Charged-current inclusive neutrino cross sections in the SuperScaling model

SuperScaling model (SuSA) predictions to neutrino-induced charged-current pi(+) production in the Delta-resonance region are explored under MiniBooNE experimental conditions. The SuSA charged-current pi(+) results are in good agreement with data on neutrino flux-averaged double-differential cross sections. The SuSA model for quasielastic scattering and its extension to the pion production region are used for predictions of charged-current inclusive neutrino-nucleus cross sections. Results are also compared with the T2K experimental data for inclusive scattering.

Rôle des récepteurs aux protéines G (GPR55, GPR91 et GPR99) dans la croissance et le guidage axonal au cours du développement du système visuel

Lors de l’attribution du prix Nobel de chimie aux docteurs Robert Leftkowitz et Brian Kobika pour leurs travaux essentiels sur les récepteurs couplés à des protéines G (RCPGs), Sven Lindin, membre du comité Nobel, a affirmé que « jusqu'à la moitié » des médicaments « reposent sur une action ciblant les RCPG ». En raison de leurs rôles importants, leurs mécanismes d'activation et l’action de leurs ligands, les RCPG demeurent les cibles potentielles de la majorité des recherches pour le développement de nouveaux médicaments et de leurs applications cliniques. Dans cette optique, nous avons concentré nos recherches à travers cette thèse pour élucider les rôles, les mécanismes d’action et les effets des ligands de trois RCPG : GPR55; GPR91 et GPR99 au cours du développement des axones des cellules ganglionnaires de la rétine (CGRs). Les résultats de nos études confirment l’expression des récepteurs lors du développement embryonnaire, postnatal et adulte des CGRs ainsi qu’au cours de l’établissement de la voie rétinothalamique. In vitro, la modulation pharmacologique et génétique de l’activité de ces RCPGs réorganise la morphologie du cône de croissance des CGRs, celle des neurones corticaux et elle modifie la croissance axonale globale. De plus, les effets de la stimulation avec des ligands des ces trois RCPGs sur le guidage axonal varient d’aucun effet (GPR91 et GPR99) à la répulsion ou l’attraction (GPR55). La voie de signalisation MAPK-ERK1/2 joue un rôle essentiel dans la médiation des effets des ligands de ces récepteurs avec une implication de la voie de RhoA à hautes concentrations pour l’agoniste endogène de GPR55. In vivo, cette recherche démontre également l’implication de GPR55 dans les processus de sélection des cibles thalamiques et de raffinement au cours du développement du système nerveux visuel.

Soluções de controlo de dispositivos para automação residencial

Nos últimos anos temos assistido ao aparecimento de novos dispositivos inteligentes e sistemas de automação residencial. Com o objetivo de conectar e controlar equi- pamentos eletrónicos, dentro de uma habitação, existe a necessidade de desenvolver soluções integradas de controlo remoto. Os smartphones, apresentam todas as carac- terísticas, poder computacional e portabilidade, ideais para controlo e monitorização deste tipo de dispositivos. Quando se considera o desenvolvimento de um produto novo e dependendo do problema, escolher a abordagem e tecnologias mais adequadas nem sempre é fácil. Este projeto apresenta um conjunto de tecnologias e soluções de controlo baseadas em arquiteturas móveis. Para prova de conceito, e baseado num sistema real (IVIT), é proposta uma solução inovadora usando um smartphone. O IVIT, desenvolve uma tecnologia para aplicar num reservatório de aquecimento de água de inércia variável, com funcionalidades de monitorização, controlo e operação colaborativa do sistema de aquecimento. Os resultados obtidos comprovaram que o desempenho da aplicação ultrapassou as expectativas e que a solução proposta é uma alternativa viável para o controlo de dispositivos para automação residencial usando smartphones.

