188 research outputs found
Bob Dylan and American Folk Music: The Pigeonhole Effect
No full textThis article tracks Bob Dylan\u27s early musical career and his relation to the American Folk music movement of the late 1950s into the early 1960s. The author grapples with the question of why Bob Dylan went electric and explores some of the stories around the seminal event in American Folk Music history. The author mainly uses Bob Dylan\u27s personal interviews and songs to draw conclusions
Lyrics
No full textLyrics, 1962-2001. New York : Simon & Schuster, 2002. Author Michael J. Gilmour, whose works on Dylan and the Bible are featured in this exhibit, recommends a solitary reading of Dylan\u27s Lyrics. At over 600 pages, it serves as an extraordinary textual resource.https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/dylan_lyrics_and_writing/1008/thumbnail.jp
Engineering approaches to control polymer architecture
No full textThe synthesis of well-defined polymers offers great potential for improving society as there is nearly an infinite spectrum of tailored materials that can be made. Traditionally, the polymer community has mainly focused on purely chemistry driven methods for controlling polymer molecular weight, composition, topology, tacticity, and temporal and spatial patterning. However, my work has sought to approach polymer synthesis with hybrid solutions of the latest research in chemistry with the fundamentals of engineering like automation, fluid mechanics, and reactor design. This approach to polymer synthesis provides simple, efficient, and precise methodologies to access a wide array of well-defined materials.
Chapter 1 will review the recent trends in controlled polymer synthesis. This chapter provides an overview on molecular weight, composition, topology, tacticity, and temporal and spatial control. Chapter 2 will cover the development of a methodology to incorporate polyolefins into functionalized (polar and non-polar) block copolymers. This general methodology is based on a catalytic post-polymerization functionalization method that is shown to be compatible with any polyolefin. Chapter 3 will cover the kinetic and mechanistic studies of ring opening metathesis polymerization with third generation Grubbs catalyst. This chapter provides the mechanistic origins of the unique zero order kinetics of the third generation Grubbs catalyst, and details the implementation of this for polymer synthesis. Chapter 4 will cover the design of polymer molecular weight distributions through flow chemistry. This chapter describes the first methodology that enables the direct ‘design to synthesis’ of polymer molecular weight distributions, which was enabled by fundamental researching into reactor design for polymerization flow reactors. Chapter 5 will cover the engineering of molecular geometry in bottlebrush polymers. This chapter describes the development of two reactor based approaches for the synthesis of non-cylindrical bottlebrushes; the first approach is a semi-batch reactor, while the second approach implements a flow-reactor. Chapter 6 will cover the challenges of size exclusion chromatography for the analysis of bottlebrush polymers. This chapter is a culmination of critical data analysis and practical information to help improve the rigor of polymer characterization by size exclusion chromatography to support the development of structure function relationships.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2022-05-01The student, Dylan Walsh, accepted the attached license on 2020-04-21 at 16:39.The student, Dylan Walsh, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2020-04-21 at 16:52.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2020-04-22 at 14:17.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15027 on 2020-08-25 at 17:40:35Made available in DSpace on 2020-08-27T00:49:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Contextual modulation through space and time in sensory cortex
No full textSensory networks in the nervous system are typified by their hierarchical organization. For example, transduction of photons by retinal photoreceptors begins a complex web of interactions throughout the visual pathway resulting in representations for features such as motion, depth and even faces. In each area of the network, information is transformed by a combination of local, feedforward and feedback circuits. One major influence on thissensory representation is the sensory context. What constitutes the sensory context is broad, and includes stimulus history, behavioral state and the statistics of the sensory environment. Understanding these contextual modulations is critical to developing an overall picture of the sensory representation. In the following chapters, I examine contextual modulation in early sensory cortex. In the first section (Chapter 2), I investigate the mechanisms responsible for the diverse effects of masking in mouse primary visual cortex. Using a combination of electrophysiology, imaging and modeling, I demonstrate that the effects of masking emerge from the spatial organization of the feedforward inputs to V1. In the second section (Chapter 3), I compare adaptation in three primary sensory areas (visual, somatosensory and auditory) using a common stimulus paradigm. I find that the major adaptive features between these areas are generally conserved, suggesting that elements of adaptation are shared between stimulus modalities and across neocortex.Neuroscienc
In search of American Jewish culture
No full textThe author focuses on areas where the specifically Jewish contribution has been little explored. he surveys popular music, musical theatre, and drama, focusing on key figures including Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller and others. the author alsoTackles the issue of race and American Jewish culture, as well as focusing on stage and film adaptations of Anne Frank's diary and on Steven Spielberg's Schindler's lis
