A Synopsis of The Tabanidae of Nebraska with a Description of a New Species from Colorado

Recently, the writer has had occasion to prepare a synopsis of the species of Tabanidae, otherwise known as horseflies, deerflies or gadflies, of the State of Nebraska. These flies are of importance to the farmer and stock raiser because of their blood-sucking propensities and their annoyance to stock. They breed in marshy lands and wet soil. This synopsis is based altogether on specimens collected in Nebraska and now actually present in the University of Nebraska collection. It is not probable, therefore, that it is a complete list. More extensive collecting over the state would probably reveal the presence of other species, since very little time has been spent in especially collecting these insects. The classification of Hine has been followed in the main, but in listing the species those that are closely related have been brought together. The writer is indebted to Professors Myron H. Swenk and R. W. Dawson of the University of Nebraska, who have made possible the preparation of this paper. Acknowledgement should also be made to the works of Professor James S. Hine and Baron C. R. Osten Sacken on the Tabanidae, since these have contributed greatly toward the satisfactory identification of the species and the synoptic work

Towards a Complex, Active, Human-Centered Subject Grounded in the Sociopolitical: A Symbiosis of Edmund Husserl and Michael Foucalt

This thesis responds to the questions With the empirical, \u27found\u27 world prevalent as the paradigm for all valid knowledge, what happened to the relevance of the human in knowledge? Is there an alternative that does not divorce the knower from the knowing? The ideas of Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and Michel Foucault (1926-1984), two thinkers traditionally viewed as rivals in continental philosophy and social theory, animate these questions. Both philosophers critique the taken-for-granted aspects of the world: Husserl through the constituting subject and Foucault through the socially, linguistically, and historically constituted subject. Rather than an either-or that oversimplifies the subject, a dialogue and a symbiosis between these two thinkers point to the foundation of an active, meaning-endowing subject in which this subject is enmeshed in inter-subjective power relations and in which certain knowledges are subjugated to others. Through a combined critique, it is possible to continue an investigation beyond a discursive level, to desediment more layers of knowledge, and to continue to critique the always-already there in order to understand enduring constitutions and the subject\u27s becoming

A quantitative central limit theorem for the effective conductance on the discrete torus

We study a random conductance problem on a $d$-dimensional discrete torus of size $L > 0$. The conductances are independent, identically distributed random variables uniformly bounded from above and below by positive constants. The effective conductance $A_L$ of the network is a random variable, depending on $L$, and the main result is a quantitative central limit theorem for this quantity as $L \to \infty$. In terms of scalings we prove that this nonlinear nonlocal function $A_L$ essentially behaves as if it were a simple spatial average of the conductances (up to logarithmic corrections). The main achievement of this contribution is the precise asymptotic description of the variance of $A_L$.Comment: 37 page

Geodesics of Random Riemannian Metrics

We analyze the disordered Riemannian geometry resulting from random perturbations of the Euclidean metric. We focus on geodesics, the paths traced out by a particle traveling in this quenched random environment. By taking the point of the view of the particle, we show that the law of its observed environment is absolutely continuous with respect to the law of the random metric, and we provide an explicit form for its Radon-Nikodym derivative. We use this result to prove a "local Markov property" along an unbounded geodesic, demonstrating that it eventually encounters any type of geometric phenomenon. We also develop in this paper some general results on conditional Gaussian measures. Our Main Theorem states that a geodesic chosen with random initial conditions (chosen independently of the metric) is almost surely not minimizing. To demonstrate this, we show that a minimizing geodesic is guaranteed to eventually pass over a certain "bump surface," which locally has constant positive curvature. By using Jacobi fields, we show that this is sufficient to destabilize the minimizing property.Comment: 55 pages. Supplementary material at arXiv:1206.494

Ιστορική και πολεοδομική εξέλιξη της πόλης του Βερολίνου - Συγκριτική μελέτη αναβάθμισης υποβαθμισμένων περιοχών σε Αθήνα και Βερολίνο

