cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
title: Investigating the Characteristics of Dark Web Markets and Their Security Implications
Creators: name: Wang, Yichao
Publisher: name: University of Kent
Year: 2025

description: The dark web and the markets on it are often shrouded in mystery. However, the fact that they are little known does not mean that they have no impact on society. On the contrary, these markets have evolved into platforms that may even facilitate cybercriminal activities. Furthermore, dark web markets take advantage of technology to hide themselves on the hard-to-trace dark web, making the fight against criminal activity increasingly challenging. Despite the rapid development of modern dark web markets in recent years, knowledge about them remains limited and needs to be expanded urgently.

Therefore, the research presented in this thesis aims to expand the understanding of dark web markets and explore their characteristics. To achieve this, a custom crawler was developed to help collect data from 21 dark web markets (over different time periods), including quantitative and qualitative data and information.

An in-depth analysis of the current status of the English and Chinese dark web markets was conducted, indicating that markets in different languages could be influenced by cultural factors. Following, security mechanisms on dark web markets were further examined and documented, which not only laid the groundwork for encountering the challenges of data collection in this area but also discussed the role and impact of the market's security mechanisms as a key part of the market's operation. Additionally, an analysis of data and events before and after the closure of markets was conducted, offering deeper insights into the perspectives of market operators, vendors, and users, as well as the impact of this phenomenon. A case study was also carried out focusing on the availability of child sexual abuse material on dark web markets, obtaining evidence of the sale/distribution of this specific serious criminal material on the dark web market. While it is fortunately not found in the mainstream English dark web markets, there are indications that it is widely available on the Chinese dark web markets.

Overall, the dark web market continues to be an active, often dynamic, and unpredictable environment. Despite the fact that the dark web market has been around for many years (even decades), the lack of up-to-date information and a clear vision of it has meant that we have always been one step behind the criminals. This thesis provides a thorough investigation of the current state of dark web markets in both English and Chinese contexts. It highlights how cultural differences affect market operations, summarises the common security mechanisms employed, and offers insights for effective data collection. Additionally, it categorises three types of market closures and examines the role and impact of dark web markets in facilitating specific criminal activities.
Curves, dynamical systems and weighted point counting
Creators: name: Cornelissen, Gunther
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Number Theory (math.NT)
subject: Algebraic Geometry (math.AG)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 11G20, 11R37, 14G15, 14H05, 46L55, 58B34

description: Suppose X is a (smooth projective irreducible algebraic) curve over a finite field k. Counting the number of points on X over all finite field extensions of k will not determine the curve uniquely. Actually, a famous theorem of Tate implies that two such curves over k have the same zeta function (i.e., the same number of points over all extensions of k) if and only if their corresponding Jacobians are isogenous. We remedy this situation by showing that if, instead of just the zeta function, all Dirichlet L-series of the two curves are equal via an isomorphism of their Dirichlet character groups, then the curves are isomorphic up to "Frobenius twists", i.e., up to automorphisms of the ground field. Since L-series count points on a curve in a "weighted" way, we see that weighted point counting determines a curve. In a sense, the result solves the analogue of the isospectrality problem for curves over finite fields (also know as the "arithmetic equivalence problem"): it says that a curve is determined by "spectral" data, namely, eigenvalues of the Frobenius operator of k acting on the cohomology groups of all l-adic sheaves corresponding to Dirichlet characters. The method of proof is to shown that this is equivalent to the respective class field theories of the curves being isomorphic as dynamical systems, in a sense that we make precise.
description: 11 pages
Womit wurden Gläser verspiegelt? Naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen an mittelalterlichen und neuzeitlichen Glasspiegeln
Creators: name: Ihmsen, Harald
name: Mommsen, Hans
name: Eggert, Gerhard
Publisher: name: Bonner Jahrbücher
Year: 2019

description: -
description: Bonner Jahrbücher, Bd. 190.1990(1991): Bonner Jahrbücher
Catherine Balmelle, Recueil général des mosaïques de la Gaule IV
Creators: name: Wilson, Roger J. A.
Publisher: name: Bonner Jahrbücher
Year: 2019

description: Rezension zu: Catherine Balmelle, Recueil général des mosaïques de la Gaule IV. Province d’Aquitaine 2. Partie méridionale, suite (les pays gascons). Mit einem Beitrag von Xavier Barral i Altet. Gallia, Supplement 10. Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1987. 314 Seiten mit 203 Tafeln.
description: Bonner Jahrbücher, Bd. 190.1990(1991): Bonner Jahrbücher
Young people making place in the country: place-making under the conditions of globalisation
Creators: name: CATHERINE JOAN WAITE
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology

description: Young people living in regional Australia negotiate the increasingly complex effects of globalisation on local places. Globalising processes have altered and redefined how young people in regional areas construct and negotiate the meaning of place. Focusing on the regional town of Shepparton, Australia, the thesis illuminates the place-making projects of its young residents. The research examines discursive, experiential and practice-orientated forms of place-making, accounting for how these are shaped by social structures and agencies, and social media technologies. Incorporating contemporary, youthful perspectives facilitates an improved understanding of the diverse, and differentiated experiences of social change in regional Australia.
Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, Oliver Pilz und Ivonne Kaiser (Herausgeber), Kreta in der geometrischen und archaischen Zeit
Creators: name: Matthäus, Hartmut
Publisher: name: Bonner Jahrbücher
Year: 2019

description: Rezension zu: Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, Oliver Pilz und Ivonne Kaiser (Herausgeber), Kreta in der geometrischen und archaischen Zeit. Akten des Internationalen Kolloquiums am Deutschen Archäologischen Institut, Abteilung
Athen, 27.–29. Januar 2006. Athenaia, Band 2. Verlag Hirmer, München 2013. X und 488 Seiten mit 337 schwarzweißen Abbildungen.
description: Bonner Jahrbücher, Bd. 214.2014(2015): Bonner Jahrbücher
A Jordan algebra approach to the cubic eiconal equation
Creators: name: Tkachev, Vladimir G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Analysis of PDEs (math.AP)
subject: Rings and Algebras (math.RA)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 35F21, 17C50, 32M15

description: We establish a natural correspondence between (the equivalence classes of) cubic solutions of an eiconal type equation and (the isomorphy classes of) cubic Jordan algebras.
description: 14 pages
Alfons Zettler/Thomas Zotz (Hrsg.), Die Burgen im mittelalterlichen Breisgau. I. Nördlicher Teil, Halbband A-K
Creators: name: Meckseper, Cord
Publisher: name: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
Year: 2019

description: Rezension zu: Alfons Zettler/Thomas Zotz (Hrsg.), Die Burgen im mittelalterlichen Breisgau. I. Nördlicher Teil, Halbband A-K (Archäologie und Geschichte. Freiburger Forschungen zum ersten Jahrtausend in Südwestdeutschland, hrsg. v. Hans Ulrich Nuber, Karl Schmidt †, Heiko Steuer und Thomas Zotz, Bd. 14). Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke Verlag GmbH 2003. 255 Seiten, 119 Abbildungen, fester Einband. ISBN 3-7995-7364-X
description: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege, Bd. 46, Nr. 2 (2005): Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
Wilfried Sponsel/Hartmut Steger, Vergangene Burgen und Herrensitze. Eine Spurensuche im Blickfeld des Rieses
Creators: name: Zeune, Joachim
Publisher: name: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
Year: 2019

description: Rezension zu: Wilfried Sponsel/Hartmut Steger, Vergangene Burgen und Herrensitze. Eine Spurensuche im Blickfeld des Rieses. Augsburg: Satz und Grafik Partner 2004. 207 Seiten, 301 zumeist farbige Abbildungen, fest gebunden. Beigelegt eine kleine Faltkarte. ISBN 3-935438-27-3
description: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege, Bd. 46, Nr. 2 (2005): Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
The Post-Settlement Lives of South Sudanese Australian Women: Surviving and Belonging
Creators: name: SARA LEANNE MAHER
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: 160699 Political Science not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Political science

description: This thesis addresses the pre-migration, settlement and post-settlement lives of South Sudanese Australian women. It examines how they survived a gendered, genocidal civil war in Sudan (1983-2005) and the forced migration that led to settlement in Australia. The thesis concludes by addressing these women's post-settlement lives and the ways in which they have developed a sense of belonging in Australia.
National Trust for Scotland (NTS)
Creators: name: Custodis, Paul-Georg
Publisher: name: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
Year: 2019

description: -
description: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege, Bd. 46, Nr. 3 (2005): Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
Reviewing the Patent-extracted Chemistry "big bang" in PubChem
Creators: name: Southan, Christopher
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: patents
PubChem

description: After the first IBM deposition of 2.5 million in 2012, few would have predicted that PubChem patent-extraction submissions would have accumulated ~38 million compounds by 2021 and be indexed against patent document numbers. The four major automated submitters (CIDs counts in millions) are SureChEMBL (21), Google Patents (18), WIPO (17) and IBM (11). Comparisons between sources indicates that prior-art coverage of drugs, clinical compounds and exemplified leads is now remarkably high. This means academics and SMES can now mine patent chemistry without commercial sources but that large companies accessing these now also need to corroboratively search PubChem in parallel. This patent chemistry presents a big expansion in accessible SAR space along with the paradox that published patents are more open for text mining than the literature. However, automated extraction from documents is associated with challenges. These include a) the in-situ query interfaces for Google Patents, WIPO Patentscope and SureChEMBL have a different look and feel, b) these three PubChem sources are puzzlingly divergent in their extracted chemistry, c) database entries cannot directly indicate IP status d) structural quality and coverage is uneven and e) there is an over-indexing problem of common chemicals against many patent documents.
Barbara Schock-Werner, Die Bauten im Fürstbistum Würzburg unter Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, 1573-1617 Struktur, Organisation, Finanzierung und künstlerische Bewertung
Creators: name: Fleck, Walther-Gerd
Publisher: name: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
Year: 2019

