cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Robustness of Shor's algorithm
Creators: name: Devitt, Simon J.
name: Fowler, Austin G.
name: Hollenberg, Lloyd C. L.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2004
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Shor's factorisation algorithm is a combination of classical pre- and post-processing and a quantum period finding (QPF) subroutine which allows an exponential speed up over classical factoring algorithms. We consider the stability of this subroutine when exposed to a discrete error model that acts to perturb the computational trajectory of a quantum computer. Through detailed state vector simulations of an appropriate quantum circuit, we show that the error locations within the circuit itself heavily influences the probability of success of the QPF subroutine. The results also indicate that the naive estimate of required component precision is too conservative.
description: 14 Pages, 14 Figures (LaTeX):
Price volatility in ethanol markets
Creators: name: Serra, Teresa
name: Zilberman, David
name: Serra, Teresa
name: Zilberman, David
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Demand and Price Analysis
subject: Research Methods/ Statistical Methods
subject: volatility
subject: ethanol
subject: cointegration

description: Our paper looks at how price volatility in the Brazilian ethanol industry changes over time and across markets. Demand and supply forces in the energy and food markets are likely to ensure that crude oil, ethanol and feedstock prices co-move in the long-run. Hence, when assessing price volatility changes and spillovers in the ethanol industry, one should also pay attention to the notion of cointegration. Until recently, the methods proposed to estimate cointegration relationships, have not explicitly considered time varying volatility in the data. Seo (2007) suggests an estimator of the cointegration vector that explicitly models conditional heteroskedasticity. More specifically, he proposes a maximum likelihood estimator that estimates the error correction model and the multivariate GARCH process jointly. We follow this proposal.
Changes in Food, Alcohol and Cigarettes Consumption during Transition: Evidence from Russia
Creators: name: Herzfeld, Thomas
name: Huffman, Sonya Kostova
name: Oskam, Arie J.
name: Rizov, Marian
name: Herzfeld, Thomas
name: Huffman, Sonya Kostova
name: Oskam, Arie J.
name: Rizov, Marian
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Consumer/Household Economics
subject: consumption
subject: smoking
subject: alcohol
subject: economic transition
subject: Russia

description: This paper examines the changes in nutritional behavior of Russian adults over the ten-year transition period, between 1994 and 2004. We present evidence on the impact of individual as well as regional characteristics on changes in fat, protein, alcohol and cigarette consumption, and on diversity of diet. The results from a dynamic empirical model suggest that among microeconomic determinants, initial levels of consumption, gender, holding a university degree, and having access to a garden plot have a significant impact on the changes in consumption behavior in Russia. Regarding the macroeconomic variables, economic growth has a significant impact on changes in fat and protein consumption and on alcohol use, while unemployment changes significantly impact protein intake, alcohol consumption and the diversity of diet.
GP-SRMR proposed items for validation study
Creators: name: Costello, Shane
name: Benson, Jillian
name: Burns, Joan
name: Bentley, Michael
name: Elliott, Taryn
name: Kippen, Rebecca
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: 119999 Medical and Health Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Other medical sciences

