cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Rapid, sensitive, and reliable quantitation of nicotine and its main metabolites cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine by LC-MS/MS: Method development and validation for human plasma
Creators: name: Mallock, Nadja
name: Rabenstein, Andrea
name: Laux, Peter
name: Rüther, Tobias
name: Hutzler, Christoph
name: Parr, Maria Kristina
name: Luch, Andreas
Publisher: name: Freie Universität Berlin
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Nicotine
subject: Cotinine
subject: Hydroxycotinine
subject: Protein precipitation
subject: Phenyl-hexyl column
subject: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::540 Chemie::540 Chemie und zugeordnete Wissenschaften

description: New nicotine delivery products are gaining market share. For evaluation of their characteristics, toxicokinetic investigations are in current research focus. For reliable determination of blood plasma levels of nicotine and its main metabolites cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine, a quantitation method based on LC-ESI-MS/MS was developed and validated. Addition of isotope labeled internal standards prior to rapid sample preparation using protein precipitation with methanol was chosen for sample preparation. Different stationary phases were tested and phenyl-hexyl separation was found to be superior to HILIC, C18, and C8 stationary phases. Ion suppression effects caused by hydrophilic early eluting matrix were eliminated by the adjustment of an adequate retention utilizing a phenyl-hexyl separation stationary phase. Exchange of acetonitrile as organic mobile phase by methanol and elevation of pH value of aqueous mobile phase containing 5 mM NH4Ac to 4.50 improved the chromatographic resolution. The limits of quantitation for nicotine, cotinine, and hydroxycotinine were 0.15, 0.30, and 0.40 ng/mL, respectively. Linearity was proven by matrix matched calibration for the whole working range from 0.50 ng/mL to 35.0 ng/mL for nicotine and from 6.00 to 420 ng/mL for cotinine and hydroxycotinine (Mandel’s fitting test with R2 > 0.995). Quality control samples at four different levels (0.50, 1.50, 17.5, 28.0 ng/mL for nicotine and 6.00, 18.0, 210, 336 ng/mL for cotinine and hydroxycotinine) in plasma were analyzed six times on three days. Mean accuracies ranged from 87.7% to 105.8% for nicotine, from 90.3% to 102.9% for cotinine, and from 99.9% to 109.9% for hydroxycotinine. Intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD %) were below 15% for all analytes (<20% for LLOQ). As proof of concept, the method was successfully applied to a real plasma sample from a cigarette smoking volunteer.
Eccentricity pumping of a planet on an inclined orbit by a disc
Creators: name: Terquem, Caroline
name: Ajmia, Aikel
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2010
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this paper, we show that the eccentricity of a planet on an inclined orbit with respect to a disc can be pumped up to high values by the gravitational potential of the disc, even when the orbit of the planet crosses the disc plane. This process is an extension of the Kozai effect. If the orbit of the planet is well inside the disc inner cavity, the process is formally identical to the classical Kozai effect. If the planet's orbit crosses the disc but most of the disc mass is beyond the orbit, the eccentricity of the planet grows when the initial angle between the orbit and the disc is larger than some critical value which may be significantly smaller than the classical value of 39 degrees. Both the eccentricity and the inclination angle then vary periodically with time. When the period of the oscillations of the eccentricity is smaller than the disc lifetime, the planet may be left on an eccentric orbit as the disc dissipates.
description: 13 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS
The Mobilizing Power on Twitter: A Case Study of Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Bill Movement
Creators: name: Yeh, Emily Fan Ju
Publisher: name: University of Chicago
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Hong Kong
subject: Social Movement
subject: Social Media
subject: Causal Inference
subject: Natural Language Processing
subject: Social Network
subject: Political Communication

description: During the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-extradition Law (Anti-ELAB) Movement, Twitter has become an extended frontline for opinion leaders and protestors seeking external attention and recognition. This research attempts to explicate how the information about the Anti-ELAB Movement was transmitted on Twitter, how and to what extent these messages mobilize people to respond, and what properties in tweets triggered more subsequent actions. The determinants of mobilization are identified by applying social network algorithms and sentiment analysis to locate the chain and tone of conversations. To address the confounders in texts, Topical Inverse Regression Text-Matching (TIRM) ensures the texts are comparable in causal inference modeling. The findings indicate that external allies played a more significant role in mobilizing individuals than local Hongkongers, both in terms of disseminating information about the Anti-ELAB movement and inspiring new discussions among Twitter users.
Insolation-driven 100,000-year glacial cycles and hysteresis of ice-sheet volume
Creators: name: Abe-Ouchi, Ayako
name: Saito, Fuyuki
name: Kawamura, Kenji
name: Raymo, Maureen E.
name: Okuno, Jun'ichi
name: Takahashi, Kunio
name: Blatter, Heinz
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2013
Subjects: Paleoclimatology
Planetary science