Dynamics of vector rogue waves in a fiber laser with a ring cavity

A pulse–pulse interaction that leads to rogue wave (RW) generation in lasers was previously attributed either to soliton–soliton or soliton–dispersive-wave interaction. The beating between polarization modes in the absence of a saturable absorber causes similar effects. Accounting for these polarization modes in a laser resonator is the purpose of the distributed vector model of laser resonators. Furthermore, high pump power, high amplitude, and short pulse duration are not necessary conditions to observe pulse attraction, repulsion, and collisions and the resonance exchange of energy between among them. The regimes of interest can be tuned just by changing the birefringence in the cavity with the pump power slightly higher than the laser threshold. This allows the observation of a wide range of RW patterns in the same experiment, as well as to classify them. The dynamics of the interaction between pulses leads us to the conclusion that all of these effects occur due to nonlinearity induced by the inverse population in the active fiber as well as an intrinsic nonlinearity in the passive part of the cavity. Most of the mechanisms of pulse–pulse interaction were found to be mutually exclusive. This means that all the observed RW patterns, namely, the “lonely,” “twins,” “three sisters,” and “cross,” are probably different cases of the same process.

The Politics of Gender Socialization

This manuscript is comprised of three papers that examine the far-reaching and often invisible political outcomes of gender role socialization in the United States. These papers focus primarily on two areas: political confidence amongst girls and women, and the effects of gender on survey measurement and data quality.

Chapter one focuses on political confidence, and the likelihood that women will run for political office. Women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of political leadership, and their lack of political ambition, relative to men, has been identified as a primary cause. In this paper, I explore the relationship between an individual's masculinity and femininity and her development of political ambition. Using original survey data from the 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), I first empirically demonstrate that gender (masculinity/femininity) and sex (male/female) are unique elements of identity and, moreover, are both independently related to political ambition. I then explore the relevance of gender for the study of candidate emergence, testing whether and how masculinity and femininity might be related to political ambition are supported empirically. While the results suggest that masculinity is positively associated with the development of political ambition, the relationship between femininity and candidate emergence seems to be more complicated and not what prevailing stereotypes might lead us to expect. Moreover, while the relationship between masculinity and political ambition is the same for men and women, the relationship between femininity and political ambition is very different for women than it is for men. This study suggests that gender role socialization is highly related with both men's and women's desire to seek positions of political leadership.

Chapter two continues this exploration of gendered differences in the development of political ambition, this time exploring how social attractiveness and gendered perceptions of political leadership impact the desire to hold political office.Women are persistently underrepresented as candidates for public office and remain underrepresented at all levels of government in the United States. Previous literature suggests that the gendered ambition gap, gender socialization, insufficient recruitment, media scrutiny, family responsibilities, modern campaign strategies, and political opportunity structures all contribute to the gender imbalance in pools of officeholders and candidates. To explain women's reticence to run, scholars have offered explanations addressing structural, institutional, and individual-level factors that deter women from becoming candidates, especially for high positions in the U.S. government. This paper examines a previously unexplored factor: how dating and socialized norms of sexual attraction affect political ambition. This study investigates whether young, single, and heterosexual women's desire for male attention and fear of being perceived as unattractive or "too ambitious" present obstacles to running for office. The results of these experiments suggest that social expectations about gender, attraction and sexuality, and political office-holding may contribute to women's reticence to pursue political leadership. Chapter two is a co-authored work and represents the joint efforts of Laura Lazarus Frankel, Shauna Shames, and Nadia Farjood.

Chapter 3 bridges survey methodology and gender socialization, focusing on how interviewer sex affects survey measurement and data quality. Specifically, this paper examines whether and how matching interviewer and respondent sex affects panel attrition--respondents dropping out of the study after participating in the first wave. While the majority of research on interviewer effects suggests that matching interviewer and respondent characteristics (homophily) yields higher quality data, little work has examined whether this pattern holds true in the area of panel attrition. Using paradata from the General Social Survey (GSS), I explore this question. My analysis reveals that, despite its broader positive effects on data quality, matching interviewer and respondent sex increases likelihood to attrit. Interestingly, this phenomenon only emerges amongst male respondents. However, while assigning female interviewers to male respondents decreases their propensity to attrit, it also increases the likelihood of biased responses on gender related items. These conflicting outcomes represent a tradeoff for scholars and survey researchers, requiring careful consideration of mode, content, and study goals when designing surveys and/or analyzing survey data. The implications of these patterns and areas for further research are discussed.