description: Items developed during the adaptation of the SSRQ for use with General Practice Registrars. Also includes a correlation matrix for all items (N=238).
FLAG Review 2021
Creators: name: Aoki, Y.
name: Blum, T.
name: Colangelo, G.
name: Collins, S.
name: Della Morte, M.
name: Dimopoulos, P.
name: Dürr, S.
name: Feng, X.
name: Fukaya, H.
name: Golterman, M.
name: Gottlieb, Steven
name: Gupta, R.
name: Hashimoto, S.
name: Heller, U. M.
name: Herdoiza, G.
name: Hernandez, P.
name: Horsley, R.
name: Jüttner, A.
name: Kaneko, T.
name: Lunghi, E.
name: Meinel, S.
name: Monahan, C.
name: Nicholson, A.
name: Onogi, T.
name: Pena, C.
name: Petreczky, P.
name: Portelli, A.
name: Ramos, A.
name: Sharpe, S. R.
name: Simone, J. N.
name: Simula, S.
name: Sint, S.
name: Sommer, R.
name: Tantalo, N.
name: Van de Water, R.
name: Wenger, U.
name: Wittig, H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We review lattice results related to pion, kaon, $D$-meson, $B$-meson, and nucleon physics with the aim of making them easily accessible to the nuclear and particle physics communities. More specifically, we report on the determination of the light-quark masses, the form factor $f_+(0)$ arising in the semileptonic $K \to π$ transition at zero momentum transfer, as well as the decay constant ratio $f_K/f_π$ and its consequences for the CKM matrix elements $V_{us}$ and $V_{ud}$. Furthermore, we describe the results obtained on the lattice for some of the low-energy constants of $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R$ and $SU(3)_L\times SU(3)_R$ Chiral Perturbation Theory. We review the determination of the $B_K$ parameter of neutral kaon mixing as well as the additional four $B$ parameters that arise in theories of physics beyond the Standard Model. For the heavy-quark sector, we provide results for $m_c$ and $m_b$ as well as those for the decay constants, form factors, and mixing parameters of charmed and bottom mesons and baryons. These are the heavy-quark quantities most relevant for the determination of CKM matrix elements and the global CKM unitarity-triangle fit. We review the status of lattice determinations of the strong coupling constant $α_s$. We consider nucleon matrix elements, and review the determinations of the axial, scalar and tensor bilinears, both isovector and flavor diagonal. Finally, in this review we have added a new section reviewing determinations of scale-setting quantities.
description: 418 pages, 53 figures, 200 tables, 1056 references. Minor changes, version as published in EPJC. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1902.08191, arXiv:1607.00299, arXiv:1310.8555
Beyond the Standard Model of Cosmology
Creators: name: Ellis, John
name: Nanopoulos, D. V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2004
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Recent cosmological observations of unprecented accuracy, by WMAP in particular, have established a `Standard Model' of cosmology, just as LEP established the Standard Model of particle physics. Both Standard Models raise open questions whose answers are likely to be linked. The most fundamental problems in both particle physics and cosmology will be resolved only within a framework for Quantum Gravity, for which the only game in town is string theory. We discuss novel ways to model cosmological inflation and late acceleration in a non-critical string approach, and discuss possible astrophysical tests.
description: To appear in "The New Cosmology", edited by R.E. Allen, D.V. Nanopoulos, and C.N. Pope (AIP Conference Proceedings, New York), 7 pages, 8 figures, uses aipproc.cls (included)
Respiratory extracellular vesicle isolation optimization through proteomic profiling of equine samples and identification of candidates for cell-of-origin studies
Creators: name: Rebuli, Meghan E.
name: Sokolsky, Marina
name: Herring, Laura E.
name: Mordant, Angie L.
name: Mills, Allie
name: Jaspers, Ilona
name: Alexis, Neil E.
name: Sheats, Katie
name: Hickman, Elise
name: Rager, Julia E.
name: Cooper, Bethanie
name: Carberry, Victoria
name: Carberry, Celeste
Publisher: name: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Year: 2025

description:
Growing evidence supports the importance of extracellular vesicle (EV) as mediators of communication in pathological processes, including those underlying respiratory disease. However, establishing methods for isolating and characterizing EVs remains challenging, particularly for respiratory samples. This study set out to address this challenge by comparing different EV isolation methods and evaluating their impacts on EV yield, markers of purity, and proteomic signatures, utilizing equine/horse bronchoalveolar lavage samples. Horses can serve as effective translational animal models for respiratory studies due to similarities with human immune responses, shared environmental exposures, and naturally occurring respiratory diseases including asthma. Further, horses are long-lived large animals that allow for longitudinal sample collection, and provide large sample volume and cell yield, which are particularly useful since EV research is commonly limited by low sample yields. Here, EVs were isolated from horse bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) using four different methods (ultracentrifugation, microcentrifugation, and two sizes of size exclusion chromatography columns) and characterized by measuring particle counts, EV purity, total protein yield, and proteomic cargo, with a specific focus on vesicle surface marker expression potentially informing cell type of origin. We found that size exclusion chromatography yielded the highest particle counts, greatest EV purity markers and elevated vesicle surface marker expression. Overall proteomic profiles differed across isolation methods, with size exclusion chromatography clustering separately from centrifugation. Taken together, our results demonstrate that different isolation methods impact characteristics of EVs, notably that size exclusion chromatography, compared to centrifugation methods, resulted in higher EV purity and better characterized proteomic diversity, including information on EV cell-of-origin. This is the first study to characterize proteomic profiles of EVs following different isolation methods using equine BALF. The results of this study will pave the way for future studies using equine and human samples to characterize respiratory tract EVs.
Creators: name: Surajit Roy
name: Mandal, Manisha Deb
name: Nishith Kumar Pal
name: Halder, Debashis
name: Sircar, Bijayanta
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: 110303 Clinical Microbiology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 110801 Medical Bacteriology
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: 110802 Medical Infection Agents (incl. Prions)
subject: 110899 Medical Microbiology not elsewhere classified
subject: 90899 Food Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Other engineering and technologies

description:
Harvest Cost and Value of Citrus Operations with Alternative Technology: Real Options Approach
Creators: name: Iwai, Nobuyuki
name: Emerson, Robert D.
name: Roka, Fritz M.
name: Iwai, Nobuyuki
name: Emerson, Robert D.
name: Roka, Fritz M.
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agribusiness
subject: Agricultural Finance
subject: Farm Management
subject: Labor and Human Capital
subject: Risk and Uncertainty
subject: Real options
subject: NPV
subject: mechanization
subject: immigration policy
subject: harvest cost
subject: citrus operations