description: The growth and reduction of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets over the past million years is dominated by an approximately 100,000-year periodicity and a sawtooth pattern (gradual growth and fast termination). Milankovitch theory proposes that summer insolation at high northern latitudes drives the glacial cycles, and statistical tests have demonstrated that the glacial cycles are indeed linked to eccentricity, obliquity and precession cycles. Yet insolation alone cannot explain the strong 100,000-year cycle, suggesting that internal climatic feedbacks may also be at work. Earlier conceptual models, for example, showed that glacial terminations are associated with the build-up of Northern Hemisphere ‘excess ice’, but the physical mechanisms underpinning the 100,000-year cycle remain unclear. Here we show, using comprehensive climate and ice-sheet models, that insolation and internal feedbacks between the climate, the ice sheets and the lithosphere–asthenosphere system explain the 100,000-year periodicity. The responses of equilibrium states of ice sheets to summer insolation show hysteresis, with the shape and position of the hysteresis loop playing a key part in determining the periodicities of glacial cycles. The hysteresis loop of the North American ice sheet is such that after inception of the ice sheet, its mass balance remains mostly positive through several precession cycles, whose amplitudes decrease towards an eccentricity minimum. The larger the ice sheet grows and extends towards lower latitudes, the smaller is the insolation required to make the mass balance negative. Therefore, once a large ice sheet is established, a moderate increase in insolation is sufficient to trigger a negative mass balance, leading to an almost complete retreat of the ice sheet within several thousand years. This fast retreat is governed mainly by rapid ablation due to the lowered surface elevation resulting from delayed isostatic rebound, which is the lithosphere–asthenosphere response. Carbon dioxide is involved, but is not determinative, in the evolution of the 100,000-year glacial cycles.
Reply
Creators: name: Kennedy, Martin J.
name: Christie-Blick, Nicholas
name: Sohl, Linda E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2002
Subjects: subject: Geology
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: Paleoclimatology
subject: Geochemistry

description: The authors respond to Hoffman et al. (2001), who acknowledged that methane may have played an important role in unusual events associated with Neoproterozoic glaciation, but questioned the authors' permafrost gas hydrate hypothesis for 13C-depleted cap carbonate formation. The critique focused on three issues: (1) an interpretation for tube structures in cap carbonates unrelated to gas migration; (2) the absence of a suitable source for methane gas; and (3) the degree of 13C depletion in sheet-crack cements.
I-optimal or G-optimal: Do we have to choose?
Creators: name: Walsh, Stephen J.
name: Lu, Lu
name: Anderson-Cook, Christine M.
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Space Science
subject: Molecular Biology
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Evolutionary Biology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Information Systems not elsewhere classified

description: When optimizing an experimental design for good prediction performance based on an assumed second order response surface model, it is common to focus on a single optimality criterion, either G-optimality, for best worst-case prediction precision, or I-optimality, for best average prediction precision. In this article, we illustrate how using particle swarm optimization to construct a Pareto front of non-dominated designs that balance these two criteria yields some highly desirable results. In most scenarios, there are designs that simultaneously perform well for both criteria. Seeing alternative designs that vary how they balance the performance of G- and I-efficiency provides experimenters with choices that allow selection of a better match for their study objectives. We provide an extensive repository of Pareto fronts with designs for 17 common experimental scenarios for 2 (design size N = 6 to 12), 3 (N = 10 to 16) and 4 (N = 15, 17, 20) experimental factors. These, when combined with a detailed strategy for how to efficiently analyze, assess, and select between alternatives, provide the reader with the tools to select the ideal design with a tailored balance between G- and I-optimality for their own experimental situations.
Stratosphere–Troposphere Coupling in a Relatively Simple AGCM: Impact of the Seasonal Cycle
Creators: name: Kushner, Paul J.
name: Polvani, Lorenzo M.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2006
Subjects: subject: Atmosphere
subject: Atmosphere, Upper
subject: Mathematics
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: The seasonal time dependence of the tropospheric circulation response to polar stratospheric cooling in a simple atmospheric general circulation model is investigated. When the model is run without a seasonal cycle, polar stratospheric cooling induces a positive annular-mode response in the troposphere that takes a remarkably long time—several hundred days—to fully equilibrate. One is thus led to ask whether the tropospheric response would survive in the presence of a seasonal cycle. When a seasonal cycle is introduced into the model stratosphere, the tropospheric response appears with a distinct time lag with respect to the stratospheric cooling, but, in the long-term mean, the pattern of the wind response is very similar to the one that results from stratospheric forcing in the absence of a seasonal cycle.
Search for admixture of scalar top quarks in the ttbar lepton+jets final state at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
Creators: name: D0 Collaboration
name: Abazov, V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A search for pair production of the lightest supersymmetric partner of the top quark is performed in the lepton+jets channel using 0.9 fb-1 of data collected by the D0 experiment. Kinematic differences between scalar top quark pair production and the dominant top quark pair production background are used to separate the two processes. First limits from Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron Collider for the scalar top quark decaying to a chargino and a b quark are obtained for scalar top quark masses of 130-190 GeV and chargino masses of 90-150 GeV.
description: submitted to Phys. Lett. B
Annular Mode Time Scales in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report Models
Creators: name: Gerber, Edwin P.
name: Polvani, Lorenzo M.
name: Ancukiewicz, Damian
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: Atmosphere
subject: Mathematics
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Climatic changes

