Repeat-Accumulate Codes for Reconciliation in Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution

This paper investigates the design of low-complexity error correction codes for the verification step in continuous variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) systems. We design new coding schemes based on quasi-cyclic repeat-accumulate codes which demonstrate good performances for CVQKD reconciliation

Rapid Diagnostics with Nanoparticles

More than 500,000 open-heart surgeries are performed in the United States every year. The anticoagulant Heparin is used to decrease the likelihood of thrombosis or hemorrhaging in each surgery by bonding to the enzyme inhibitor antithrombin III (AT-III). However, anesthesiologists currently lack the ability to measure antithrombin levels in a patient quickly, making appropriate Heparin dosages difficult to determine and possibly resulting in thrombosis or hemorrhaging if thrombin levels move outside the allowable range. This could be prevented with a simple bedside test. Current tests use gold, but we believe Iron (III) Oxide (commonly known as rust) can be used at a much lower price. Given a thrombin molecule with a fluorescein and quencher, the process to design and synthesize a test particle from Iron (III) Oxide coated in an aminosilane to detect AT-III levels was investigated.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1011/thumbnail.jp

EFFECTS OF ELECTRIC FENCE PERMEABILIY ON GRIZZLY AND BLACK BEARS IN THE BLACKFOOT VALLEY OF MONTANA (POSTER)

Increasing agriculture-bear conflicts on private lands require innovative approaches to conserve wildlife while also conserving the economic viability of Montana farmers and ranchers.  Electric fencing has been an effective tool for deterring bears from calving areas and bee yards.  Recent advances in electric fencing materials, as well as automated deployment devices, have reduced costs and increased interest in using electric fencing to deter bears from larger areas, like crop fields. Scientific evaluations of the efficacy of temporary electric fencing at deterring grizzly (Ursus arctos) and black bears (Ursus americanus) are lacking. Additionally, large-scale installations of electric fencing may impact bear movements and habitat use.  In 2015, we began a multi-faceted study in the Blackfoot Valley to evaluate A) the efficacy of various rapid-deployment electric fencing designs in deterring bears from agricultural lands, and B) landscape level space use and permeability of agricultural lands relative to electric fences.  Baited enclosures of 2-3 fencing configurations were established in the valley during the spring of 2015.  Each enclosure is systematically energized and unenergized for 3-day periods throughout the spring and summer; passage into the enclosure is monitored with motion-activated trail cameras to provide information on configuration effectiveness and permeability.  In addition, we established 60 randomly selected camera trap stations throughout the valley to evaluate landscape-level habitat use relative to landscape metrics and electric fences.  Daily movement locations provided by 5 grizzly bears fitted with GPS collars will provide individual-level information on seasonal movements and habitat selection relative to habitat conditions and electric fences

Agricultural Land Values and Rents In a Stable Mode

In an ocean of economic uncertainty, Nebraska’s agricultural real estate market remains on a generally steady course, as revealed by preliminary results from the UNL’s 2001 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey. As of February 1st, the state’s all-land average value was $709 per acre, up 1.6 percent from 12 months earlier (Table 1). However, the choppiness of the economic waters is evident by the variations in the value changes across the various land types and substate areas

Out of the Closet and Into the Woods; Nature as a Model for Resilience During Gay Identity Development.

Navigating the process of coming out led to feelings of isolation, depression, and a loss of self-worth that were compounded by a period filled with negative social media and mainstream messaging. This thesis explores how an understanding of the systems and processes of nature as well as physical exposure to nature offered a place of healing and an avenue for understanding my identity as a Gay man: from identity confusion all the way through to identity synthesis. Using Scholarly Personal Narrative Methodology, I will interweave poetry and counter narrative storytelling to illustrate the significance of nature during my identity development. Sexual orientation is scrutinized and vilified through social media platforms, advertisements, and daily life under the basis of cultural ideology and social construction. This disregards the larger contextual importance of other species that exhibit similar behaviors. I maintain that a connection with nature can provide individuals with a broader and more balanced perspective of sexual orientation--whilst navigating through the coming out process leading to a confluent sense of identity with reduced internalized conflict

Partial volume correction incorporating Rb-82 positron range for quantitative myocardial perfusion PET based on systolic-diastolic activity ratios and phantom measurements.

BACKGROUND: Quantitative myocardial PET perfusion imaging requires partial volume corrections. METHODS: Patients underwent ECG-gated, rest-dipyridamole, myocardial perfusion PET using Rb-82 decay corrected in Bq/cc for diastolic, systolic, and combined whole cycle ungated images. Diastolic partial volume correction relative to systole was determined from the systolic/diastolic activity ratio, systolic partial volume correction from phantom dimensions comparable to systolic LV wall thicknesses and whole heart cycle partial volume correction for ungated images from fractional systolic-diastolic duration for systolic and diastolic partial volume corrections. RESULTS: For 264 PET perfusion images from 159 patients (105 rest-stress image pairs, 54 individual rest or stress images), average resting diastolic partial volume correction relative to systole was 1.14 ± 0.04, independent of heart rate and within ±1.8% of stress images (1.16 ± 0.04). Diastolic partial volume corrections combined with those for phantom dimensions comparable to systolic LV wall thickness gave an average whole heart cycle partial volume correction for ungated images of 1.23 for Rb-82 compared to 1.14 if positron range were negligible as for F-18. CONCLUSION: Quantitative myocardial PET perfusion imaging requires partial volume correction, herein demonstrated clinically from systolic/diastolic absolute activity ratios combined with phantom data accounting for Rb-82 positron range

Nome Day Shelter

The Nome Day Shelter was created in response to community needs due to weather- related exposure deaths, impoverished community members, homelessness, hospital emergency department interactions, and various presentations of public social maladies. Although the protection of women was not the primary purpose in the establishment of the Day Shelter, this factor is a significant by-product of this sanctuary. An accurate accounting of MMIWG does not exist in the Norton Sound region. It may be reasonably inferred safety the Shelter provides has an impact on MMIWG in the Bering Strait region

Allometry, sexual size dimorphism, and niche partitioning in the Mediterranean gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)

Hemidactylus tucrius is a small gekkonid lizard native to the Middle East and Asia that is known to exhibit sexual dimorphism in head size. Several potential explanations exist for the evolution and maintenance of sexual dimorphism in lizards. We tested 2 of these competing hypotheses concerning diet partitioning and differential growth. We found no differences in Average meal size (volume) or in any single dimension of prey size for similarly sized males and females. allometric patterns of increases in head size also were measured in males and females. We found that males exhibited a mixture of isometric and positively allometric patterns of head size increases, whereas females exhibited isometric and negatively allometric patterns. Thus, we concluded that sexual dimorphism in head size is not the result of diet partitioning but instead of differential growth patterns following sexual maturity in males and females