description: The prospect of immigration policy reform has renewed growers’ concerns of serious labor shortages and cost increases. These concerns are more serious for specialty crop agriculture, not only because it is highly labor intensive, but also it requires labor in a very short period, particularly at harvest time. Two representative approaches of the investment valuation have been applied to the case of harvesting mechanization for the model citrus grower in Florida. Specifically, we applied the NPV approach and the real options approach (ROA) to processed-market Hamlin orange operations in Southwest Florida.
Anisotropic Magnetocaloric Properties of The Ludwigite Single Crystal Cu2MnBO5
Creators: name: Gamzatov, A. G.
name: Koshkidko, Y. S.
name: Freitas, D. C.
name: Moshkina, E.
name: Bezmaternykh, L.
name: Aliev, A. M.
name: Yu, S. -C.
name: Phan, M. H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present the results of a thorough study of the specific heat and magnetocaloric properties of a ludwigite crystal Cu2MnBO5 over a temperature range of 60 - 350 K and in magnetic fields up to 18 kOe. It is found that at temperatures below the Curie temperature (92 K), capacity possesses a linear temperature-dependent behavior, which is associated with the predominance of two-dimensional antiferromagnetic interactions of magnons. The temperature independence of capacity is observed in the temperature range of 95 - 160 K, which can be attributed to the excitation of the Wigner glass phase. The magnetocaloric effect (i.e. the adiabatic temperature change) was assessed through a direct measurement or an indirect method using the capacity data. Owing to its strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy, an anisotropic MCE or the rotating MCE is observed in Cu2MnBO5. A deep minimum in the rotating MCE near the TC is observed and may be associated with the anisotropy of the paramagnetic susceptibility.
Changes in urinary concentrations of contemporary and emerging chemicals in commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program
Creators: name: Romano, Megan E.
name: Schantz, Susan L.
name: ECHO Cohort Consortium
name: Herbstman, Julie B.
name: Trasande, Leo
name: Li, Xiuhong
name: Lee, Sunmi
name: Kannan, Kurunthachalam
name: Karagas, Margaret R.
name: Perera, Frederica
name: Buckley, Jessie P.
Publisher: name: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Year: 2025

description:
Previous research indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed alterations in behaviors that may impact exposures to environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals. This includes changes in the use of chemicals found in consumer products, food packaging, and exposure to air pollutants. Within the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, a national consortium initiated to understand the effects of environmental exposures on child health and development, our objective was to assess whether urinary concentrations of a wide range of potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals varied before and during the pandemic. Drawing from three racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse ECHO cohorts, we assessed key differences in urinary chemical concentrations related to environmental exposures through food packaging, use of disinfectants, personal care products and air pollutants using repeated urine samples in a subset of 47 participants, who contributed a urine sample prior to the pandemic (between October 2018 and February 2020) and a subsequent urine sample after the pandemic began (between March 2020 and April 2021). We measured urinary concentrations of analytes across several chemical groups, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates/alternative plasticizers, synthetic phenols (parabens, bisphenols, triclosan, benzophenones), organophosphate esters (OPEs), insecticides and fungicides. Multivariable linear mixed models accounting for key covariates and clustering within cohort and across repeated samples were used to estimate the change in urinary analyte concentrations across time points. We observed decreases in urinary concentrations of some PAHs, bisphenols, benzophenones, and triclosan, and increases in specific OPEs. These biomarker data mirror some of the behavior changes reported in our prior work and support the observation that the pandemic-related behavior changes lead to alterations in chemical exposures that have been linked to adverse health outcomes.
Vulnerability, Income Growth and Climate Change
Creators: name: Shively, Gerald E.
name: Ward, Patrick S.
name: Diffenbaugh, Noah S.
name: Shively, Gerald E.
name: Ward, Patrick S.
name: Diffenbaugh, Noah S.
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: Environmental Economics and Policy
International Development
Resource /Energy Economics and Policy

description: Cross-country data on energy consumption, GDP and vulnerability are used to measure percentage changes in vulnerability associated with percentage changes in per capita GDP and per capita energy consumption. Energy consumption, through its nonlinear effects on per capita income, have the effect of reducing a country’s overall vulnerability to climate change by a greater amount at moderate income levels than at low and high incomes. An implication is that country-specific climate change policies which emphasize carbon reductions through per capita reductions in energy use, especially in developing regions of the globe, are unlikely to reduce vulnerability to climate change, especially at very low incomes.
description: Contributed Paper prepared for presentation at the International Association of Agricultural Economists’ 2009 Conference, Beijing, China, August 16-22, 2009.
Can Good Projects Succeed in Bad Villages? Project Design, Village Governance and Infrastructure Quality in Rural China
Creators: name: Liu, Chengfang
name: Zhang, Linxiu
name: Huang, Jikun
name: Luo, Renfu
name: Rozelle, Scott
name: Liu, Chengfang
name: Zhang, Linxiu
name: Huang, Jikun
name: Luo, Renfu
name: Rozelle, Scott
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Community/Rural/Urban Development
subject: Public Economics
subject: Infrastructure Quality
subject: Village
subject: Rural China

