Some Intuition behind Large Cardinal Axioms, Their Characterization, and Related Results

We aim to explain the intuition behind several large cardinal axioms, give characterization theorems for these axioms, and then discuss a few of their properties. As a capstone, we hope to introduce a new large cardinal notion and give a similar characterization theorem of this new notion. Our new notion of near strong compactness was inspired by the similar notion of near supercompactness, due to Jason Schanker

Exploring Effects of School Sport Experiences on Sport Participation in Later Life

This paper presents findings on the relationship between high school sport participation and involvement in sport as adults. The data are provided by a survey of a large representative national sample of adult Canadians. For different age subgroups among women and men, we tested the school sport experiences hypothesis that sport involvement during the high school years contributes to later adult involvement in sport. The measurement of sport involvement in the high school years is concerned with intramural and inter-school activities. Adult sport activity has three measures: sport involvement per se, involvement in an organized setting, and competitive involvement. The results are consistent with the school experiences hypothesis. High school sport involvement, for inter-school sport activities, is a comparatively strong predictor of adult sport involvement. The effects of high school involvement persist after controlling for correlated social background factors. Moreover, the effects of school sport experiences hold across age and gender subgroups. Although diminished with temporal distance from the high school years, the effects of high school involvement nonetheless extend even to respondents aged 40–59 (i.e., those approximately 22 to 42 years beyond their school years) among both genders. Interpretations of the results are discussed

Body Talk: Male Athletes Reflect on Sport, Injury, and Pain

This paper examines how participation in physically demanding sport, with its potential and actual injurious outcomes, both challenges and reinforces dominant notions of masculinity. Data from 16 in-depth interviews with former and current Canadian adult male athletes indicate that sport practices privileging forceful notions of masculinity are highly valued, and that serious injury is framed as a masculinizing experience. It is argued that a generally unreflexive approach to past disablement is an extraordinary domain feature of contemporary sport. The risks associated with violent sport appear to go relatively unquestioned by men who have suffered debilitating injury and whose daily lives are marked by physical constraints and pain

“Treasures” from the Canadian War Museum’s Backlog

In the 1970s Canadian War Museum curatorial staff decided they needed to bolster the scope of the museum’s national military collection. Consequently, they placed ads in Legion magazine and enclosed flyers in veterans’ pension cheques inviting veterans to send in military or military related items they had in their possession that they thought would be of interest to the museum. The response was overwhelming. In the end, a grand total of 24,400 objects poured in; many more than was anticipated and much too large a number for the museum’s small staff to properly register and catalogue. The only option was to carry out a basic inventory and then pack the objects away in boxes (which occupied a total of 197 pallets) pending the day when sufficient resources would become available to process them adequately, so that they would become properly identified and usable museum artifacts

Confirmation of the 62 Day X-Ray Periodicity from M82

Using 400 days of new X-ray monitoring of M82, we confirm the 62 day periodicity previously reported. In the full data set spanning 1124 days, we find a period of 62.0 +/- 0.3 days and a coherence, Q = 22.3, that is consistent with a strictly periodic signal. We estimate that the probability of chance occurrence of our observed signal is 6E-7. The light curve folded at this period is roughly sinusoidal and has a peak to peak amplitude of (0.99 +/- 0.10) x 10^-11 erg cm^-2 s^-1. Confirmation of the periodicity strengthens our previous suggestion that the 62 day modulation is due to orbital motion within an X-ray binary.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in Ap

Precision placement of fertiliser for optimising the early nutrition of vegetable crops : a review of the implications for the yield and quality of crops, and their nutrient use efficiency

The research outlined in this paper highlights the importance of the early nutrition of vegetable crops, and its long-term effects on their subsequent growth and development. Results are also presented to demonstrate how the nutrient supply during the establishment stages of young seedlings and transplants can be enhanced by targeting fertiliser to a zone close to their developing roots. Three different precision fertiliser placement techniques are compared for this purpose: starter, band or side-injected fertiliser. The use of each of these methods consistently produced the same (or greater) yields at lower application rates than those from conventional broadcast applications, increasing the apparent recovery of N, P and K, and the overall efficiency of nutrient use, while reducing the levels of residual nutrients in the soil. Starter fertilisers also advanced the maturity of some crops, and enhanced produce quality by increasing the proportions of the larger and/or more desirable marketable grades. The benefits of the different placement techniques are illustrated with selected examples from research at Warwick HRI using different vegetable crops, including lettuce, onion and carrot

The detection of intracranial aneurysms by non-invasive imaging methods and the epidemiology of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage within the Scottish population

