687 research outputs found
Towards analytics for educational interactive e-Books: The case of the reflective designer analytics platform (RDAP)
This paper presents an analytics dashboard that has been developed for designers of interactive e-books. This is part of the EU-funded MC Squared project that is developing a platform for authoring interactive educational e-books. The primary objective is to develop technologies and resources that enhance creative thinking for both designers (authors) and learners. The learning material is expected to offer learners opportunities to engage creatively with mathematical problems and develop creative mathematical thinking. The analytics dashboard is designed to increase authors' awareness so that they can make informed decisions on how to redesign and improve the e-books. This paper presents architectural and design decisions on key features of the dashboard and discusses future steps with respect to the potential for exploratory data analysis
Signatures of Planets in Spatially Unresolved Disks
Main sequence stars are commonly surrounded by debris disks, composed of cold
dust continuously replenished by a reservoir of undetected dust-producing
planetesimals. In a planetary system with a belt of planetesimals (like the
Solar System's Kuiper Belt) and one or more interior giant planets, the
trapping of dust particles in the mean motion resonances with the planets can
create structure in the dust disk, as the particles accumulate at certain
semimajor axes. Sufficiently massive planets may also scatter and eject dust
particles out of a planetary system, creating a dust depleted region inside the
orbit of the planet. In anticipation of future observations of spatially
unresolved debris disks with the Spitzer Space Telescope, we are interested in
studying how the structure carved by planets affects the shape of the disk's
spectral energy distribution (SED), and consequently if the SED can be used to
infer the presence of planets. We numerically calculate the equilibrium spatial
density distributions and SEDs of dust disks originated by a belt of
planetesimals in the presence of interior giant planets in different planetary
configurations, and for a representative sample of chemical compositions. The
dynamical models are necessary to estimate the enhancement of particles near
the mean motion resonances with the planets, and to determine how many
particles drift inside the planet's orbit. Based on the SEDs and predicted
colors we discuss what types of planetary systems can be
distinguishable from one another and the main parameter degeneracies in the
model SEDs.Comment: 40 pages (pre-print form), including 16 figures. Published in ApJ
200
Projected effects of disruptions to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention services during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic among Black/African American men who have sex with men in an Ending the HIV Epidemic priority jurisdiction
BACKGROUND: Disruptions in access to in-person human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) preventive care during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have a negative impact on our progress towards the Ending the HIV Epidemic goals in the United States.
METHODS: We used an agent-based model to simulate HIV transmission among Black/African American men who have sex with men in Mississippi over 5 years to estimate how different reductions in access affected the number of undiagnosed HIV cases, new pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) starts, and HIV incidence.
RESULTS: We found that each additional 25% decrease in HIV testing and PrEP initiation was associated with decrease of 20% in the number of cases diagnosed and 23% in the number of new PrEP starts, leading to a 15% increase in HIV incidence from 2020 to 2022.
CONCLUSIONS: Unmet need for HIV testing and PrEP prescriptions during the COVID-19 pandemic may temporarily increase HIV incidence in the years immediately after the disruption period
Arabidopsis CURVATURE THYLAKOID1 Proteins Modify Thylakoid Architecture by Inducing Membrane Curvature
Chloroplasts of land plants characteristically contain grana, cylindrical stacks of thylakoid membranes. A granum consists of a core of appressed membranes, two stroma-exposed end membranes, and margins, which connect pairs of grana membranes at their lumenal sides. Multiple forces contribute to grana stacking, but it is not known how the extreme curvature at margins is generated and maintained. We report the identification of the CURVATURE THYLAKOID1 (CURT1) protein family, conserved in plants and cyanobacteria. The four Arabidopsis thaliana CURT1 proteins (CURT1A, B, C, and D) oligomerize and are highly enriched at grana margins. Grana architecture is correlated with the CURT1 protein level, ranging from flat lobe-like thylakoids with considerably fewer grana margins in plants without CURT1 proteins to an increased number of membrane layers (and margins) in grana at the expense of grana diameter in overexpressors of CURT1A. The endogenous CURT1 protein in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp PCC6803 can be partially replaced by its Arabidopsis counterpart, indicating that the function of CURT1 proteins is evolutionary conserved. In vitro, Arabidopsis CURT1A proteins oligomerize and induce tubulation of liposomes, implying that CURT1 proteins suffice to induce membrane curvature. We therefore propose that CURT1 proteins modify thylakoid architecture by inducing membrane curvature at grana margins
Examining the Connections within the Startup Ecosystem: A Case Study of St. Louis