description: Rezension zu: Barbara Schock-Werner, Die Bauten im Fürstbistum Würzburg unter Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, 1573-1617 Struktur, Organisation, Finanzierung und künstlerische Bewertung. Regensburg: Schnell und Steiner 2005. 469 Seiten, 646 Bildtafeln. ISBN 3-7954-1623-X
description: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege, Bd. 47, Nr. 2 (2006): Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
Grace Beyond Measure: A Rethinking of Hospitality
Creators: name: NATHAN DAVID BELL
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Philosophy
subject: FOS: Philosophy, ethics and religion
subject: 160609 Political Theory and Political Philosophy
subject: FOS: Political science

description: This thesis puts into question the idea of moderation as the limit of ethics in relation to the politics of asylum. It argues that in response to humanitarian need, it may be necessary to go beyond the moderate and to practice a politics of gracious welcome. It does this by examining the works of Hannah Arendt, Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida.
On the Excitation and Formation of Circumstellar Fullerenes
Creators: name: Bernard-Salas, J.
name: Cami, J.
name: Peeters, E.
name: Jones, A. P.
name: Micelotta, E. R.
name: Groenewegen, M. A. T.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We compare and analyze the Spitzer mid-infrared spectrum of three fullerene-rich planetary nebulae in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds; Tc1, SMP SMC16, and SMP LMC56. The three planetary nebulae share many spectroscopic similarities. The strongest circumstellar emission bands correspond to the infrared active vibrational modes of the fullerene species C60 and little or no emission is present from Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). The strength of the fullerene bands in the three planetary nebulae is very similar, while the ratio of the [NeIII]15.5um/[NeII]12.8um fine structure lines, an indicator of the strength of the radiation field, is markedly different. This raises questions about their excitation mechanism and we compare the fullerene emission to fluorescent and thermal models. In addition, the spectra show other interesting and common features, most notably in the 6-9um region, where a broad plateau with substructure dominates the emission. These features have previously been associated with mixtures of aromatic/aliphatic hydrocarbon solids. We hypothesize on the origin of this band, which is likely related to the fullerene formation mechanism, and compare it with modeled Hydrogenated Amorphous Carbon that present emission in this region.
description: 13 pages, 2 tables, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ
Inhalt
Creators: name: Redaktion, Die
Publisher: name: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
Year: 2019

description: -
description: Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege, Bd. 59, Nr. 4 (2018): Burgen und Schlösser - Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege
Mainstreaming Innovative Practices: the Characteristics of the Structure and Agency Interface in the Australian Urban Water Management Sector
Creators: name: CHRISTOPH BRODNIK
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: 50205 Environmental Management
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences

description: This thesis examines the relationship between structure (the institutional architecture of the urban water management sector) and agency (the instruments by which actors influence and change this architecture) during the introduction, diffusion and establishment of innovative urban water management practices in Australia.
Partnering and becoming parents in cosmopolitanized late modernity: Experiences of Tongan-European Australian intercultural couples
Creators: name: KATE RAWSON JOHNSTON-ATAATA
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: 160301 Family and Household Studies

description: This qualitative sociological study explored how Tongan-European Australian intercultural couples negotiated self, tradition and family in the course of partnering and becoming parents in cosmopolitanized late modernity. Interviews were conducted with individual partners in eight couples, and analyzed in relation to the individualization thesis. The research found that the influence of individualization on couples’ experiences was limited. Familialist ways of ‘doing family’, gender, and socio-economic background were also important, and intercultural encounters led to both de-traditionalization and re-traditionalization. The research advances understandings of partnering and parenting in diverse family contexts and extends theories of social change in late modernity.
N=2 supersymmetric S^2 -> CP^3 -> S^4 fibration viewed as superparticle mechanics
Creators: name: Kozyrev, Nikolay
name: Krivonos, Sergey
name: Lechtenfeld, Olaf
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We discuss a Hamiltonian reduction procedure that relates the mechanics of an N=2 particle on CP^3 with the motion of such a superparticle on S^4 in the presence of an instanton background. The key ingredients of the bosonic fibration S^2 -> CP^3 -> S^4 are recalled from the viewpoint of particle mechanics on CP^3. We describe an N=2 supersymmetric extension which allows for a Hamiltonian reduction. The S^2 degrees of freedom are encoded in the supercharges via SU(2) currents. Finally, we present the Hamiltonian of our system and its superfield Lagrangian.
description: 1+6 pages, talk by S.K. at the International Conference on Integrable Systems and Quantum symmetries (ISQS-20), Prague, 2012; v2: reference added
Trends in the occurrence of ischaemic heart disease over time in rheumatoid arthritis: 1821 patients from 1972 to 2017
Creators: name: Alsing, CL
name: Nystad, TW
name: Igland, J
name: Gjesdal, CG
name: Midtbø, H
name: Tell, GS
name: Fevang, BT
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Biotechnology
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Science Policy