description: This study seeks to explain the differences in infrastructure quality across China’s villages. Using primary data on three main types of infrastructure projects in rural China, we find that a.) between-project within-village quality differences are small and project design has little explanatory power; b.) between-village variations are larger; and c.) there are strong correlations between the ways villages govern themselves and project quality. We conclude that it is difficult to make good projects work in bad communities and that there is something at the village level that is making some projects succeed in some villages, but not in others.
Are Consumers in Developing Countries Willing-to-Pay More for Micronutrient-Dense Biofortified Foods? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Uganda
Creators: name: Chowdhury, Shyamal K.
name: Meenakshi, J.V.
name: Tomlins, Keith
name: Owori, Constance
name: Chowdhury, Shyamal K.
name: Meenakshi, J.V.
name: Tomlins, Keith
name: Owori, Constance
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Consumer/Household Economics
subject: Demand and Price Analysis
subject: Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety
subject: Food Security and Poverty
subject: Health Economics and Policy
subject: Cheap talk
subject: Field experiments
subject: Hypothetical bias
subject: Conjoint analysis
subject: Universal logit

description: Vitamin A deficiency is a major health problem in Africa and in many other developing countries. Biofortified staple crops that are high in pro vitamins A and adapted to local growing environment have the potential to reduce the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency. One such example is the orange-fleshed sweetpotato. However because of its distinctive orange color, which is in contrast to the white varieties that are typically consumed in Africa, it is important to assess whether consumers will accept it. It is this question that this paper attempts to address, using a choice experiment with the real product to quantify the magnitude of the premium or discount in consumers’ willingness to pay that may be associated with it. In addition, it also considers the extent to which the provision of nutrition information affects valuations. Finally, it addresses whether the use of hypothetical scenarios, both with and without a cheap talk script is justified in a developing country context, and quantifies the magnitude of hypothetical bias that results as a consequence. The experiment was conducted in Uganda, which is a key target country for the dissemination of orange-fleshed sweetpotato. Our results suggest that in the absence of nutrition information, there is no difference in the willingness to pay between white and orange varieties, but there is a discount for yellow sweetpotato (which does not have any beta-carotene). The provision of nutrition information does translate into substantial premia for the orange varieties, indicating that an information campaign may be key to drive market acceptance of the new product. Finally, there is a substantial hypothetical bias in both the WTP and the marginal WTP for the new varieties, and while cheap talk mitigates this bias, it does not eliminate it.
An Extremely Large Excess of 18O in the Hydrogen-Deficient Carbon Star, HD 137613
Creators: name: Clayton, Geoffrey C.
name: Herwig, Falk
name: Geballe, T. R.
name: Asplund, Martin
name: Tenenbaum, Emily D.
name: Engelbracht, C. W.
name: Gordon, Karl D.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2005
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report the discovery of a uniquely large excess of 18O in the hydrogen-deficient carbon (HdC) star, HD 137613, based on a spectrum of the first overtone bands of CO at 2.3-2.4 micron in which three strong absorption bands of 12C18O are clearly present. Bands of 12C16O also are present but no bands of 13C16O or 12C17O are seen. We estimate an isotopic ratio 16O/18O ~1. The Solar value of this ratio is ~500. Neither He-core burning nor He-shell flash burning can produce the isotopic ratios of oxygen and carbon observed in HD 137613. However, a remarkable similarity exists between the observed abundances and those found in the outer layers of the broad He-shell of early-AGB stars, soon after the end of He-core burning. It is not known how the outer envelope down to the He-shell could be lost but some mechanism of enhanced mass loss must be involved. HD 137613 may be a post-early-AGB star with the outer layers of the former He-burning shell as its photosphere. The unusual elemental abundances of the HdC stars resemble those of the R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars, but HdC stars do not produce clouds of dust that produce declines in brightness. None of the other RCB or HdC stars observed shows significant 18O.
description: 12 pages, 2 figures, ApJ Letters, in press
Female bodybuilding and the politics of muscle : how female bodybuilders negotiate race, gender, and (hetro)sexuality in bodybuilding competition
Creators: name: Boyle, Ellexis
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2009