Together, these papers illustrate two ways that gender norms are related to political outcomes: they contribute to patterns of candidate emergence and affect the measurement of political attitudes and behaviors.

Electropermanent magnetic anchoring for surgery and endoscopy

The use of magnets for anchoring of instrumentation in minimally invasive surgery and endoscopy has become of increased interest in recent years. Permanent magnets have significant advantages over electromagnets for these applications; larger anchoring and retraction force for comparable size and volume without the need for any external power supply. However, permanent magnets represent a potential hazard in the operating field where inadvertent attraction to surgical instrumentation is often undesirable. The current work proposes an interesting hybrid approach which marries the high forces of permanent magnets with the control of electromagnetic technology including the ability to turn the magnet OFF when necessary. This is achieved through the use of an electropermanent magnet, which is designed for surgical retraction across the abdominal and gastric walls. Our electropermanent magnet, which is hand-held and does not require continuous power, is designed with a center lumen which may be used for trocar or needle insertion. The device in this application has been demonstrated successfully in the porcine model where coupling between an intraluminal ring magnet and our electropermanent magnet facilitated guided insertion of an 18 Fr Tuohy needle for guidewire placement. Subsequent investigations have demonstrated the ability to control the coupling distance of the system alleviating shortcomings with current methods of magnetic coupling due to variation in transabdominal wall thicknesses. With further refinement, the magnet may find application in the anchoring of endoscopic and surgical instrumentation for minimally invasive interventions in the gastrointestinal tract.

Dynamical Heterogeneity and Nonlinear Susceptibility in Short-Ranged Attractive Supercooled Liquids

Recent work has demonstrated the strong qualitative differences between the dynamics near a glass transition driven by short-ranged repulsion and one governed by short-ranged attraction. Here, we study in detail the behavior of non-linear, higher-order correlation functions that measure the growth of length scales associated with dynamical heterogeneity in both types of systems. We find that this measure is qualitatively different in the repulsive and attractive cases with regards to the wave vector dependence as well as the time dependence of the standard non-linear four-point dynamical susceptibility. We discuss the implications of these results for the general understanding of dynamical heterogeneity in glass-forming liquids.

Phase behavior and far-from-equilibrium gelation in charged attractive colloids

In this Rapid Communication we demonstrate the applicability of an augmented Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo approach for the phase behavior determination of model colloidal systems with short-ranged depletion attraction and long-ranged repulsion. This technique allows for a quantitative determination of the phase boundaries and ground states in such systems. We demonstrate that gelation may occur in systems of this type as the result of arrested microphase separation, even when the equilibrium state of the system is characterized by compact microphase structures.

Delivery and Scavenging of Nucleic Acids by Polycationic Polymers

Electrostatic interaction is a strong force that attracts positively and negatively charged molecules to each other. Such an interaction is formed between positively charged polycationic polymers and negatively charged nucleic acids. In this dissertation, the electrostatic attraction between polycationic polymers and nucleic acids is exploited for applications in oral gene delivery and nucleic acid scavenging. An enhanced nanoparticle for oral gene delivery of a human Factor IX (hFIX) plasmid is developed using the polycationic polysaccharide, chitosan (Ch), in combination with protamine sulfate (PS) to treat hemophilia B. For nucleic acid scavenging purposes, the development of an effective nucleic acid scavenging nanofiber platform is described for dampening hyper-inflammation and reducing the formation of biofilms.

Non-viral gene therapy may be an attractive alternative to chronic protein replacement therapy. Orally administered non-viral gene vectors have been investigated for more than one decade with little progress made beyond the initial studies. Oral administration has many benefits over intravenous injection including patient compliance and overall cost; however, effective oral gene delivery systems remain elusive. To date, only chitosan carriers have demonstrated successful oral gene delivery due to chitosan’s stability via the oral route. In this study, we increase the transfection efficiency of the chitosan gene carrier by adding protamine sulfate to the nanoparticle formulation. The addition of protamine sulfate to the chitosan nanoparticles results in up to 42x higher in vitro transfection efficiency than chitosan nanoparticles without protamine sulfate. Therapeutic levels of hFIX protein are detected after oral delivery of Ch/PS/phFIX nanoparticles in 5/12 mice in vivo, ranging from 3 -132 ng/mL, as compared to levels below 4 ng/mL in 1/12 mice given Ch/phFIX nanoparticles. These results indicate the protamine sulfate enhances the transfection efficiency of chitosan and should be considered as an effective ternary component for applications in oral gene delivery.