This paper documents the resurgence of entrepreneurial activity in St. Louis by reporting on the collaboration and local learning within the startup community. This activity is happening both between entrepreneurs and between organizations that provide support, such as mentoring and funding, to entrepreneurs. As these connections deepen, the strength of the entrepreneurial ecosystem grows. Another finding from the research is that activity-based events, where entrepreneurs have the chance to use and practice the skills needed to grow their businesses, are most useful. St. Louis provides a multitude of these activities, such as Startup Weekend, 1 Million Cups, Code Until Dawn, StartLouis, and GlobalHack. Some of these are St. Louis specific, but others have nationwide or global operations, providing important implications for other cities
Functional claudication distance: a reliable and valid measurement to assess functional limitation in patients with intermittent claudication
BACKGROUND: Disease severity and functional impairment in patients with intermittent claudication is usually quantified by the measurement of pain-free walking distance (intermittent claudication distance, ICD) and maximal walking distance (absolute claudication distance, ACD). However, the distance at which a patient would prefer to stop because of claudication pain seems a definition that is more correspondent with the actual daily life walking distance. We conducted a study in which the distance a patient prefers to stop was defined as the functional claudication distance (FCD), and estimated the reliability and validity of this measurement. METHODS: In this clinical validity study we included patients with intermittent claudication, following a supervised exercise therapy program. The first study part consisted of two standardised treadmill tests. During each test ICD, FCD and ACD were determined. Primary endpoint was the reliability as represented by the calculated intra-class correlation coefficients. In the second study part patients performed a standardised treadmill test and filled out the Rand-36 questionnaire. Spearman's rho was calculated to assess validity. RESULTS: The intra-class correlation coefficients of ICD, FCD and ACD were 0.940, 0.959, and 0.975 respectively. FCD correlated significantly with five out of nine domains, namely physical function (rho = 0.571), physical role (rho = 0.532), vitality (rho = 0.416), pain (rho = 0.416) and health change (rho = 0.414). CONCLUSION: FCD is a reliable and valid measurement for determining functional capacity in trained patients with intermittent claudication. Furthermore it seems that FCD better reflects the actual functional impairment. In future studies, FCD could be used alongside ICD and ACD
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Analysis automation with paving: A new quadrilateral meshing technique
This paper describes the impact of paving, a new automatic mesh generation algorithm, on the analysis portion of the design process. Paving generates an all-quadrilateral mesh in arbitrary 2D geometries. The paving technique significantly impacts the analysis process by drastically reducing the time and expertise requirements of traditional mesh generation. Paving produces a high quality mesh based on geometric boundary definitions and user specified element sizing constraints. In this paper we describe the paving algorithm, discuss varying aspects of the impact of the technique on design automation, and elaborate on current research into 3D all-hexahedral mesh generation. 11 refs., 10 figs
A Search for Jet Handedness in Hadronic Decays
We have searched for signatures of polarization in hadronic jets from decays using the ``jet handedness'' method. The polar angle
asymmetry induced by the high SLC electron-beam polarization was used to
separate quark jets from antiquark jets, expected to be left- and
right-polarized, respectively. We find no evidence for jet handedness in our
global sample or in a sample of light quark jets and we set upper limits at the
95% C.L. of 0.063 and 0.099 respectively on the magnitude of the analyzing
power of the method proposed by Efremov {\it et al.}Comment: Revtex, 8 pages, 2 figure
Measurement of the diffractive structure function in deep inelastic scattering at HERA
This paper presents an analysis of the inclusive properties of diffractive
deep inelastic scattering events produced in interactions at HERA. The
events are characterised by a rapidity gap between the outgoing proton system
and the remaining hadronic system. Inclusive distributions are presented and
compared with Monte Carlo models for diffractive processes. The data are
consistent with models where the pomeron structure function has a hard and a
soft contribution. The diffractive structure function is measured as a function
of \xpom, the momentum fraction lost by the proton, of , the momentum
fraction of the struck quark with respect to \xpom, and of . The \xpom
dependence is consistent with the form \xpoma where
in all bins of and
. In the measured range, the diffractive structure function
approximately scales with at fixed . In an Ingelman-Schlein type
model, where commonly used pomeron flux factor normalisations are assumed, it
is found that the quarks within the pomeron do not saturate the momentum sum
rule.Comment: 36 pages, latex, 11 figures appended as uuencoded fil
Measurement of Jet Shapes in Photoproduction at HERA
The shape of jets produced in quasi-real photon-proton collisions at
centre-of-mass energies in the range GeV has been measured using the
hadronic energy flow. The measurement was done with the ZEUS detector at HERA.
Jets are identified using a cone algorithm in the plane with a
cone radius of one unit. Measured jet shapes both in inclusive jet and dijet
production with transverse energies GeV are presented. The jet
shape broadens as the jet pseudorapidity () increases and narrows
as increases. In dijet photoproduction, the jet shapes have been
measured separately for samples dominated by resolved and by direct processes.
Leading-logarithm parton-shower Monte Carlo calculations of resolved and direct
processes describe well the measured jet shapes except for the inclusive
production of jets with high and low . The observed
broadening of the jet shape as increases is consistent with the
predicted increase in the fraction of final state gluon jets.Comment: 29 pages including 9 figure
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