description: Since the launch of women's bodybuilding as a spectator sport in the United States in 1979, the relationship between femininity and muscularity has been fraught with contradictions. Current developments in women's bodybuilding have seen the institutionalization of 'femininity' as an official judging criterion as well as the overrepresentation of less than muscular fitness and physique athletes in mainstream bodybuilding magazines. Based upon interviews with six competitive female bodybuilders, my research seeks to understand female bodybuilders' subjective understandings of their practice. How do they negotiate attempts by bodybuilding gatekeepers to police the boundaries of female muscle and how do they reproduce and/or resist social norms of race, gender and (hetero)sexuality in their understandings and practice? My theoretical framework draws on a range of feminist perspectives (Laurie Schultz 1990; St Martin and Gavey 1996; Jacqueline Brady 2001; Jennifer Wesley 2001) that theorize women's engagements with bodybuilding as a negotiation of gender norms. My contribution to this literature is to explore, in more depth, how heterosexuality and race, as central tenets of normative femininity, structure the sport and how women negotiate pressures to reproduce them. I explore four main themes that arose from the six interview transcripts: 1) Why women build, 2) How they perceive the relationship of muscularity to femininity, 3) How normative femininity shapes their competitive performances and 4) How they make sense of sexualized portrayals of female bodybuilders in bodybuilding magazines. I draw on anti-racist feminist methodologies which attempt to render power visible to help me work towards minimizing unequal relations of power between myself and my research participants. Though most of my analysis is based upon the interview transcripts, with the permission the participants, I also analyze some of her photographs published in a bodybuilding magazine. My research reveals that gender structures the participants' engagements with bodybuilding in complex and multiple ways. Their attitudes towards bodybuilding suggest that their practice is not an escape from gender norms nor as a means to better fulfill them, but as an alternative strategy used by women to negotiate classed, racialized and heterosexist expectations of normative femininity.
China Pear Value Chain: Implication for Smallholders
Creators: name: Huang, Zuhui
name: Zhang, Jing
name: Chen, Kevin Z.
name: Huang, Zuhui
name: Zhang, Jing
name: Chen, Kevin Z.
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Industrial Organization
subject: Value Chain
subject: Smallholder
subject: Pear

description: The objective of this paper is to describe different types of value chain, to capture value added activities of each chain, to discuss the organizational and institutional link in each value chain and its implications for the role of small farmers. We focus on two counties in Hebei and Zhejiang of China. Taking pear for example, analysis of value chain is conducted using data of representative samples of pear value chain. For each chain, value added activities, cost composition, profit distribution, organizational and institutional linkages are illustrated, and corresponding conclusions are indicated. After a systematic analysis of organizational and institutional linkage and value adding activities of every chain as well as cost-benefit analysis of smallholders, we found that: value-added of each value chain are different, smallholders hardly benefit from value chains of Hebei case. Farmer cooperatives are helpful for smallholders in terms of costs reducing and value adding. Influence of modern retailers such as supermarket in term of tradition fruit growers is limited in our cases. Downstream stage took most profit of value adding. Comprehensive supermarket is less competitive than professional fruit supermarket and even small fruit store in terms of procurement costs and operating costs. Taking household labor cost into account, net profit and labor compensation of large scale household are higher than that of middle or small scale farmers.
Two-loop mixed QCD-EW corrections to $gg \to Hg$
Creators: name: Bonetti, Marco
name: Panzer, Erik
name: Smirnov, Vladimir A.
name: Tancredi, Lorenzo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We compute the two-loop mixed QCD-Electroweak (QCD-EW) corrections to the production of a Higgs boson and a gluon in gluon fusion. The relevant four-point functions with internal massive propagators are expressed as multiple polylogarithms with algebraic arguments. We perform the calculation by integration over Feynman parameters and, independently, by the method of differential equations. We compute the two independent helicity amplitudes for the process and we find that they are both finite. Moreover, we observe a weight drop when all gluons have the same helicity. We also provide a simplified expression for the all-plus helicity amplitude, which is optimised for fast and reliable numerical evaluation in the physical region.
description: 29 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, ancillary files attached, published version
Acceptability, feasibility and appropriateness of intensified health education, SMS/phone tracing and transport reimbursement for uptake of voluntary medical male circumcision in a sexually transmitted infections clinic in Malawi: A mixed methods study
Creators: name: Ndalama, Beatrice
name: Matoga, Mitch M.
name: Bonongwe, Naomi
name: Yatina, Dumbo
name: Jewett, Sara
name: Hosseinipour, Mina C.
name: Jere, Edward
name: Mathiya, Esther
name: Tsidya, Mercy
name: Chasela, Charles S.
name: Tseka, Jennifer
name: Kamtambe, Blessings
name: Kudowa, Evaristar
Publisher: name: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Year: 2025