description: The ability of climate models in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report to capture the temporal structure of the annular modes is evaluated. The vertical structure and annual cycle of the variability is quantified by the e-folding time scale of the annular mode autocorrelation function. Models vaguely capture the qualitative features of the Northern and Southern Annular Modes: Northern Hemisphere time scales are shorter than those of the Southern Hemisphere and peak in boreal winter, while Southern Hemisphere time scales peak in austral spring and summer. Models, however, systematically overestimate the time scales, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere summer, where the multimodel ensemble average is twice that of reanalyses. Fluctuation-dissipation theory suggests that long time scales in models could be associated with increased sensitivity to anthropogenic forcing. Comparison of model pairs with similar forcings but different annular mode time scales provides a hint of a fluctuation-dissipation relationship.
On the relationship between stock prices and the quantity of money
Creators: name: Martinoff, Michael
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2012

description: The old Quantity Theory of the Value of Money can be expressed as the "Equation of Exchange," MV=PT, in which M is the quantity of money, V is the velocity of circulation of money, P is the price level, and T is the total number of transactions during the period under consideration. The major shortcoming of the old Quantity Theory was that velocity (V) was taken to be numerically constant, which it is not. The new Quantity Theory is a theory of the demand for money as an asset, productive capital yielding a stream of income in the form of convenience, security, and so on. According to this theory, people hold portfolios containing money, bonds, equities, and other assets, and they adjust their portfolios so that they obtain the maximum returns therefrom. The demand for money can be expressed in terms of the demand for other assets (in real terms), the behaviour of the general price level, people's utility preferences, and their total wealth. Given a function describing total income, an equation describing the velocity of circulation of money can be written as the quotient of the income function divided by the demand for money function. This is the difference between the new and old Quantity Theories: under the old, the velocity of money was considered to be a numerical constant; under the new it is described as a function of income and the demand for money. In accordance with the above theory, when a monetary disturbance is introduced by the central bank, people will want to adjust their portfolios in such a way as to compensate for the disturbance. The initial impact of the monetary disturbance is in the markets for the most liquid assets: the financial markets. This idea was tested by correlation analysis on Canadian data of money supply and stock prices and variants thereof for the years 1924-1967. Even after the influence of trend had been removed from the data, statistical support was found for the above theory, but only after the influence of random variation had been reduced by six-month moving averaging. However, the evidence—a significant correlation of .259 between percent change in money and percent change in stock prices—suggests that monetary change accounts for only about 6.7 percent of the variation in stock prices. But this conclusion must be tempered by the realisation that variable lags of the same nature as those that exist between monetary change and change in the level of business activity can be expected to exist between monetary change and change in the level of stock prices. Thus it can be argued that the results of correlation analysis tend to understate the actual impact of monetary change on stock prices.
Discontinuation of Passive Immunization Is Safe after Liver Transplantation for Combined HBV/HDV Infection
Creators: name: Ossami Saidy, Ramin Raul
name: Sud, Irina
name: Eurich, Franziska
name: Aydin, Mustafa
name: Postel, Maximilian Paul
name: Dobrindt, Eva Maria
name: Pratschke, Johann
name: Eurich, Dennis
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: liver transplantation
subject: HBV
subject: HDV
subject: passive immunization
subject: hepatitis
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Patients after LT due to combined HBV/HDV infection are considered to be high-risk patients for recurrence of hepatitis B and D. To date, life-long prophylaxis with hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and replication control with nucleos(t)ide analogs (NA) remains standard. We examined the course of 36 patients that underwent liver transplantation from 1989 to 2020 for combined HBV/HDV-associated end-stage liver disease in this retrospective study. Seventeen patients eventually discontinued HBIG therapy for various reasons. Their graft function, histopathological findings from routine liver biopsies and overall survival were compared with those that received an unaltered NA-based standard regimen combined with HBIG. The median follow-up was 204 and 227 months, respectively. The recurrence of HBV was 25% and did not differ between the groups of standard reinfection prophylaxis NA/HBIG (21.1%) and HBIG discontinuation (29.4%); (p = 0.56). No significant differences were found regarding the clinical course or histopathological aspects of liver tissue damage (inflammation, fibrosis, steatosis) between these two groups. Overall, and adjusted survival did not differ between the groups. Discontinuation of HBIG in stable patients after LT for combined HBV/HDV did not lead to impaired overall survival or higher recurrence rate of HBV/HDV infection in this long-term follow-up. Therefore, the recommendation of the duration of HBG administration must be questioned. The earliest time of discontinuation remains unclear.
Stratosphere–Troposphere Coupling in a Relatively Simple AGCM: The Importance of Stratospheric Variability
Creators: name: Gerber, Edwin P.
name: Polvani, Lorenzo M.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2009
Subjects: Atmosphere
Meteorology
Atmosphere, Upper

