebrate genomes, CpG sites can be clustered into CpG islands, and the amount of methylation in a CpG island can change due to gene regulation processes. Thus, single regulatory events can simultaneously change the methylation states of many CpG sites within a CpG island. This should be taken into account when quantifying the amount of change in methylation, for example in form of a branch length in a phylogeny of cell types. Results: We propose a probabilistic model (the IWE-SSE model) of methylation dynamics that accounts for simultaneous methylation changes in multiple CpG sites belonging to the same CpG island. We further propose a Markov-chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) method to fit this model to methylation data from cell type phylogenies and apply this method to available data from murine haematopoietic cells and from human cell lines. Combined with simulation studies, these analyses show that accounting for CpG island wide methylation changes has a strong effect on the inferred branch lengths and leads to a significantly better model fit for the methylation data from murine haematopoietic cells and human cell lines. Conclusion: The MCMC based parameter estimation method for the IWE-SSE model in combination with our MCMC based inference method allows to quantify the amount of methylation changes at single CpG sites as well as on entire CpG islands. Accounting for changes affecting entire islands can lead to more accurate branch length estimation in the presence of simultaneous methylation change.
title: Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Participant Engagement in State-Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Programs
Creators: name: Southwick, Joshua D.
Publisher: name: Utah State University
Year: 2014

description: The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, calls for participants to become “active and full partners in the vocational rehabilitation process.” Although it is probable that the participant’s active engagement is a major factor in a successful vocational rehabilitation outcome, little is known about the actual meaning of engagement in the vocational rehabilitation process. This construct is often entangled with other concepts such as motivation and readiness. A clear operational definition of engagement in the vocational rehabilitation process would allow professionals to better support participants in their role. The purpose of this research was to (a) operationally define the construct of participant engagement in the vocational rehabilitation process, and (b) develop and validate an instrument to measure engagement based on this definition. After creating measurement items to reflect three proposed subdimensions of engagement (Attendance, Expected Contribution, and Homework), the items were evaluated for content validity and clarity by an expert panel and then piloted with a small group of vocational rehabilitation counselors. The refined items were then administered to a sample of public vocational rehabilitation counselors through an online survey platform. The data from the usable responses (n = 88) were summarized and then tested for an optimal factor solution using exploratory factor analysis. Next, a confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm the adequacy of the measurement model. Finally, structural equation modeling analyses were used to identify a structural model that explained the relationships among the subdimensions and overall engagement.
The results of the analyses suggest that engagement is a multidimensional construct consisting of three factors: (a) Attendance; (b) Expected Contribution; and (c) Homework. The Expected Contribution factor acts as the strongest predictor of overall engagement and also mediates the effects of Attendance and Homework on engagement. Implications of the study are provided, focusing on the need to teach participants their expected role as full partners in vocational rehabilitation. Counselors should be encouraged to facilitate high levels of engagement through competent counseling skills and appropriate counseling approaches. Finally, limitations of the research are addressed and suggestions for future research are provided.
A nonequilibrium model for particle networking/jamming and time-dependent dynamic rheology of filled polymers
Creators: name: Robertson, Christopher G.
name: Vaikuntam, Sankar Raman
name: Heinrich, Gert
Publisher: name: Basel : MDPI
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Fictive strain
subject: Filled rubber
subject: Filler flocculation
subject: Jamming
subject: Particle network
subject: Polymer nanocomposites
subject: Structural relaxation
subject: Tool-narayanaswamy-moynihan model
subject: 540

description: We describe an approach for modeling the filler network formation kinetics of particle-reinforced rubbery polymers—commonly called filler flocculation—that was developed by employing parallels between deformation effects in jammed particle systems and the influence of temperature on glass-forming materials. Experimental dynamic viscosity results were obtained concerning the strain-induced particle network breakdown and subsequent time-dependent reformation behavior for uncross-linked elastomers reinforced with carbon black and silica nanoparticles. Using a relaxation time function that depends on both actual dynamic strain amplitude and fictive (structural) strain, the model effectively represented the experimental data for three different levels of dynamic strain down-jump with a single set of parameters. This fictive strain model for filler networking is analogous to the established Tool–Narayanaswamy–Moynihan model for structural relaxation (physical aging) of nonequilibrium glasses. Compared to carbon black, precipitated silica particles without silane surface modification exhibited a greater overall extent of filler networking and showed more self-limiting behavior in terms of network formation kinetics in filled ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM). The EPDM compounds with silica or carbon black filler were stable during the dynamic shearing and recovery experiments at 160 °C, whereas irreversible dynamic modulus increases were noted when the polymer matrix was styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), presumably due to branching/cross-linking of SBR in the rheometer. Care must be taken when measuring and interpreting the time-dependent filler networking in unsaturated elastomers at high temperatures.
Predicting Gradient is Better: Exploring Self-Supervised Learning for SAR ATR with a Joint-Embedding Predictive Architecture
Creators: name: Li, Weijie
name: Wei, Yang
name: Liu, Tianpeng
name: Hou, Yuenan
name: Li, Yuxuan
name: Liu, Zhen
name: Liu, Yongxiang
name: Liu, Li
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: Image and Video Processing (eess.IV)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering

description: The growing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data has the potential to build a foundation model through Self-Supervised Learning (SSL) methods, which can achieve various SAR Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) tasks with pre-training in large-scale unlabeled data and fine-tuning in small labeled samples. SSL aims to construct supervision signals directly from the data, which minimizes the need for expensive expert annotation and maximizes the use of the expanding data pool for a foundational model. This study investigates an effective SSL method for SAR ATR, which can pave the way for a foundation model in SAR ATR. The primary obstacles faced in SSL for SAR ATR are the small targets in remote sensing and speckle noise in SAR images, corresponding to the SSL approach and signals. To overcome these challenges, we present a novel Joint-Embedding Predictive Architecture for SAR ATR (SAR-JEPA), which leverages local masked patches to predict the multi-scale SAR gradient representations of unseen context. The key aspect of SAR-JEPA is integrating SAR domain features to ensure high-quality self-supervised signals as target features. Besides, we employ local masks and multi-scale features to accommodate the various small targets in remote sensing. By fine-tuning and evaluating our framework on three target recognition datasets (vehicle, ship, and aircraft) with four other datasets as pre-training, we demonstrate its outperformance over other SSL methods and its effectiveness with increasing SAR data. This study showcases the potential of SSL for SAR target recognition across diverse targets, scenes, and sensors.Our codes and weights are available in \url{https://github.com/waterdisappear/SAR-JEPA.
description: 15 pages, 7 figures,