Dying cells release nucleic acids (NA) and NA-complexes that activate the inflammatory pathways of immune cells. Sustained activation of these pathways contributes to chronic inflammation related to autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Studies have shown that certain soluble, cationic polymers can scavenge extracellular nucleic acids and inhibit RNA-and DNA-mediated activation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and inflammation. In this study, the cationic polymers are incorporated onto insoluble nanofibers, enabling local scavenging of negatively charged pro-inflammatory species such as damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecules in the extracellular space, reducing cytotoxicity related to unwanted internalization of soluble cationic polymers. In vitro data show that electrospun nanofibers grafted with cationic polymers, termed nucleic acid scavenging nanofibers (NASFs), can scavenge nucleic acid-based agonists of TLR 3 and TLR 9 directly from serum and prevent the production of NF-ĸB, an immune system activating transcription factor while also demonstrating low cytotoxicity. NASFs formed from poly (styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) conjugated with 1.8 kDa branched polyethylenimine (bPEI) resulted in randomly aligned fibers with diameters of 486±9 nm. NASFs effectively eliminate the immune stimulating response of NA based agonists CpG (TLR 9) and poly (I:C) (TLR 3) while not affecting the activation caused by the non-nucleic acid TLR agonist pam3CSK4. Results in a more biologically relevant context of doxorubicin-induced cell death in RAW cells demonstrates that NASFs block ~25-40% of NF-ĸβ response in Ramos-Blue cells treated with RAW extracellular debris, ie DAMPs, following doxorubicin treatment. Together, these data demonstrate that the formation of cationic NASFs by a simple, replicable, modular technique is effective and that such NASFs are capable of modulating localized inflammatory responses.

An understandable way to clinically apply the NASF is as a wound bandage. Chronic wounds are a serious clinical problem that is attributed to an extended period of inflammation as well as the presence of biofilms. An NASF bandage can potentially have two benefits in the treatment of chronic wounds by reducing the inflammation and preventing biofilm formation. NASF can prevent biofilm formation by reducing the NA present in the wound bed, therefore removing large components of what the bacteria use to develop their biofilm matrix, the extracellular polymeric substance, without which the biofilm cannot develop. The NASF described above is used to show the effect of the nucleic acid scavenging technology on in vitro and in vivo biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, and S. epidermidis biofilms. The in vitro studies demonstrated that the NASFs were able to significantly reduce the biofilm formation in all three bacterial strains. In vivo studies of the NASF on mouse wounds infected with biofilm show that the NASF retain their functionality and are able to scavenge DNA, RNA, and protein from the wound bed. The NASF remove DNA that are maintaining the inflammatory state of the open wound and contributing to the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), such as mtDNA, and also removing proteins that are required for bacteria/biofilm formation and maintenance such as chaperonin, ribosomal proteins, succinyl CoA-ligase, and polymerases. However, the NASF are not successful at decreasing the wound healing time because their repeated application and removal disrupts the wound bed and removes proteins required for wound healing such as fibronectin, vibronectin, keratin, and plasminogen. Further optimization of NASF treatment duration and potential combination treatments should be tested to reduce the unwanted side effects of increased wound healing time.

The Perspectives of Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Adolescent Males with Parent-Child Sex Communication

Problem: Gay, bisexual, and queer (GBQ) adolescent males are disproportionately affected by negative sexual health outcomes compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Their sex education needs are not sufficiently addressed in the home and the larger ecological systems. The omission of their sex education needs at a time when they are forming a sexual identity during adolescence compels GBQ males to seek information in unsupervised settings. Evidence-based interventions aimed at ensuring positive sexual health outcomes through sex communication cannot be carried out with these youth as research on how parents and GBQ males discuss sex in the home has been largely uninvestigated.