description: To evaluate trends of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients compared with the general population over time. We performed a retrospective cohort study of 1821 RA patients diagnosed from 1972 to 2013. Aggregated counts of the total population of the same county (Hordaland, Norway) and period were used for comparison. Information on AMI and IHD events was obtained from hospital patient administrative systems or cardiovascular registries. We estimated incidence rates and excess of events [standardized event ratio (SER) with 95% confidence interval (CI)] compared with the general population by Poisson regression. There was an average annual decline of 1.6% in age- and gender-adjusted AMI incidence rates from 1972 to 2017 (p Incidence rates and excess events of AMI and IHD in RA patients declined from 1972 to 2017. There were no excess AMI or IHD events in RA patients diagnosed after 1998 compared with the general population.
More than meets the eye: magnetars in disguise
Creators: name: Ho, Wynn C. G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: It has recently been proposed that radio emission from magnetars can be evaluated using a "fundamental plane" in parameter space between pulsar voltage gap and ratio of X-ray luminosity Lx to rotational energy loss rate Edot. In particular, radio emission from magnetars will occur if Lx/Edot<1 and the voltage gap is large, and there is no radio emission if Lx/Edot>1. Here we clarify several issues regarding this fundamental plane, including demonstrating that the fundamental plane is not uniquely defined. We also show that, if magnetars and all other pulsars are different manifestations of a unified picture of neutron stars, then pulsar radio activity (inactivity) appears to be determined by the ratio Lx/Edot<1 (Lx/Edot>1), although observational bias and uncertainty in the ratio for some sources may still invalidate this conclusion. Finally, we comment on the use of other pulsar parameters that are constructed from the three observables: spin period P, period derivative Pdot, and Lx.
description: 6 pages, 3 figures; to appear in MNRAS; added notes on magnetar differences in radio and recent works on magnetospheres
title: Post-prison re/integration? A Glasgow case study
Creators: name: Rubio Arnal, Alejandro
Publisher: name: University of Glasgow
Year: 2021