description:
INTRODUCTION: Uptake of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) remains a challenge in many settings. Innovative implementation strategies are required to scale-up VMMC uptake. METHODOLOGY: RITe was a multi-faceted intervention comprising transport reimbursement (R), intensified health education (IHE) and SMS/Telephone tracing (Te), which increased the uptake of VMMC among uncircumcised men with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Malawi. Using a concurrent exploratory mixed-method approach, we assessed the intervention's acceptability, feasibility and appropriateness among men with STIs and healthcare workers (HCWs) at Bwaila District Hospital. Participants completed Likert scale surveys and participated in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). We calculated percentages of responses to survey items and summarized common themes using thematic analysis. Median scores and interquartile ranges (IQR) were calculated for acceptability, feasibility and appropriateness of each strategy at baseline and end-line and compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULTS: A total of 300 surveys, 17 IDIs and 4 FGDs were conducted with men and HCWs between baseline and end-line. The mean age for men in the survey was 29 years (SD ±8) and most were married/cohabiting (59.3%). Mean age for HCWs was 38.5 years (SD ±7), and most were female (59.1%). For acceptability, participants agreed that RITe was welcome, approvable, and likable. Despite participants agreeing that RITe was a good idea, fit and suitability influenced appropriateness, particularly at baseline, which improved at end-line for Te and R. For feasibility, HCWs agreed that RITe was easy to implement, but expressed concerns that R (end-line median = 4, IQR: 2, 4) and Te (end-line median = 4, IQR: 4, 4), were unsustainable. Interviews corroborated the survey results. Participants reported that IHE provided important information, Te was a good reminder and R was attractive, but they reported barriers to R and Te such as electricity, limited access to phones and distrust in the government. CONCLUSIONS: The RITe intervention was acceptable, feasible and appropriate. However, culture/religion and structural barriers affected perceptions of appropriateness and feasibility, respectively. Continued awareness raising on VMMC and addressing setting-specific structural factors are required to overcome barriers that impede demand-creation interventions for VMMC.
Exploration of Antibacterial and Antioxidative Property of Two Natural Honey Samples from Malda District, India
Creators: name: Surajit Roy
name: Mandal, Manisha Deb
name: Nishith Kumar Pal
name: Das, Malay Kr
name: Halder, Debashis
name: Sircar, Bijayanta
name: Mandal, Shyamapada
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: 110303 Clinical Microbiology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 110801 Medical Bacteriology
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: 110802 Medical Infection Agents (incl. Prions)
subject: 110899 Medical Microbiology not elsewhere classified
subject: 90899 Food Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Other engineering and technologies

description: Abstract

Aims: To assess the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of two locally available natural honey samples, anddetermine the total phenolic content (TPC) of the honeys.

Methods: Antibacterial activity of two local natural honey samples (citrus honey: LNH1 and mango honey: LNH2)was determined against the clinical bacterial isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 strain, by agar-well diffusion method. Theantioxidative activity of the honey samples (LNH1 and LNH2) was determined in DPPH system, and the IC50 valueswere calculated. The bioactive components present in the test honey samples were assessed qualitatively, and theTPC was quantified.
Results: The honey samples showed the presence of different bioactive components (flavonoids, steroids,phenol, terpenoids and quinone); the TPCs were estimated in LNH1 and LNH2 were 195.5 μg/ml and 333 μg/ml,respectively. In DPPH system, the scavenging activities of LNH1 and LNH2 ranged 43.46–75.18% and 36.09–77.23%, respectively, with respective IC50 values of 3.83 mg/ml and 6.75 mg/ml. The test honey samples showedantibacterial activity both against gram-positive (Staph. aureus) and gram-negative (Ps. aeruginosa and S. entericaserovar Typhi) bacterial pathogens, and against the E. coli ATCC 25922 strain.
Conclusion: The locally available natural honey may be used as rich source of antioxidant and can be used aseffective antibacterial agent in order to combat the bacterial infection to humans.
Theory of a continuous bandwidth-tuned Wigner-Mott transition
Creators: name: Musser, Seth
name: Senthil, T.
name: Chowdhury, Debanjan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We develop a theory for a continuous bandwidth-tuned transition at fixed \textit{fractional} electron filling from a metal with a generic Fermi surface to a `Wigner-Mott' insulator that spontaneously breaks crystalline space-group symmetries. Across the quantum critical point, (i) the entire electronic Fermi surface disappears abruptly upon approaching from the metallic side, and (ii) the insulating charge gap and various order parameters associated with the spontaneously broken space-group symmetries vanish continuously upon approaching from the insulating side. Additionally, the insulating side hosts a Fermi surface of neutral spinons. We present a framework for describing such continuous metal-insulator transitions (MITs) and analyze the example of a bandwidth-tuned transition at a filling, $ν=1/6$, for spinful electrons on the triangular lattice. By extending the theory to a certain large-$N$ limit, we provide a concrete example of such a continuous MIT and discuss numerous experimental signatures near the critical point. We place our results in the context of recent experiments in moiré transition metal dichalcogenide materials.
description: 13 pages, 6 figures; updated upon journal acceptance
Fair Use Deep Dive Slides
Creators: name: Library Copyright Institute
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2025
Subjects: Copyright
Fair use (Copyright)
Libraries