130 σ.Αντικείμενο της διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η ιστορική αναδρομή και πολεοδομική εξέλιξη της πόλης του Βερολίνου από την ίδρυσή της μέχρι σήμερα, όπως και η σύγκριση δύο πρώην υποβαθμισμένων περιοχών που αναβαθμίστηκαν τις τελευταίες δύο δεκαετίες, σε Βερολίνο και Αθήνα αντίστοιχα. Η περιγραφή αυτή έχει ως σκοπό την παρουσίαση της σπουδαιότητας και του ρόλου του Βερολίνου δια μέσου των αιώνων, την επισήμανση των πολιτικών, νομοθετικών και πολεοδομικών γεγονότων και εξελίξεων που έπαιξαν σημαντικό ρόλο στην πορεία του, καθώς και τον εντοπισμό ομοιοτήτων και διαφορών από την ανάλυση της σύγκρισης των δύο περιοχών μελέτης. Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία αποτελείται από έξι κεφάλαια. Στο Κεφάλαιο 1 δίνονται γενικές πληροφορίες για το Βερολίνο, περιγράφοντας τη γεωγραφική θέση και έκταση, το κλίμα, τον πληθυσμό, τα δημογραφικά στοιχεία και την διοικητική διαίρεση της πόλης. Στο Κεφάλαιο 2 παρουσιάζεται η ιστορική αναδρομή του Βερολίνου από την ίδρυση του το 1237 μέχρι και σήμερα, επισημαίνοντας τα σημαντικότερα ιστορικά γεγονότα. Στο Κεφάλαιο 3 αναλύονται πολεοδομικά σχέδια (Σχέδια Χρήσης Γης), που έπαιξαν σημαντικό ρόλο στην εξέλιξη του Βερολίνου, ως προς τον σκοπό, το περιεχόμενο και τις επιπτώσεις τους, περιγράφοντας παράλληλα την πολιτική, νομοθετική και πολεοδομική εξέλιξη της πόλης. Στο Κεφάλαιο 4 εξετάζεται η αναβάθμιση της περιοχή μελέτης Warschauer Straße του Βερολίνου. Στο Κεφάλαιο 5 εξετάζεται η αναβάθμιση της περιοχής μελέτης του Γκαζιού της Αθήνας. Στο Κεφάλαιο 6 περιλαμβάνονται τα συμπεράσματα και τα αποτελέσματα της σύγκρισης των δύο περιοχών μελέτης.Subject of the thesis is the historical overview and urban development of the city of Berlin from its foundation until today, as well as the comparison of two formerly degraded areas that have been upgraded over the past two decades, in Berlin and Athens respectively. This description is intended to show the importance and role of Berlin through the ages, highlight political, legislative and planning events and developments that played an important role in its course, and identify similarities and differences from the comparison analysis of the two study areas. This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 contains general information about Berlin, describing the geographical location and area, climate, population, demographics and administrative division of the city. Chapter 2 presents the historical overview of Berlin from its founding in 1237 until today, highlighting the most important historical events. In Chapter 3 we continue with the analysis of the aim, the contents, and the impact of urban plans (Land Use Plans), which played an important role in the evolution of Berlin, while describing the political, legislative and urban development of the city. Chapter 4 examines the upgrade of the study area Warschauer Straße, Berlin. Chapter 5 examines the upgrade of the study area of Gazi, Athens. Chapter 6 gives the conclusions and results of the comparison of the two study areas.Βασίλειος Σ. Βλάχο

Artificial Melanogenesis by Confining Melanin/Polydopamine Production inside Polymersomes

Melanin and polydopamine are potent biopolymers for the development of biomedical nanosystems. However, applications of melanin or polydopamine-based nanoparticles are limited by drawbacks related to a compromised colloidal stability over long time periods and associated cytotoxicity. To overcome these hurdles, a novel strategy is proposed that mimics the confinement of natural melanin in melanosomes. Melanosome mimics are developed by co-encapsulating the melanin/polydopamine precursors L-DOPA/dopamine with melanogenic enzyme Tyrosinase within polymersomes. The conditions of polymersome formation are optimized to obtain melanin/polydopamine polymerization within the cavity of the polymersomes. Similar to native melanosomes, polymersomes containing melanin/polydopamine show long-term colloidal stability, cell-compatibility, and potential for cell photoprotection. This novel kind of artificial melanogenesis is expected to inspire new applications of the confined melanin/polydopamine biopolymers

On Random Field Induced Ordering in the Classical XY Model

Consider the classical XY model in a weak random external field pointing along the $Y$ axis with strength $\epsilon$. We study the behavior of this model as the range of the interaction is varied. We prove that in any dimension $d \geq 2$ and for all $\epsilon$ sufficiently small, there is a range $L=L(\epsilon)$ so that whenever the inverse temperature $\beta$ is larger than some $\beta(\epsilon)$, there is strong residual ordering along the $X$ direction.Comment: 30 page

Thermophoresis of Brownian particles driven by coloured noise

The Brownian motion of microscopic particles is driven by the collisions with the molecules of the surrounding fluid. The noise associated with these collisions is not white, but coloured due, e.g., to the presence of hydrodynamic memory. The noise characteristic time scale is typically of the same order as the time over which the particle's kinetic energy is lost due to friction (inertial time scale). We demonstrate theoretically that, in the presence of a temperature gradient, the interplay between these two characteristic time scales can have measurable consequences on the particle long-time behaviour. Using homogenization theory, we analyse the infinitesimal generator of the stochastic differential equation describing the system in the limit where the two characteristic times are taken to zero; from this generator, we derive the thermophoretic transport coefficient, which, we find, can vary in both magnitude and sign, as observed in experiments. Furthermore, studying the long-term stationary particle distribution, we show that particles can accumulate towards the colder (positive thermophoresis) or the warmer (negative thermophoresis) regions depending on the dependence of their physical parameters and, in particular, their mobility on the temperature.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Seasonal Patterns of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease

Pneumococcal infections increase each winter, a phenomenon that has not been well explained. We conducted population-based active surveillance for all cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in seven states; plotted annualized weekly rates by geographic location, age, and latitude; and assessed correlations by time-series analysis. In all geographic areas, invasive pneumococcal disease exhibited a distinct winter seasonality, including an increase among children in the fall preceding that for adults and a sharp spike in incidence among adults each year between December 24 and January 7. Pneumococcal disease correlated inversely with temperature (r –0.82 with a 1-week lag; p<0.0001), but paradoxically the coldest states had the lowest rates, and no threshold temperature could be identified. The pattern of disease correlated directly with the sinusoidal variations in photoperiod (r +0.85 with a 5-week lag; p<0.0001). Seemingly unrelated seasonal phenomena were also somewhat correlated. The reproducible seasonal patterns in varied geographic locations are consistent with the hypothesis that nationwide seasonal changes such as photoperiod-dependent variation in host susceptibility may underlie pneumococcal seasonality, but caution is indicated in assigning causality as a result of such correlations