Methods: This naturalistic qualitative study focused on the interpretive reports of 15- to 20-year-old GBQ males’ discussions about sex-related topics with their parents. From a purposive sample of 30 male adolescents who self-identified as GBQ, participants who could recall at least one conversation about sex with their parents were recruited for one-time interviews and card sorts. This strategy revealed, using Bronfenbrenners’ Bioecological Theory, their perceptions about sex communication in the context of their reciprocal relationship and the ecological systems that GBQ males and their parents navigate.

Results: Parents received poor ratings as sex educators, were generally viewed as not confident in their communication approach, and lacked knowledge about issues pertinent to GBQ sons. Nevertheless, participants viewed parents as their preferred source of sex information and recognized multiple functions of sex communication. The value placed by GBQ youth on sex communication underscores their desire to ensure an uninterrupted parent-child relationship in spite of their GBQ sexual orientation. For GBQ children, inclusive sex communication is a proxy for parental acceptance.

Results show that the timing, prompts, teaching aids, and setting of sex communication for this population are similar to what has been reported with heterosexual samples. However, most GBQ sons rarely had inclusive guidance about sex and sexuality that matched their attraction, behavior, and identities. Furthermore, the assumption of heterosexuality resulted in the early awareness of being different from their peers which led them to covertly search for sex information. The combination of assumed heterosexuality and their early reliance on themselves for applicable information is a missed parental opportunity to positively impact the health of GBQ sons. More importantly, due to the powerful reach of new media, there is a critical period of maximum receptiveness that has been identified which makes inclusive sex communication paramount in the pre-sexual stage for this population. Our findings also indicate that there are plenty of opportunities for systemic improvements to meet this population’s sexual education needs.

Rôle des récepteurs aux protéines G (GPR55, GPR91 et GPR99) dans la croissance et le guidage axonal au cours du développement du système visuel.

Lors de l’attribution du prix Nobel de chimie aux docteurs Robert Leftkowitz et Brian Kobika pour leurs travaux essentiels sur les récepteurs couplés à des protéines G (RCPGs), Sven Lindin, membre du comité Nobel, a affirmé que « jusqu'à la moitié » des médicaments « reposent sur une action ciblant les RCPG ». En raison de leurs rôles importants, leurs mécanismes d'activation et l’action de leurs ligands, les RCPG demeurent les cibles potentielles de la majorité des recherches pour le développement de nouveaux médicaments et de leurs applications cliniques. Dans cette optique, nous avons concentré nos recherches à travers cette thèse pour élucider les rôles, les mécanismes d’action et les effets des ligands de trois RCPG : GPR55; GPR91 et GPR99 au cours du développement des axones des cellules ganglionnaires de la rétine (CGRs). Les résultats de nos études confirment l’expression des récepteurs lors du développement embryonnaire, postnatal et adulte des CGRs ainsi qu’au cours de l’établissement de la voie rétinothalamique. In vitro, la modulation pharmacologique et génétique de l’activité de ces RCPGs réorganise la morphologie du cône de croissance des CGRs, celle des neurones corticaux et elle modifie la croissance axonale globale. De plus, les effets de la stimulation avec des ligands des ces trois RCPGs sur le guidage axonal varient d’aucun effet (GPR91 et GPR99) à la répulsion ou l’attraction (GPR55). La voie de signalisation MAPK-ERK1/2 joue un rôle essentiel dans la médiation des effets des ligands de ces récepteurs avec une implication de la voie de RhoA à hautes concentrations pour l’agoniste endogène de GPR55. In vivo, cette recherche démontre également l’implication de GPR55 dans les processus de sélection des cibles thalamiques et de raffinement au cours du développement du système nerveux visuel.