description: In spite of a recent rise in interest about life after prison in academic, policy and research circles all around the globe, people often face acute, compounded and permanent adversities on release. This may be at least partly due to our limited knowledge on life after prison and to the lack of a thorough conceptualisation of it to guide policy and practice. Thus, the aspiration of this thesis, and of the research on which it is based, is to try to foster and contribute to an improvement of life after prison by building on and extending our current knowledge on this matter. Bearing this in mind, this thesis aims to conceptualise, understand, interrogate and reimagine post-prison re/integration by analysing my critically participative research findings and integrating this analysis with pre-existing literature. To do so, I conducted a case study with the purpose of dialogically exploring men’s post-prison re/integration in Glasgow, excluding people that have committed sexual offences. I created, facilitated and was a member of a dialogic inquiry group which met a total of 13 times over 13 months. The inquiry group was formed by a heterogeneous group of people who held different expertise on and/or were differently affected by this phenomenon. This, combined with the study’s participative and dialogic approach, conferred on its findings a degree of intersubjective validity which should be kept in mind and valued. In this thesis, by synthesising and bringing into dialogue my data with existing literature, a clear storyline is unveiled, exploring the reasons behind the multiple and severe adversities faced on release: I show that post-prison dis-integration is fostered through a process of cumulative dis-integration which often starts before the sentence and carries on well beyond release. In presenting a complex and nuanced picture of this process, I show the key role played by the structure/context; firstly, by outlining that people who were already dis-integrated are highly over-represented in prison and, secondly, by showing how our societal response to potentially imprisonable acts produces, reinforces and exacerbates dis-integration and inequalities. My research data presented and analysed in this thesis not only supports already existing evidence both in Glasgow and beyond; it also complements it, enhancing our understanding of post-prison re/integration by giving fine-grained examples of dis-integration and the reasons behind it. Different key theoretical, research, societal, and policy and practice implications can be derived from this evidence.
Removing BAO-peak Shifts with Local Density Transforms
Creators: name: McCullagh, Nuala
name: Neyrinck, Mark C.
name: Szapudi, István
name: Szalay, Alexander S.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Large-scale bulk flows in the Universe distort the initial density field, broadening the baryon-acoustic-oscillation (BAO) feature that was imprinted when baryons were strongly coupled to photons. Additionally, there is a small shift inward in the peak of the conventional overdensity correlation function, a mass-weighted statistic. This shift occurs when high density peaks move toward each other. We explore whether this shift can be removed by applying to the density field a transform (such as a logarithm) that gives fairer statistical weight to fluctuations in underdense regions. Using configuration-space perturbation theory in the Zel'dovich approximation, we find that the log-density correlation function shows a much smaller inward shift in the position of the BAO peak at low redshift than is seen in the overdensity correlation function. We also show that if the initial, Lagrangian density of matter parcels could be estimated at their Eulerian positions, giving a displaced-initial-density field, its peak shift would be even smaller. In fact, a transformed field that accentuates underdensities, such as the reciprocal of the density, pushes the peak the other way, outward. In our model, these shifts in the peak position can be attributed to shift terms, involving the derivative of the linear correlation function, that entirely vanish in this displaced-initial-density field.
description: 5 pages, 3 figures, Accepted by ApjL
Homogeneous studies of transiting extrasolar planets. V. New results for 38 planets
Creators: name: Southworth, John
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: I measure the physical properties of 38 transiting extrasolar planetary systems, bringing the total number studied within the Homogeneous Studies project to 82. Transit light curves are modelled using JKTEBOP, with careful attention paid to limb darkening, eccentricity and third light. The physical properties of each system are obtained from the photometric parameters, published spectroscopic measurements and five sets of theoretical stellar model predictions. Statistical errors are assessed using Monte Carlo and residual-permutation algorithms and propagated via a perturbation algorithm. Systematic errors are estimated from the interagreement between results calculated using five theoretical stellar models. The headline result is a major upward revision of the radius of the planet in the OGLE-TR-56 system, from 1.23-1.38 Rjup to 1.734 +/- 0.051 +/- 0.029 Rjup (statistical and systematic errors, respectively). Its density is three times lower than previously thought. This change comes from the first complete analysis of published high-quality photometry. Significantly larger planetary radii are also found for Kepler-15, KOI-428, WASP-13, WASP-14 and WASP-21 compared to previous work. I present the first results based on Kepler short-cadence data for Kepler-14, Kepler-15 and KOI-135. More extensive long-cadence data s used to improve the measured properties of KOI-196, KOI-204, KOI-254, KOI-423 and KOI-428. Detailed analyses are given for HAT-P-3, HAT-P-6, HAT-P-9, HAT-P-14 and WASP-12, based on more extensive datasets than considered in previous studies. I revisit the correlations between orbital period and surface gravity, and orbital period and mass of the transiting planets, finding both to be significant at the 4 sigma level. I conclude by discussing the opportunities for follow-up observations, the sky positions and the discovery rate of the known transiting planets.
description: 33 pages, 6 tables, 39 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. The Appendix and the version with full-size figures can be obtained from http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~jkt/pubs.html and the Transit Extrasolar Planet Catalogue can be found http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~jkt/tepcat/
NT-proBNP and sRAGE levels in early rheumatoid arthritis
Creators: name: Heslinga, M
name: Teunissen, C
name: Agca, R
name: van der Woude, D
name: Huizinga, TWJ
name: van Laar, J
name: Broeder, A den
name: Lems, W
name: Nurmohamed, M
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Molecular Biology
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 19999 Mathematical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Developmental Biology

description: Several biomarkers of cardiovascular function are found to be increased in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with some suggesting a relationship with disease activity and improvement with adequate anti-rheumatic treatment. Promising biomarkers include N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and the soluble receptor form of advanced glycation end-products (sRAGE). The objective of this study was to investigate associations between NT-proBNP and sRAGE levels and markers of inflammation and disease activity in early RA patients and their changes during (effective) anti-rheumatic treatment. Data from 342 consecutive early RA patients participating in the ‘Parelsnoer’ cohort were used. At baseline and after 6 months’ disease activity, NT-proBNP and sRAGE levels were assessed. After 6 months, NT-proBNP decreased from 83 pmol/L (mean) at baseline to 69 pmol/L at follow-up (p < 0.001), while sRAGE increased from 997 pg/mL to 1125 pg/mL (p < 0.001). A larger decrease in erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) or C-reactive protein (CRP) was associated with larger changes in NT-proBNP and sRAGE. For every point decrease in ESR, there was a 1.7-point decrease in NT-proBNP and a 2.2-point increase in sRAGE. For CRP, these values were 1.7 and 2.7, respectively (p < 0.001). Suppressing inflammation, independently of achieving remission, increases sRAGE levels and decreases NT-proBNP levels significantly. Whether this translates into a decrease in incident cardiovascular disease remains to be elucidated.
Elucidating the sign problem through noise distributions
Creators: name: Nicholson, Amy N.
name: Grabowska, Dorota
name: Kaplan, David B.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Due to the presence of light pions in the theory, lattice QCD at finite densities suffers from issues with noise in both grand canonical and canonical formulations. We study two different formulations of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model reduced to 2+1 dimensions at large N, where N is the number of flavors. At finite chemical potential one formulation has a severe sign problem and a fermion correlator which displays a broad probability distribution with small mean. In the other we find no sign problem and a distribution amenable to the cumulant expansion techniques developed in earlier work.
description: 6 pages, proceedings for the "Extreme QCD" workshop, Washington DC, August 2012
The Struggle over Adat Forest Rights in Upland Banten, Indonesia
Creators: name: Affandi, Dean Yulindra
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: 160499 Human Geography not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Social and economic geography