Tropical ginsberg: the resonance of Allen Ginsberg on the Tropicália
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-graduação em Letras/Inglês e Literatura Correspondente, Florianópolis, 2010Through a dialogical relation between poems and song lyrics, and the socio-political contexts which surrounded these texts, this research discusses the resonance that North American poet, Allen Ginsberg, had over the Brazilian musical movement, the Tropicália. The corpora are the poems "Howl" (1956), "America" (1956), "Supermarket in California" (1955), "Sunflower Sutra" (1955), "Song" (1954), and "Wild Orphan" (1952), written by Allen Ginsberg, and the songs "Batmacumba" (1968), composed by Caetano Veloso, and Gilberto Gil, "Baby" (1968), composed by Caetano Veloso, "Geléia Geral" (1968), composed by Gilberto Gil and Torquato Neto, "Alegria, Alegria" (1967), composed by Caetano Veloso, and "Domingo no Parque" (1967), composed by Gilberto Gil. The main theoretical and critical parameters of this research include: Mikhail Bakhtin and his reflections on intertextuality; James J. Farrell, who believes that the American counterculture began with the Beats; Claudio Willer, who stresses the importance of Allen Ginsberg to the Beat movement, as well as to the birth of the American counterculture; Christopher Dunn, who emphasizes the historical, social, and political relevance of the Tropicália; and Celso Favaretto, who discusses in depth the complexity of most of the Tropicália songs. Based on such parameters, this research suggests that the life and work of Allen Ginsberg had great resonance over the creation of the Tropicália.Através de uma relação dialógica entre poesia e letras de música e o contexto sócio-político que circundava tais textos, este estudo discute a ressonância que o poeta Norte Americano, Allen Ginsberg, teve sobre o movimento musical Brasileiro, a Tropicália. A corpora são os poemas "Howl" (1956), "America" (1956), "Supermarket in California" (1955), "Sunflower Sutra" (1955), "Song" (1954), e "Wild Orphan" (1952), escritos por Allen Ginsberg, e as músicas "Batmacumba" (1968), composta por Caetano Veloso, e Gilberto Gil, "Baby" (1968), composta por Caetano Veloso, "Geléia Geral" (1968), composta por Gilberto Gil e Torquato Neto, "Alegria, Alegria" (1967), composta por Caetano Veloso, e "Domingo no Parque" (1967), composta por Gilberto Gil. Os principais parâmetros teóricos e críticos desta pesquisa incluem: Mikhail Bakhtin e suas reflexões sobre intertextualidade; James J. Farrell, que acredita que a contracultura Americana começou com os Beats; também em Claudio Willer, que salienta a importância de Allen Ginsberg no movimento Beat e no nascimento da contracultura Americana; Christopher Dunn, que enfatiza a relevância histórica, social e política da Tropicália; e Celso Favaretto, que discute em profundidade a complexidade da grande maioria das músicas da Tropicália. Baseando-se em tais parâmetros identificados, esta dissertação sugere que a vida e obra de Allen Ginsberg tiveram grande ressonância sobre a criação da Tropicália
Learning Mixed Strategies in Trajectory Games
No full textIn multi-agent settings, game theory is a natural framework for describing the strategic interactions of agents whose objectives depend upon one another’s behavior. Trajectory games capture these complex effects by design. In competitive settings, this makes them a more faithful interaction model than traditional “predict then plan” approaches. However, current game-theoretic planning methods have important limitations. In this work, we propose two main contributions. First, we introduce an offline training phase which reduces the online computational burden of solving trajectory games. Second, we formulate a lifted game which allows players to optimize multiple candidate trajectories in unison and thereby construct more competitive “mixed” strategies. We validate our approach on a number of experiments using the pursuit-evasion game “tag.”Funding Information: This work was supported in part by the National Police of the Netherlands. All content represents the opinion of the authors, which is not necessarily shared or endorsed by their respective employers and/or sponsors. L. Ferranti received support from the Dutch Science Foundation NWOTTW within the Veni project HARMONIA (nr. 18165).Learning & Autonomous Contro
Standardised ginseng extract G115® potentiates the antidepressant-like properties of fluoxetine in the forced swim test
No full textOBJECTIVE:
Ginsenosides, biologically-active components of the root of Panax ginseng, have been reported to have therapeutic benefits in a number of disease states including psychiatric conditions such as major depressive disorder. Our objective was to determine if a standardized commercial ginseng extract, G115®, could reduce the signs of behavioural despair commonly observed in animal models of depression either alone or in combination with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine.
METHODS:
Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (N=51) were divided into four groups: vehicle control, G115® ginseng root extract, fluoxetine and fluoxetine plus G115®. Rats were trained to voluntarily consume treatments twice daily for 14 days and were then tested in an open field (OF), elevated plus maze (EPM) and forced swim test (FST). Post-mortem hippocampal and prefrontal cortex tissue was analysed for expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) by Western Blot.
RESULTS:
One-way ANOVA revealed no significant group differences in open field or plus maze performance on any variable examined. In the forced swim test fluoxetine significantly reduced immobility time and increased latency to immobility. The effects of fluoxetine were further significantly potentiated by co-administration of G115®. Post-mortem tissue analysis revealed significant group differences in BDNF expression in the left hippocampus and left prefrontal cortex without any accompanying changes in TrkB expression.