description: The impact of stratospheric variability on the dynamical coupling between the stratosphere and the troposphere is explored in a relatively simple atmospheric general circulation model. Variability of the model’s stratospheric polar vortex, or polar night jet, is induced by topographically forced stationary waves. A robust relationship is found between the strength of the stratospheric polar vortex and the latitude of the tropospheric jet, confirming and extending earlier results in the absence of stationary waves. In both the climatological mean and on intraseasonal time scales, a weaker vortex is associated with an equatorward shift in the tropospheric jet and vice versa. It is found that the mean structure and variability of the vortex in the model is very sensitive to the amplitude of the topography and that Northern Hemisphere–like variability, with a realistic frequency of stratospheric sudden warming events, occurs only for a relatively narrow range of topographic heights. When the model captures sudden warming events with fidelity, however, the exchange of information both upward and downward between the troposphere and stratosphere closely resembles that in observations. The influence of stratospheric variability on variability in the troposphere is demonstrated by comparing integrations with and without an active stratosphere. A realistic, time-dependent stratospheric circulation increases the persistence of the tropospheric annular modes, and the dynamical coupling is most apparent prior to and following stratospheric sudden warming events.
title: The Economics of Higher Education
title: Career Paths, Leisure Activities, Personality Traits, and Academic Outcomes
titleType: Subtitle
Creators: name: Urgelles, Laura
Publisher: name: Universität Paderborn
Year: 2022

description: Die vorliegende kumulative Dissertation analysiert vier Forschungsfragen im Bereich der Bildungsökonomie anhand von vier empirischen Studien. Die Arbeit legt den Fokus auf die Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Engagement in verschiedenen Freizeitaktivitäten (u.a. Sport und Musik) sowie verschiedenen Entscheidungen im Bildungsverlauf (z.B. studienbezogene Auslandsaufenthalte) und der akademischen Leistung (z.B. Noten oder Studiendauer) von Studierenden. Die empirischen Analysen basieren auf Studierendendaten und werden theoretisch untermauert durch die Humankapitaltheorie. Die analysierten Zusammenhänge bilden einen Beitrag zur bildungsökonomischen Forschung und resultieren in Handlungsempfehlungen für Politik, Hochschulen und Studierende.
description: The present cumulative dissertation addresses four research questions in the higher education research domain. In four empirical studies the present work focusses on the relation between the pursuit of different leisure activities (e.g. sports and music) and educational decisions (e.g. semesters abroad) as well as academic performance (e.g. grades or time to degree) for higher education students. The dissertation builds on human capital theory and the empirical analyses is based on different student data sets. The results contribute to existing knowledge on education economics and provide important implications for politics, higher education institutions as well as students.
Testing the Bell Inequality at Experiments of High Energy Physics
Creators: name: Hao, Xi-Qing
name: Ke, Hong-Wei
name: Ding, Yi-Bing
name: Shen, Peng-Nian
name: Li, Xue-Qian
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Besides using the laser beam, it is very tempting to directly testify the Bell inequality at high energy experiments where the spin correlation is exactly what the original Bell inequality investigates. In this work, we follow the proposal raised in literature and use the successive decays $J/ψ\toγη_c\to Λ\barΛ\to pπ^-\bar pπ^+$ to testify the Bell inequality. Our goal is twofold, namely, we first make a Monte-Carlo simulation of the processes based on the quantum field theory (QFT). Since the underlying theory is QFT, it implies that we pre-admit the validity of quantum picture. Even though the QFT is true, we need to find how big the database should be, so that we can clearly show deviations of the correlation from the Bell inequality determined by the local hidden variable theory. There have been some critiques on the proposed method, so in the second part, we suggest some improvements which may help to remedy the ambiguities indicated by the critiques. It may be realized at an updated facility of high energy physics, such as BES III.
description: 16 pages, 5 figures
The ecology of phytal animal communities
Creators: name: Edgar, Graham
Publisher: name: University Of Tasmania
Year: 2023