Children’s Perceptions of Cohesion

The general purpose of the two studies reported here was to examine perceptions of team cohesiveness in children aged 9 to 12 years. In Study 1, focus groups were used to examine individual perceptions of cohesion from the perspective of group integration – the group as a totality. In Study 2, open-ended questionnaires were used to examine individual perceptions of cohesion from the perspective of individual attractions to the group. The results showed that children as young as nine years understand the phenomenon known as cohesion. They can discuss the group as a totality, the characteristics of cohesive and non-cohesive teams, and identify the major factors attracting them to and maintaining their involvement in the group. Also, the ability to clearly distinguish between task and social cohesion is present. The results provide insight into the world of child sport and emphasise the importance of group cohesion, affiliation, and other social constructs in children’s involvement and adherence to sport groups

Of Marx and Makers: an Historical Perspective on Generative Justice

In Marxist frameworks “distributive justice” depends on extracting value through a centralized state. Many new social movements—peer to peer economy, maker activism, community agriculture, queer ecology, etc.—take the opposite approach, keeping value in its unalienated form and allowing it to freely circulate from the bottom up. Unlike Marxism, there is no general theory for bottom-up, unalienated value circulation. This paper examines the concept of “generative justice” through an historical contrast between Marx’s writings and the indigenous cultures that he drew upon. Marx erroneously concluded that while indigenous cultures had unalienated forms of production, only centralized value extraction could allow the productivity needed for a high quality of life. To the contrary, indigenous cultures now provide a robust model for the “gift economy” that underpins open source technological production, agroecology, and restorative approaches to civil rights. Expanding Marx’s concept of unalienated labor value to include unalienated ecological (nonhuman) value, as well as the domain of freedom in speech, sexual orientation, spirituality and other forms of “expressive” value, we arrive at an historically informed perspective for generative justice. 

‘Should we try to Self Remember while playing Snakes and Ladders?’: Dr. Gambit as Gurdjieff in Leonora Carrington’s The Hearing Trumpet (1950)

Arising from the Paris surrealist group, the English-born writer and painter Leonora Carrington (England 1917 - Mexico 2011) was perpetually suspicious of orthodoxy and she often pokes fun at, parodies, and, ultimately, upsets traditional hierarchies of power. In her work animals impart wisdom, Goddesses loom large, and domestic spaces become sites of occult power. In this paper I will investigate Carrington's suspicion of gurus with claims to esoteric truth. Carrington participated in Fourth Way groups run by students of Gurdjieff (Christopher Fremantle) and Ouspensky (Rodney Collin). However, while she had a deep interest in the teachings, Carrington remained suspicious of the group practices of the Fourth Way, as can be seen in Elena Poniatowska’s fictionalised biography Leonora (2015). This articles explores Carrington's contact with the ‘Work’ in order to shed light on the character of Dr. Gambit in her 1950 novel, The Hearing Trumpet, commonly thought to be a parody of Gurdjieff. In doing so, it will investigate Carrington’s feminist objections to the role of the guru, while also contributing to a discussion of the unease some felt toward the praxis of the Fourth Way, despite their attraction to the philosophy.

Date adjustment tools : Date rollover and Individual date adjustment

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) have become a larger part of teaching and learning in the modern world. Therefore has Moodle, a free and open source e-learning tool surfaced and gained a lot of attraction and downloads. A purpose of this study has been to develop a new local plugin in Moodle with guidelines from Magnus Eriksson and Tsedey Terefe. A purpose for this project has also been to build a plugin which has the functions Date rollover and Individual date adjustment. Mid Sweden University (Miun) stated that WebCT/Blackboard was in use before Moodle and some other LMSs and the dissatisfaction with WebCT/Blackboard was rife, however some teachers liked it. Therefore WebCT/Blackboard was abandoned and Moodle was embraced. The methods of gaining information has generally been web based sources and three interviews, likewise called user tests. Programs and other aids that have been used include but are not limited to: Google Drive, LTI Provider, Moodle, Moodle documentation, Notepad++, PHP and XAMPP. The plugin has been implemented as a local plugin. The result has shown that the coded plugin, Date adjustment tools could be improved and that it was changed. In the plugin, support for old American English dates were added and the code for using the two functions “Date rollover” and “Individual date adjustment” were rewritten to not interfere with one another. A conclusion to draw from the result is that the plugin has been improved from Terefe’s implementation, although more work can be made with the plugin Date adjustment tools.