CONCLUSIONS:
We conclude that oral G115® significantly potentiates the antidepressant-like effect of fluoxetine in the forced swim test in the absence of potentially confounding effects on locomotion and anxiety
The Stumblemeter: Design and validation of a system that detects and classifies human stumbling during gait
No full textBackground: Osseointegration is a relatively new alternative for a socket to attach an artificial limb to the stump of an amputee. In a surgical procedure, a metal implant is permanently anchored and integrated into the bone of the stump. Amputees with an osseointegrated prosthesis have indicated that they experience better physical control over their prosthetic leg, compared to using their previous socket prosthesis. Especially the control over enough ground clearance during the swing phase during gait results in less tripping experiences. However, there is no objective evidence to demonstrate that osseointegration yields less tripping, and eventually less (near-) falls. A wearable system that would automatically detect trips or stumbles of the amputees during daily life would therefore be welcome. It would enable a sound scientific evaluation of the claimed benefits of an osseointegrated prosthesis over a socket prosthesis. Moreover, information about the quantity and type of stumbles would aid in the development of individual rehabilitation training programs to improve balance during gait and prevent falls. Objective: The aim of this study is to develop and validate the stumblemeter, consisting of a wearable sensor and its signal processing, to detect and classify stumbling events in a dataset comprising of a wide variety of daily movements, that is feasible to use in clinical practice. Methods: Ten test subjects wore a single inertial measurement unit, measuring accelerations and angular velocities in three dimensions, at a frequency of 100 Hz, stored onboard. The matchbox sized sensor was sticked to the shank, close to the tibia, 20 cm below the knee. A special stumbling device was built to evoke real-world unexpected stumbles while walking on a treadmill. Subjects also performed multiple Activities of Daily Living, movements that are common in daily life. For data processing, first an event-defined window segmentation technique was used to trace high peaks in acceleration which could potentially be stumbles. In this reduced dataset, all windows were labelled with the aid of video annotation. Subsequently, discriminative features were extracted and fed to train multiple supervised machine learning algorithms. Trained machine learning algorithms were evaluated using leave-one-subject-out cross-validation. Results: The subjects stumbled a total of 276 times, both using an elevating recovery strategy and a lowering recovery strategy. For the final model, two Support Vector Machine models with optimized hyperparameters are used in series. The first model is used to detect stumbles in the reduced dataset containing just potential stumbles. In our dataset, stumbles were detected with 98.9% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The second model is used to classify the recovery type of the detected stumbles and does so with 95.3% accuracy. Moreover, the algorithms were implemented in an app that can be used clinically. Conclusions: We have created a stumblemeter consisting of just one sensor and an algorithm that was validated to detect and classify stumbles in a dataset comprising a wide variety of movements. It is expected that the stumblemeter will work as desired in the amputee population as amputees use similar stumble recovery strategies. To check this expectation, a follow up study should validate the stumblemeter in prosthesis users. The use of a small unintrusive sensor, that can log up to one week, together with the user friendly app, makes the stumblemeter ready for use in a clinical trial and potentially for clinical care.Mechanical Engineering | BioMechanical Desig
Martian Gale crater methane as a potential biosignature for anaerobic communities an experimental bayesian approach
No full textOn the 14th of July 2013, a methane peak was observed in the Gale crater. This methane peak has been investigated in a non-biological context before. This study applies exoplanet research strategies and knowledge about biological methane production on Earth to investigate the biological context. Bayes formula is the foundation of the Bayesian framework approach as proposed by Walker et al. [53]. This Bayesian framework allows for separate investigation of biotic and abiotic methane production pathways to assess the likelihood that one of these pathways is responsible for the methane observation. Before probability is investigated, the viability of biotic methane production is gauged by Thermodynamic calculations. These calculations use the Gibbs free energy and show methanogenesis and sulfate reduction as viable catabolic reactions under Martian temperature and chemical soil and atmosphere compositions. Mars analogue Experiments were conducted into the kinetics of methane and hydrogen sulfide gas production under the influence of Martian Regolith analogue and Martian atmospheric analogue. The seed organisms were gathered from the Belgian Boom clay layer in the HADES lab because the Boom clay layer has strong mineralogical similarities to the Martian regolith. The experiments show that both methane and hydrogen sulfide gas production is not significantly affected by the introduction of modified Phylosilicate Martian Regolith Analog (P-MRA) and Martian Atmosphere Analog (MAA). Comparison with the ADM1 kinetic model shows that only methane gas production is comparable within one standard deviation between all experiments and the model. Biomass growth and sulfur gas production are inconsistent between experiments and the kinetic model. To quantify the probability of biotic methane production, a modified ADM1 model was used for Monte Carlo (MC) analysis of the correlation between the Martian observed methane peak and the kinetic model output for varying initial chemical conditions and virtual reactor volumes. Based on this, 78% of the simulations showed a significant correlation. Using Bayes formula, the posterior probability of the methane peak being biological in origin is higher than the prior probability of an anaerobic community being active around the Gale crater. However, this misses the crucial information on the chance of this methane peak occurring in abiotic conditions.Civil Engineerin
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