description: The factors influencing the motile macrofauna associated with marine algae were investigated on spatial and temporal scales in order to determine how these assemblages are organised. Results from these phytal studies were also used to assess mathematical and biological aspects of the theory of diversity. Water depth had the greatest influence on the distribution of the phytal fauna within a localised area. Within a depth zone, animal species ranged widely over most algal species, but there were quantitative differences in the abundances of the faunas on different algae. These differences partly resulted from a close correspondence between algal shape and faunal size structure. Monthly sampling of the phytal assemblages associated with five algal species showed that the abundances of almost all animal species peaked at the time of a seasonal epiphyte bloom in late summer-early autumn, and faunistic differences between the erect algae were obscured at this time. These results, in conjunction with observed seasonal changes in the size-frequency histograms of four ampithoid amphipod species, and motility, predation and algal-selection experiments, provided evidence that cyclic fluctuations in phytal amphipod populations were directly influenced by epiphytic biomass and predation pressure. The ampithoid guild was probably also structured by competitive constraints. Widely-used diversity indices were calculated for the phytal samples and compared. it was found that these indices could be grouped into those primarily influenced by dominance, those primarily influenced by species density, and those, such as the Shannon-Wiener Index, which were intermediate between the other two groups. Evenness indices were also investigated but were found to be highly dependent on sample size and consequently difficult to interpret. Environmental correlates of dominance and species density indicated that these two community parameters were relatively independent. Dominance and animal abundance both appeared to be monotonically increasing functions of the level of food resources. Species density was dependent on the weight of sampled algae but was also strongly influenced by wave exposure and habitat complexity (sensu number of habitats, rather than rugosity). Neither species density nor dominance were found to be greatly influenced over a 28 ¬¨‚àû range of latitude. Diversity parameters were considered to be helpful in the interpretation of the effects of external factors on communities. However, the lack of discrimination between dominance and the alpha and gamma components of species density in the past has resulted in much confusion on the causes of diversity.
Large-scale ratcheting in a bacterial DEAH/RHA-type RNA helicase that modulates antibiotics susceptibility
Creators: name: Grass, Lena M.
name: Wollenhaupt, Jan
name: Barthel, Tatjana
name: Parfentev, Iwan
name: Urlaub, Henning
name: Loll, Bernhard
name: Klauck, Eberhard
name: Antelmann, Haike
name: Wahl, Markus C.
Publisher: name: Freie Universität Berlin
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: RNA-dependent NTPase/RNA helicase
subject: co-/posttranscriptional gene regulation
subject: antibiotics resistance
subject: X-ray crystallography
subject: structural biology
subject: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie

description: Many bacteria harbor RNA-dependent nucleoside-triphosphatases of the DEAH/RHA family, whose molecular mechanisms and cellular functions are poorly understood. Here, we show that the Escherichia coli DEAH/RHA protein, HrpA, is an ATP-dependent 3 to 5′ RNA helicase and that the RNA helicase activity of HrpA influences bacterial survival under antibiotics treatment. Limited proteolysis, crystal structure analysis, and functional assays showed that HrpA contains an N-terminal DEAH/RHA helicase cassette preceded by a unique N-terminal domain and followed by a large C-terminal region that modulates the helicase activity. Structures of an expanded HrpA helicase cassette in the apo and RNA-bound states in combination with cross-linking/mass spectrometry revealed ratchet-like domain movements upon RNA engagement, much more pronounced than hitherto observed in related eukaryotic DEAH/RHA enzymes. Structure-based functional analyses delineated transient interdomain contact sites that support substrate loading and unwinding, suggesting that similar conformational changes support RNA translocation. Consistently, modeling studies showed that analogous dynamic intramolecular contacts are not possible in the related but helicase-inactive RNA-dependent nucleoside-triphosphatase, HrpB. Our results indicate that HrpA may be an interesting target to interfere with bacterial tolerance toward certain antibiotics and suggest possible interfering strategies.
Blocking Precursors to Stratospheric Sudden Warming Event
Creators: name: Martius, O.
name: Davies, H. C.
name: Polvani, Lorenzo M.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2009
Subjects: Atmosphere
Meteorology
Climatic changes

description: The primary causes for the onset of major, midwinter, stratospheric sudden warming events remain unclear. In this paper, we report that 25 of the 27 events objectively identified in the ERA-40 dataset for the period 1957–2001 are preceded by blocking patterns in the troposphere. The spatial characteristics of tropospheric blocks prior to sudden warming events are strongly correlated with the type of sudden warming event that follows. Vortex displacement events are nearly always preceded by blocking over the Atlantic basin only, whereas vortex splitting events are preceded by blocking events occurring in the Pacific basin or in both basins contemporaneously. The differences in the geographical blocking distribution prior to sudden warming events are mirrored in the patterns of planetary waves that are responsible for producing events of either type. The evidence presented here, suggests that tropospheric blocking plays an important role in determining the onset and the type of warmings.
Cough in fibrotic lung disease
Creators: name: Saunders, Peter
Publisher: name: Imperial College London
Year: 2020