description: This study investigates local institutional arrangements and the regulation of forest access and control in the wake of the 2013 decision of the Indonesian Constitutional Court, which recognised indigenous peoples’ rights over forest territory. The research focuses on the interactions between adat groups and other actors in that context, with specific attention to the Kasepuhan indigenous communities of West Java. There has been considerable political ecology scholarship about state-society-nature relations in Indonesia; this research contributes to this knowledge base by extending political ecology analysis to the entirely new situation that is unfolding in the wake of the court decision. As such, this research interrogates ongoing changes by employing the concept of institutional bricolage as a tool for understanding just how institutional alterations occur and how these mediate resource access and entitlements.

 For the greater part of Indonesian history, indigenous communities in Indonesia have been trying without success to assert their traditional rights and redefine their place in Indonesian statehood. Adat rights have, however, been severely undermined for the sake of development or other ‘national interest’. The political efflorescence popularly known as Reformasi has, since 1998, opened the channel for many disenfranchised groups, such as indigenous peoples, to demand social justice. In the case of the Kasepuhan indigenous group, these demands have concerned their communal rights over land and forest territories. Nearly two decades after Reformasi, the Court’s 2013 decision has invalidated the notion that the state is the the sole owner and manager of Indonesia’s forest areas. It has brought new hope for indigenous communities all over the country, as it potentially acknowledges their exclusive rights over specific plots of land or forest.

 This study describes and analyses the practical implications of the Court’s ruling. The study shows that the Kasepuhan people have acted as innovative bricoleurs who patch together elements of different institutional logics available to them. This, in turn, leads to novel institutional arrangements, and to a bylaw that excises parts of the Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park in their favour. This is an unprecedented development for an adat entity in the country. The thesis unpacks the dynamics of the institutional arrangements between the Kasepuhan people and other actors involved in state-society-nature relations in Indonesia.
Utility of serum complement factors C3 and C4 as biomarkers during therapeutic management of giant cell arteritis
Creators: name: Conticini, E
name: Hellmich, B
name: Frediani, B
name: Csernok, E
name: Löffler, C
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Medicine
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Cancer
subject: Hematology

description: There is a strong unmet need for biomarkers in giant cell arteritis (GCA), as C-reactive protein (CRP) may be unreliable in patients treated with Tocilizumab (TCZ). We aimed to assess whether C3 and C4 are useful biomarkers in GCA patients, particularly in those treated with TCZ. We retrospectively enrolled all patients who underwent C3 and C4 measurement at baseline. All patients were evaluated at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after diagnosis, as part of routine follow-up. Two assessments after the end of the observational period, in case of further relapses, were also included. At baseline, mean ± sd levels (mg/dL) of C3 (133 ± 28.99) and C4 (25.9 ± 9.04) were within normal ranges. During follow-up, C3 and C4 decreased in patients attaining remission (107.07 ± 19.86, p = 0.0006; 19.86 ± 10.27, p = 0.01, respectively) and sustained remission (95.85 ± 18.04, p = 0.001; 15.61 ± 9.75, p = 0.006). In TCZ-treated patients, even stronger decreases in C3 (83.11 ± 19.66, p = 0.001) and C4 (8.26 ± 3.83, p < 0.0001) were observed, and their values were not correlated with CRP or erythrocyte sedimentation rate. C3 and C4 do not seem useful in the diagnosis of GCA, as normal values do not rule out active vasculitis. However, C3 and C4 correlate with disease activity. As the low C4 levels found in TCZ-treated patients are not correlated with CRP, C4 should be evaluated as a potential biomarker of disease activity and treatment response.
High-precision photometry by telescope defocussing. IV. Confirmation of the huge radius of WASP-17b
Creators: name: Southworth, John
name: Dominik, M
name: Fang, X-S
name: Harpsoe, K
name: Jorgensen, U G
name: Kerins, E
name: Liebig, C
name: Mancini, L
name: Skottfelt, J
name: Anderson, D R
name: Smalley, B
name: Tregloan-Reed, J
name: Wertz, O
name: Alsubai, K A
name: Bozza, V
name: Novati, S Calchi
name: Dreizler, S
name: Gu, S-H
name: Hinse, T C
name: Hundertmark, M
name: Jessen-Hansen, J
name: Kains, N
name: Kjeldsen, H
name: Lund, M N
name: Lundkvist, M
name: Mathiasen, M
name: Penny, M T
name: Rahvar, S
name: Ricci, D
name: Scarpetta, G
name: Snodgrass, C
name: Surdej, J
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present photometric observations of four transits in the WASP-17 planetary system, obtained using telescope defocussing techniques and with scatters reaching 0.5 mmag per point. Our revised orbital period is 4.0 +/- 0.6 s longer than previous measurements, a difference of 6.6 sigma, and does not support the published detections of orbital eccentricity in this system. We model the light curves using the JKTEBOP code and calculate the physical properties of the system by recourse to five sets of theoretical stellar model predictions. The resulting planetary radius, Rb = 1.932 +/- 0.052 +/- 0.010 Rjup (statistical and systematic errors respectively), provides confirmation that WASP-17b is the largest planet currently known. All fourteen planets with radii measured to be greater than 1.6 Rjup are found around comparatively hot (Teff > 5900 K) and massive (MA > 1.15 Msun) stars. Chromospheric activity indicators are available for eight of these stars, and all imply a low activity level. The planets have small or zero orbital eccentricities, so tidal effects struggle to explain their large radii. The observed dearth of large planets around small stars may be natural but could also be due to observational biases against deep transits, if these are mistakenly labelled as false positives and so not followed up.
description: 11 pages, 7 tables, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Application of artificial intelligence in embryo selection
Creators: name: Sadeghalehi, Hamidreza
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2022
Subjects: Obstetrics and gynaecology
Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified

description: Background: As fertility rates have declined in recent years, assisted reproduction techniques (ART) have been more widely used. In vitro fertilization (IVF) results are influenced by many variables and their interwoven relationships. Embryo quality is unquestionably a crucial determinant of a successful IVF outcome. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely employed to enhance and automate embryo selection in recent years. We discuss the latest studies on AI in embryo selection in this review. Materials and Methods: The current study employed a review method that searched for studies published in PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar up to April 2022. Without consideration for language, databases were searched for relevant keywords. All relevant studies are included in this study. Results: Several models have been developed, and while some of them have shown potential, there are still numerous obstacles to overcome. Some models provide a single still image of the embryo, while others have a time-lapse video of the embryo's development. Female age, number of previous treatments, stimulation procedure, clinic-specific parameters, and manual annotations of morphological and kinetic data could all be included in other samples. Including such entries can dramatically improve performance metrics. The majority of studies used convolutional neural network (CNN) to develop their models. There were considerable differences in model optimization between the studies. Because of the wide range of input, embryo population, and outcome, it's difficult, if not impossible, to compare AI performance outcomes across studies. Conclusion: According to the findings of our study, AI has a lot of potential for the future of embryo selection; nevertheless, they still have a long way to go before they can claim to be as good as clinical embryologists in predicting outcomes.
Myth of the Mythless: Why the Left and Politics Still Need Mythology
Creators: name: Liyan Gao
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2017
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: Myths are a visionary sacred narrative that provides society with its values, significance and symbolic foundation. In the current field of politics, where liberal rationalism of Habermas and Rawls dominate, myths are viewed with suspicion. They denote falsehood, archaic knowledge or tool for mass manipulation. It is dismissed as a mode of thought incongruous to the modern political world because of its ‘irrationality’. This desire to purge myths from politics fails to recognise the ineradicable role of myth as a symbolic and affective form. How it provides society with collective representation and understanding of the world. As a consequence, they are essential for effective politics; they bestowed the faith and motivational drives that orient our actions. The Left needs to engage with the mythical to intervene and challenge the prevailing market logic of neoliberalism and rise in xenophobia. This does not entail succumbing to dogmatism, as Barthes claims; on the contrary, myths are not formalistically naturalising but rather permit a pluralism of meaning that can support emancipatory politics. Tapping into the current demands of ‘real’ democracy from political movements, a ‘myth of democratic politics ’ based on Rancièrean work, can provide a foundational framework to realise a new vision of politics based on dissensus and power of the people. It is a vision of politics that can revive the Left as a powerful political force, which shapes our collective future.
[Heft 125/3 (2018) der Zeitschrift Gymnasium / Heft 125/4 (2018) der Zeitschrift Gymnasium / Heft 3/2018 der Zeitschrift Antike Welt...]
Creators: name: Rabl, Josef
Publisher: name: Forum Classicum
Year: 2019