description:
These slides were created and presented by Rachel Bridgewater and Elsa Loftis for the "Copyright Basics and Fair Use Deep Dive" workshop at Portland State University on Friday, January 31, 2025. This workshop was hosted by the Western Copyright Alliance and Library Copyright Institute.
Effects of Bt Cotton in India During the First Five Years of Adoption
Creators: name: Sadashivappa, Prakash
name: Qaim, Matin
name: Sadashivappa, Prakash
name: Qaim, Matin
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Environmental Economics and Policy
subject: Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Bt cotton
subject: genetically modified crops
subject: farm survey
subject: India
subject: seed markets
subject: technology adoption
subject: willingness to pay (WTP)

description: While previous research has analyzed the impacts of Bt cotton in India, most available studies are based on one or two years of data only. We analyze the technology’s performance over the first five years of adoption, using panel data with three rounds of observations. On average, Bt adopting farmers realize pesticide reductions of about 40%, and yield advantages of 30-40%. Profit gains are in a magnitude of US $60 per acre. These benefits have been sustainable over time. Farmers’ satisfaction is reflected in a high willingness to pay for Bt seeds. Nonetheless, in 2006 Indian state governments decided to establish price caps at levels much lower than what companies had charged before. This intervention has further increased farmers’ profits, but the impact on aggregate Bt adoption was relatively small. Price controls might have negative long-term implications, as they can severely hamper private sector incentives to invest in new technologies.
Pastiche Hypothetical Scenario
Creators: name: Library Copyright Institute
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2025
Subjects: Copyright
Fair use (Copyright)
Libraries

description:
This hypothetical scenario was created by Anne Gilliland for the "Copyright Basics and Fair Use Deep Dive" workshop at Portland State University on Friday, January 31, 2025. This workshop was hosted by the Western Copyright Alliance and Library Copyright Institute.
Antibacterial Activity of Mimusops elengi Leaf, Seed and Bark Extracts Alone and in Combination with Antibiotics against Human Pathogenic Bacteria
Creators: name: Sircar, Bijayanta
name: Mandal, Shyamapada
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: 110303 Clinical Microbiology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 110801 Medical Bacteriology
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: 110802 Medical Infection Agents (incl. Prions)
subject: 110899 Medical Microbiology not elsewhere classified

description: Abstract
Aims: The current study determines the antibacterial activity of ‘Bakul’ (Mimusops elengi) leaf, seed and bark extracts against gram-negative clinical bacterial isolates as well as the standard bacterial strains.
Methods: The disc diffusion method was followed to determine the antibacterial activity of M. elengi leaf, seed and bark extracts against the clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antibiotic susceptibility of the bacterial isolates was determined by disc diffusion.
Results: The concentration dependent activity of the extracts against the bacteria was recorded with zone diameter of inhibition 7-21 mm. The extracts in combination with antibiotics (cefpodoxime, gentamycin and ciprofloxacin) had growth inhibitory indices (GIIs), 0.5-0.6, 0.5-0.89 and 0.73-0.82 against E. coli, K. pneumoniae and Pr. vulgaris clinical isolates, respectively, while for the standard strains (E. coli, K. pneumoniae and Ps. aeruginosa) the GIIs ranged 0.56-0.86. Most of the extracts were tested positive for the presence of flavonoids, glycosides, steroids, terpenoids, quinone and phenol.
Conclusion: The M. elengi leaf, seed and bark extracts, in combination with antibiotics, had synergistic interactions against all the standard bacterial strains and Pr. vulgaris clinical isolate, while both synergistic and additive interactions were recorded against E. coli and K. pneumoniae clinical isolates.
Void statistics and compactivity measurement in an experimental granular pile
Creators: name: Lechenault, Frederic
name: Dauchot, Olivier
name: Bertin, Eric
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2005
Subjects: subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We investigate experimentally the statistics of the free volume inside bidimensional granular packings, for two different kinds of grains and two levels of compaction. With the aim to gain new insight into the statistical description of granular media, we measure the free volume distribution in clusters of increasing size. Our main result is that the logarithm of the free volume distribution scales in a nonextensive way with the cluster size, while still enabling the extraction of two intensive parameters. We discuss the interpretation of these parameters, and the consequences of the nonextensivity on the possible measurements of Edwards' ''compactivity''.
description: 16 pages, 7 figures; replace a shorter version
DCO Analyzer: Local Controllability and Observability Analysis and Enforcement of Distributed Test Scenarios
Creators: name: Lima, Bruno
name: Faria, João Pascoal
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Software Engineering (cs.SE)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: To ensure interoperability and the correct behavior of heterogeneous distributed systems in key scenarios, it is important to conduct automated integration tests, based on distributed test components (called local testers) that are deployed close to the system components to simulate inputs from the environment and monitor the interactions with the environment and other system components. We say that a distributed test scenario is locally controllable and locally observable if test inputs can be decided locally and conformance errors can be detected locally by the local testers, without the need for exchanging coordination messages between the test components during test execution (which may reduce the responsiveness and fault detection capability of the test harness). DCO Analyzer is the first tool that checks if distributed test scenarios specified by means of UML sequence diagrams exhibit those properties, and automatically determines a minimum number of coordination messages to enforce them.
Image Reuse Hypothetical
Creators: name: Library Copyright Institute
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2025
Subjects: Libraries
Fair use (Copyright)
Copyright