description: Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other progressive fibrotic lung diseases are associated with significant mortality and morbidity. Cough has previously been described to be associated with worsening outcomes in IPF. The pathogenesis of cough in fibrotic interstitial lung disease (FILD) is unknown and as such few effective treatment options are available to treat this disabling symptom. Methods: Two cohorts of patients were studied – the PROFILE cohort of 579 patients recruited between two major teaching hospitals. A second prospective cohort of 53 patients was collected for the purpose of measuring both subjective and objective cough. Patients in the latter cohort underwent fiberoptic bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage to allow measures of inflammation and microbiome to be taken. Blood was taken for genetic analysis to evaluate the MUC5B promoter polymorphism and its role in cough. Results: The impact of cough on quality of life in the PROFILE cohort is significant with a median Leicester cough questionnaire score (LCQ) of 16.32. Objective cough was similarly elevated with a median cough count of 10.6/hr/24hrs. This burden is comparable to that seen in lung cancer and more than that seen in airways disease. Of various subjective measures of cough, cough visual analogue scale (VAS) best correlates with objective cough recording. The cough of FILD correlates only weakly with measures of lung function and not with the MUC5B promoter polymorphism or bacterial burden suggesting its independence 3 from disease process. Current treatments for FILD do not seem to reduce cough burden significantly. Conclusion: Cough in fibrotic lung disease remains a therapeutic challenge with little change in cough burden through the duration of the illness. Targeting neuronal pathways seems a promising strategy, but more data is required to evaluate this. In particular cough challenge studies examining the heterogeneity of neuronal hypersensitivity would be prudent prior to embarking on trials of treatment.
A history of the Dora Turner School, formerly the Girls Welfare School, from 1924-1974
Creators: name: Griffiths, PEM
Publisher: name: University Of Tasmania
Year: 2023

description: This thesis seeks to trace the history of one of Tasmania's oldest Special Schools, formerly known as the Girls Welfare School. It is now called the Dora Turner School. The School, established in Hobart in 1924, has occupied premises on four different sites during its first fifty years. The Girls Welfare School was established by the State Education Department for \the education of a limited number of girls aged 12-16 for whom ordinary schools are not suitable\" (undated Memo Education Department). It will be shown that the girls were referred to as \"backward and feeble minded\" (School Record Book 1951 76) but the School is now regarded by the Education Department as a suitable placement for Slow Learners. For the first 31 years it was a single sex school but in 1955 it became co-educational and the name was changed to the Dora Turner School in honour of the first Teacher in Charge Dora Turner who was appointed to that position in 1924 and retired in 1951. In a very real sense the history of the School is the story of Dora Turner and her philosophy of education and of H.T. Parker and his philosophy of education. H.T. Parker was the Education Department's first School Psychologist who was largely responsible for persuading the Department to establish the School. For the major part of the fifty years the emphasis of the Curriculum at the School was on Domestic Science and only comparatively recently has the Curriculum been expanded. The history also shows a marked degree of non reaction to the social changes and events that took place during the period 1924-1974. This study also indicates that the school was not very successful in preparing its pupils for occupations or indeed for independent living. What it does show however is that such a school should have a stated philosophy that is compatible with community expectations and with realistic goals and objectives established for the students. One of the significant outcomes of the study is the insights it provides into the attitude of the community towards the mildly mentally handicapped or slow learning student. This attitude appeared to be fostered through the insularity of the School and through lack of integration with other schools as part of the School Philosophy. The study also shows that although dedicated teachers and principals have worked untiringly in often unsatisfactory conditions with difficult students such dedication is not enough and there was a need for specific teacher training in the area of Mental Retardation that was not available in Tasmania until 1974 that is fifty years after the School commenced."
Disposal of waste pesticides and pesticide containers by Tasmanian farmers
Creators: name: Dyson, David Hartnett
Publisher: name: University Of Tasmania
Year: 2023

description: The subject is introduced with short reviews of the effects of pesticides in the environment, and of the fate of pesticides in the environment. A general review of the subject matter considers the magnitude and nature of the problem, methods of pesticide disposal appropriate in Tasmania, costs and legal aspects of disposal, and the effectiveness and effects of pesticide and container disposal. A detailed account of Tasmanian farmers' knowledge and practice of container and pesticide disposal is given, as well as some insight into farmer attitudes, and the magnitude of the problem in Tasmania. Implications of the study are discussed, and suggestions made for future research and action.
A Doubly-Enhanced EM Algorithm for Model-Based Tensor Clustering*
Creators: name: Mai, Qing
name: Zhang, Xin
name: Pan, Yuqing
name: Deng, Kai
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biotechnology
Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
Information Systems not elsewhere classified
Mathematical Sciences not elsewhere classified
Cancer
Science Policy