description: -
description: Forum Classicum, Nr. 4 (2018): Forum Classicum
Dark Side of Higgs Diphoton Decays and Muon g-2
Creators: name: Davoudiasl, Hooman
name: Lee, Hye-Sung
name: Marciano, William J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We propose that the LHC hints for a Higgs diphoton excess and the muon g-2 (g_mu-2) discrepancy between theory and experiment may be related by vector-like "leptons" charged under both U(1)_Y hypercharge and a "dark" U(1)_d. Quantum loops of such leptons can enhance the Higgs diphoton rate and also generically lead to U(1)_Y - U(1)_d kinetic mixing. The induced coupling of a light U(1)_d gauge boson Z_d to electric charge can naturally explain the measured g_mu-2. We update Z_d mass and coupling constraints based on comparison of the electron g-2 experiment and theory, and find that explaining g_mu-2 while satisfying other constraints requires Z_d to have a mass ~ 20-100 MeV. We predict new Higgs decay channels gamma Z_d and Z_d Z_d, with rates below the diphoton mode but potentially observable. The boosted Z_d -> e+e- in these decays would mimic a promptly converted photon and could provide a fraction of the apparent diphoton excess. More statistics or a closer inspection of extant data may reveal such events.
description: Version to appear in PRD
Life and its transfiguration in Nietzsche's thought
Creators: name: Cominos, Marina Olive
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2017
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: This thesis argues that Nietzsche’s thought takes two paths toward overcoming the nihilism of modern culture. It shows that affirmation is alternatively conceived as a revaluation of life and as a transfiguration of it, introducing an ambiguity at the heart of Nietzsche’s philosophy. Nietzsche’s aspiration to cultural regeneration prevents him from recognising the implications of affirmation as it is best conceived, as transfiguration, an aesthetic condition that cannot be imposed or designed in the service of human elevation. Nietzsche’s own revaluation, by which he accords positive value to life, culminates in the vitalistic ontology of will to power. Affirmation as revaluation rests on a notion of life as it is, reproducing the dichotomy of truth and illusion that Nietzsche identifies in nihilism. His project of cultural regeneration draws on the ontology of vitalism in the figure of the legislator who creates affirmative values reflecting the evaluative dynamic of life itself. Affirmation is here understood as the self-affirmation of will to power, in which life seeks to expand its dominion. But this aspect of Nietzsche’s thought enables an abhorrent politics of domination that objectifies human beings as it reshapes the forms of human life. Affirmation as transfiguration, on the other hand, emerges in the aesthetic sublime, furnishing an alternative conception of will to power, which augments existence in artistic form. Aesthetic rapture is for Nietzsche a state of joyous self-surpassing, in which the superfluity of fullness in existence is given symbolic form. Whereas vitalistic will to power constitutes existence as mastery, goal and calculation, aesthetic will to power opens upon self-dissolution, recollection and free bestowal. In the distinctively aesthetic mode of affirmation, existence is consecrated as it gains in meaning. Outcomes of cultural change are incidental to this form of affirmation, which eternalizes itself rather than seeking human transformation. In contrast to value-legislation, the philosopher-artist of the aesthetic sublime creates a new horizon of meaning for human life. Although Nietzsche makes the strongest self-transformative claims for aesthetic affirmation, his recourse to a vitalistic creation of values to secure cultural renewal distorts affirmation by joining it to an instrumentalist project of refashioning the human.
Berkeley Supernova Ia Program V: Late-Time Spectra of Type Ia Supernovae
Creators: name: Silverman, Jeffrey M.
name: Ganeshalingam, Mohan
name: Filippenko, Alexei V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this work we analyse late-time (t > 100 d) optical spectra of low-redshift (z < 0.1) Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) which come mostly from the Berkeley Supernova Ia Program dataset. We also present spectra of SN 2011by for the first time. The BSNIP sample studied consists of 34 SNe Ia with 60 nebular spectra, to which we add nebular spectral feature measurements of 20 SNe Ia from previously published work (Maeda et al. 2011; Blondin et al. 2012), representing the largest set of late-time SN Ia spectra ever analysed. The full width at half-maximum intensity (FWHM) and velocities of the [Fe III] λ4701, [Fe II] λ7155, and [Ni II] λ7378 emission features are measured in most observations of spectroscopically normal objects where the data have signal-to-noise ratios >20 px^-1 and are older than 160 d past maximum brightness. The velocities of all three features are seen to be relatively constant with time, increasing only a few to ~20 km/s/d. The nebular velocity (v_neb, calculated by taking the average of the [Fe II] λ7155 and [Ni II] λ7378 velocities) is correlated with the near-maximum-brightness velocity gradient and early-time ejecta velocity. Nearly all high velocity gradient objects have redshifted nebular lines while most low velocity gradient objects have blueshifted nebular lines. No correlation is found between v_neb and Δm_15(B), and for a given light-curve shape there is a large range of observed nebular velocities. The data also indicate a correlation between observed (B-V)_max and v_neb.
description: 13 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, re-submitted to MNRAS after first referee report