description:
This hypothetical was created by Caroline Mort for the "Copyright Basics and Fair Use Deep Dive" workshop at Portland State University on Friday, January 31, 2025. This workshop was hosted by the Western Copyright Alliance and Library Copyright Institute.
Consumer preferences for ground beef packaged under a modified atmosphere
Creators: name: Grebitus, Carola
name: Jensen, Helen H.
name: Sebranek, Joseph G.
name: Roosen, Jutta
name: Anders, Sven M.
name: Grebitus, Carola
name: Jensen, Helen H.
name: Sebranek, Joseph G.
name: Roosen, Jutta
name: Anders, Sven M.
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agribusiness
subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety
subject: Marketing
subject: FOS: Economics and business
subject: Research Methods/ Statistical Methods
subject: non-hypothetical choice experiments
subject: modified atmosphere packaging
subject: ground beef

description: The main objective of this paper is to identify factors that determine consumers’ purchase decisions for ground beef offered with different packaging technologies. Consumers’ increasing knowledge about food technologies and changes in food labeling regulation influence agribusiness’ future product development and marketing strategies. Non-hypothetical choice experiments with ground beef, conducted in the USA, are used to quantify consumers’ valuation of technology-related attributes namely shelf life, color and packaging. How alternative types of information affect consumers’ WTP is of particular importance to processors and food safety analysts. This paper’s methodological contribution lies in applying advanced methods to elicit consumers' estimates of WTP for product attributes. Results aim to benefit food producers and retailers who make decisions about investing in new packaging methods, food control and food safety.
On topological F-theory
Creators: name: Anguelova, Lilia
name: de Medeiros, Paul
name: Sinkovics, Annamaria
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2004
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We consider the construction of a topological version of F-theory on a particular $Spin(7)$ 8-manifold which is a Calabi-Yau 3-fold times a 2-torus. We write an action for this theory in eight dimensions and reduce it to lower dimensions using Hitchin's gradient flow method. A symmetry of the eight-dimensional theory which follows from modular transformations of the torus induces duality transformations of the variables of the topological A- and B-models. We also consider target space form actions in the presence of background fluxes in six dimensions.
description: journal version, new symmetry added in section 4
A simple, heuristic derivation of the Balescu-Lenard kinetic equation for stellar systems
Creators: name: Hamilton, Chris
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The unshielded nature of gravity means that stellar systems are inherently inhomogeneous. As a result, stars do not move in straight lines. This obvious fact severely complicates the kinetic theory of stellar systems because position and velocity turn out to be poor coordinates with which to describe stellar orbits - instead, one must use angle-action variables. Moreover, the slow relaxation of star clusters and galaxies can be enhanced or suppressed by collective interactions ('polarisation' effects) involving many stars simultaneously. These collective effects are also present in plasmas; in that case, they are accounted for by the Balescu-Lenard (BL) equation, which is a kinetic equation in velocity space. Recently several authors have shown how to account for both inhomogeneity and collective effects in the kinetic theory of stellar systems by deriving an angle-action generalisation of the BL equation. Unfortunately their derivations are long and complicated, involving multiple coordinate transforms, contour integrals in the complex plane, and so on. On the other hand, Rostoker's superposition principle allows one to pretend that a long-range interacting $N$-body system, such as a plasma or star cluster, consists merely of uncorrelated particles that are 'dressed' by polarisation clouds. In this paper we use Rostoker's principle to provide a simple, intuitive derivation of the BL equation for stellar systems which is much shorter than others in the literature. It also allows us to straightforwardly connect the BL picture of self-gravitating kinetics to the classical 'two-body relaxation' theory of uncorrelated flybys pioneered by Chandrasekhar.
description: Accepted for publication in MNRAS