description: Modern scientific studies often collect data sets in the form of tensors. These datasets call for innovative statistical analysis methods. In particular, there is a pressing need for tensor clustering methods to understand the heterogeneity in the data. We propose a tensor normal mixture model approach to enable probabilistic interpretation and computational tractability. Our statistical model leverages the tensor covariance structure to reduce the number of parameters for parsimonious modeling, and at the same time explicitly exploits the correlations for better variable selection and clustering. We propose a doubly-enhanced expectation-maximization (DEEM) algorithm to perform clustering under this model. Both the Expectation-step and the Maximization-step are carefully tailored for tensor data in order to maximize statistical accuracy and minimize computational costs in high dimensions. Theoretical studies confirm that DEEM achieves consistent clustering even when the dimension of each mode of the tensors grows at an exponential rate of the sample size. Numerical studies demonstrate favorable performance of DEEM in comparison to existing methods.
High-energy emission as a test of the prior emission model for gamma-ray burst afterglows
Creators: name: Murase, Kohta
name: Toma, Kenji
name: Yamazaki, Ryo
name: Nagataki, Shigehiro
name: Ioka, Kunihito
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study high-energy gamma-ray afterglow emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the prior emission model, which is proposed to explain the plateau phase of the X-ray afterglow. This model predicts the high-energy gamma-ray emission when the prompt GRB photons from the main flow are up-scattered by relativistic electrons accelerated at the external shock due to the prior flow. The expected spectrum has the peak of 10-100 GeV at around the end time of the plateau phase for typical GRBs, and high-energy gamma rays from nearby and/or energetic GRBs can be detected by current and future Cherenkov telescopes such as MAGIC, VERITAS, CTA, and possibly Fermi. Multi-wavelength observations by ground-based optical telescopes as well as Fermi and/or Swift sattelites are important to constrain the model. Such external inverse-Compton emission may even lead to GeV-TeV gamma-ray signals with the delay time of 10-100 s, only if the plateau phase is short-lived.
description: 5 pages, 4 figures
Raptor: A fast and space-efficient pre-filter for querying very large collections of nucleotide sequences
Creators: name: Seiler, Enrico
name: Mehringer, Svenja
name: Darvish, Mitra
name: Turc, Etienne
name: Reinert, Knut
Publisher: name: Freie Universität Berlin
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: genetics
subject: bioinformatics
subject: high-performance computing in bioinformatics
subject: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie

description: We present Raptor, a system for approximately searching many queries such as next-generation sequencing reads or transcripts in large collections of nucleotide sequences. Raptor uses winnowing minimizers to define a set of representative k-mers, an extension of the interleaved Bloom filters (IBFs) as a set membership data structure and probabilistic thresholding for minimizers. Our approach allows compression and partitioning of the IBF to enable the effective use of secondary memory. We test and show the performance and limitations of the new features using simulated and real datasets. Our data structure can be used to accelerate various core bioinformatics applications. We show this by re-implementing the distributed read mapping tool DREAM-Yara.
Intraseasonal Variability in the Makassar Strait Thermocline
Creators: name: Pujiana, Kandaga
name: Gordon, Arnold L.
name: Sprintall, Janet
name: Susanto, R. Dwi
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Oceanography
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: Atmosphere