The aims of the research project, which led to the writing of this thesis were to: Examine whether non -invasive imaging methods could replace intra- arterial angiography (IADSA) in the detection of intracranial aneurysms by: a) systematically reviewing the literature; b) prospectively determining the accuracy of the non -invasive imaging methods currently available in Scotland, including the effect of observer experience on diagnostic performance and the patient acceptability of the alternative imaging modalities. To establish the incidence of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) in families by a national retrospective study of occurrences of SAH in a one year period in Scotland, in parallel with a follow -up study of the families of patients who were admitted to the Institute of Neurosciences with aneurysmal SAH a decade earlier. The thesis is divided into three parts:PART ONE: a) summarises the current understanding of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of intracranial aneurysms; b) an overview of cerebrovascular anatomy with reference to aneurysm formation; c) the modalities available for imaging intracranial aneurysms and the current knowledge about their diagnostic performance are considered; d) an overview of the methods available for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms; e) the concept of screening for unruptured intracranial aneurysms is discussed and placed in context by comparison to other screening programmes.PART TWO: a) describes a systematic review of the non -invasive imaging of intracranial aneurysms. CT and MR angiography had similar accuracy compared to IADSA of ~90 %. Data on Transcranial Doppler Sonography (TCDS) were scanty but indicated poorer performance. Detection of very small aneurysms (<3mm diameter) was significantly poorer for the non -invasive tests; b) describes a prospective study of 200 patients examining CTA, MRA and TCDS vs IADSA in the detection of intracranial aneurysms. CTA and MRA had an accuracy (per subject) of 0.85. TCDS had similar accuracy per subject but poorer accuracy per aneurysm than CTA or MRA. Detection of aneurysms ≤5mm was significantly poorer than for those >5mm. Interobserver agreement was good for all modalities; c) combining TCDS with CTA or MRA improved the detection of aneurysms on a per subject basis. Non-invasive imaging tests, especially when used in combination, are reliable at detecting aneurysms >5mm; d) examines the effect of observer experience. Neuroradiologists were more consistent and had better agreement with IADSA than non - neuroradiologists. Small aneurysms and cavernous /terminal internal carotid aneurysms were poorly detected by all observers; e) assessment of patient preferences indicated that TCDS was preferred to the other non -invasive tests and CTA to MRA, with the differences being statistically significant.PART THREE describes: a) the rationale behind the epidemiological studies; b) the methodology used; c) describes the results: Comparative risk for 1st vs 2nd degree relatives suffering a SAH was 2.29 for the Scotland wide study (SWS) and 2.43 for the West of Scotland study (WOS). Absolute lifetime SAH risk was 4.7% for 1st degree and 1.9% for 2nd degree relatives in the SWS compared to 4.2% and 2.3% respectively in the WOS. Prospective 10 -year SAH risk was 1.2% for a 1st degree and 0.5% for a 2nd degree relative compared to background population risk of ~0.1%. The hierarchy of risk was greatest for a member of a family with ≥ 2 other 1st degree relatives affected by SAH, with a more than 20-fold increased risk over the background population risk; d) discusses the implications of the findings and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the study. Routine screening of families of patients who have had a SAH is not supported by these data; e) reviews the implications for i) clinical practice and ii) future research arising from the imaging and epidemiological studies

In vitro assessment of deleterious impacts of organomodified nanoclays and their incinerated byproducts on human cells

Organomodified nanoclays (ONCs: i.e., smectite clays with different organic coatings), act as nanofillers in applications ranging from automotive, to aerospace, and biomedical implementations. Because of their large utilization, ONC industry is projected to be a U.S. $3.3 billion industry by 2023. However, emerging studies showed that ONCs and ONC-nanocomposites could harbor health risks upon pulmonary exposure and along their life cycle, namely during synthesis, handling, use, manipulation, and disposal. Specifically, the potential for exposure and adverse effects on human health primarily includes release of dry particulate during handling, manipulation, release during use, and release during the end-of-life disposal or recycling scenarios. Compared to other ENMs, however, little information exists describing which physicochemical properties contribute to their health risk. My M.S. work at West Virginia University in Prof. Dinu\u27s group aimed to evaluate acute toxicity of a library of ONCs prior to and after simulated disposal by incineration. The analysis conducted high content screening and real-time electric cell impedance sensing on bronchial epithelial cell monolayers for coupled high-throughput in vitro assessment strategies aimed to evaluate acute toxicity of a library of ONCs prior to and after simulated disposal by incinceration. Coating-, incineration status-, and time-dependent effects were considered to determine changes in the pulmonary airway epithelial monolayer integrity, cell transepithelial resistance, apoptosis, and cell metabolism respectively. Results showed that after exposure to each particle at its IC50, pristine nanoclay displayed acute loss of monolayer coverage, resistance, and metabolism, coupled with increased number of apoptotic cells. Conversely, three different ONCs of prevalent use displayed little loss of monolayer integrity but exhibited differential coating-depended increased apoptosis and up to 40-45% initial reduction in cell metabolism. Moreover, incinerated byproducts of ONCs exhibited significant loss of monolayer coverage and integrity, increased necrosis, and little evidence of monolayer re-establishment. These findings indicate that characteristics of organic coating type largely determine mechanism of cytotoxicity and the ability of the monolayer to recover. Use of high content screening, coupled with traditional in vitro assays prove to serve as a rapid pulmonary toxicity assessment tool to thus help define prevention by targeted physicochemical material properties design strategies. The above contributions to understanding deleterious effect of nanomaterials on human model systems is meritorious and transformative and allows for creating new tools for toxicological pathways assessment to be considered for improved prevention by design strategies and enhanced safety practices. The above contributions has been included in a co-first author publication, namely: Stueckle, T.*, White, A.*, Wager, A., Gupta, R., Rojanasakul, Y., Dinu, C.Z., Impacts of Organomodified Nanoclays and their Incincerated Byproducts on Bronchial Cell Monolayer Integrity , Chemical Research in Toxicology (2019) 32, 12, 2445-2458 (*Authors contributed equally)