description: Intraseasonal variability [ISV] in the Makassar Strait thermocline is examined through the analysis of along-channel flow, regional sea level anomaly and wind fields from January 2004 through November 2006. The dominant variability of 45-90 day in the Makassar Strait along-channel flow is horizontally and vertically coherent and exhibits vertical energy propagation. The majority of the Makassar ISV is uncoupled to the energy exerted by the local atmospheric ISV: instead the Makassar ISV is due to the combination of a remotely forced baroclinic wave radiating from Lombok Strait and deep reaching ISV originating in the Sulawesi Sea. Thermocline depth changes associated with ENSO influence the ISV characteristics in the Makassar Strait lower thermocline, with intensified ISV during El Nin˜o when the thermocline shallows and weakened ISV during La Nin˜a.
Effects of hemodialysis on blood fatty acids
Creators: name: Gollasch, Benjamin
name: Dogan, Inci
name: Rothe, Michael
name: Gollasch, Maik
name: Luft, Friedrich C.
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: chronic kidney disease
subject: dialysis
subject: erythrocytes
subject: exercise
subject: fatty acids
subject: lipidomics
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids have beneficial cardiovascular effects, perhaps also in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. A low omega-3 index is an independent cardiovascular risk factor in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) dialysis patients. However, the plasma measurements invariably ignore circulating blood cells, including the preponderant erythrocytes (RBCs). We measured fatty acids (HPLC-MS lipidomics) in all components of the circulating blood, since RBC n-3 fatty acid status has been linked to cardiovascular disease and mortality. We studied 15 healthy persons and 15 CKD patients undergoing regular hemodialysis treatments. While total fatty acid levels differed significantly in RBCs from healthy controls and CKD patients, the hemodialysis treatment had no effect on plasma or RBC fatty acid levels. No changes occurred in the percentage of eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5 n-3, EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6 n-3; DHA) (omega-3 quotient) in RBC membrane fatty acids. Nonetheless, hemodialysis treatments increased plasma levels of various total fatty acids, namely C12:0, C14:0, C16:0, C20:2 n-6, C20:4 n-6, and C22:6 n-3 (DHA), while plasma levels of free fatty acids were unchanged. These data suggest that despite significant changes in fatty acids signatures between healthy persons and CKD patients, hemodialysis does not alter RBC n-3 fatty acid status, including the omega-3 quotient. The dialysis treatment per se does not appear to be responsible for a lower omega-3 index in CKD patients.
A public catalogue of stellar masses, star formation and metallicity histories and dust content from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using VESPA
Creators: name: Tojeiro, Rita
name: Wilkins, Stephen
name: Heavens, Alan F.
name: Panter, Ben
name: Jimenez, Raul
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We applied the VESPA algorithm to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey final data release of the Main Galaxies and Luminous Red Galaxies samples. The result is a catalogue of stellar masses, detailed star formation and metallicity histories and dust content of nearly 800,000 galaxies. We make the catalogue public via a T-SQL database, which is described in detail in this paper. We present the results using a range of stellar population and dust models, and will continue to update the catalogue as new and improved models are made public. The data and documentation are currently online, and can be found at http://www-wfau.roe.ac.uk/vespa/. We also present a brief exploration of the catalogue, and show that the quantities derived are robust: luminous red galaxies can be described by one to three populations, whereas a main galaxy sample galaxy needs on average two to five; red galaxies are older and less dusty; the dust values we recover are well correlated with measured Balmer decrements and star formation rates are also in agreement with previous measurements.
description: Accepted for publication in ApJS. New and extended sections, references added, some figures changed. Conclusions and catalogue unchanged
Atmospheric lepton fluxes at ultrahigh energies
Creators: name: Illana, J. I.
name: Masip, M.
name: Meloni, D.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In order to estimate the possibility to observe exotic physics in a neutrino telescope, it is essential to first understand the flux of atmospheric neutrinos, muons and dimuons. We study the production of these leptons by high-energy cosmic rays. We identify three main sources of muons of energy E > 10^6 GeV: the weak decay of charm and bottom mesons and the electromagnetic decay of unflavored mesons. Contrary to the standard assumption, we find that eta mesons, not the prompt decay of charm hadrons, are the dominant source of atmospheric muons at these energies. We show that, as a consequence, the ratio between the neutrino and muon fluxes is significantly reduced. For dimuons, which may be a background for long-lived staus produced near a neutrino telescope, we find that pairs of E ~ 10^7 GeV forming an angle above 10^-6 rad are produced through D (80%) or B (10%) meson decay and through Drell-Yan proceses (10%). The frequency of all these processes has been evaluated using the jet code PYTHIA.
description: 10 pages, 4 figures; published version
DEVELOPMENT OF E-MODULE GIS MULTIMEDIA LEARNING TO INCREASE LEARNING MOTIVATION WITH PADICREF APPROACH
Creators: name: Ni Nyoman Supuwiningsih
name: Ni Nyoman Parwati
name: I Gusti Putu Suharta
name: I Made Tegeh
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: E-Modul; SIG; Multimedia Learning; Motivation; Padicref; ADDIE; ARCS; LMS; E-Learning

description: Abstract

This GIS E-Module aimed to examine how using a multimedia learning-based GIS E-Module affected student motivation. One of the main challenges is presenting GIS learning material excitingly and interactively to increase student learning motivation. Every campus is improving itself to face the current digital era. However, the ITB STIKOM Bali campus is experiencing problems, namely the need for digital media to deliver Geographic Information System (GIS) material. The Geographic Information Systems course is a course that requires higher-order thinking skills in the process of understanding theory and requires high concentration in digitizing digital maps, so an E-Module with GIS material is packaged using learning multimedia consisting of text, narration, audio, and video. The characteristics of the E-Module use the Padicref approach (Passion, Discovery, Creative, and Fun Learning). The research method is the ADDIE model method developed by Dick and Carry in 1996 for the development of e-modules. The research results are in the form of e-modules that have been tested by subject matter experts and content experts, as well as 36 questions in a questionnaire to 30 students in the class. Analyzing student learning motivation uses the ARCS technique (Attention, Relevance, confidence, and Satisfaction). Based on the results of the analysis of the ARCS motivation technique, it states that the impact of the GIS E-module in learning is a good category, meaning it is feasible to be used as a learning resource that can increase student learning motivation and can be accessed online using the LMS (Learning Management System), namely Moodle, as a medium for e-learning.