148 research outputs found
Decentralized Approximate Bayesian Inference for Distributed Sensor Network
No full textBayesian models provide a framework for probabilistic modelling of complex datasets. Many such models are computationally demanding, especially in the presence of large datasets. In sensor network applications, statistical (Bayesian) parameter estimation usually relies on decentralized algorithms, in which both data and computation are distributed across the nodes of the network. In this paper we propose a framework for decentralized Bayesian learning using Bregman Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (B-ADMM).We demonstrate the utility of our framework, with Mean Field Variational Bayes (MFVB) as the primitive for distributed affine structure from motion (SfM).Peer reviewe
Estimating the branching fraction for decay
No full textI present estimates of the branching fractions in the non-leptonic charmonium
two-body decay rates for decay and the same
decays of , and
. These estimates are based on a generalized
factorization approach making use of leading order (LO) and next-to-leading
order (NLO) contributions. I find that when the large enhancements from the
known NLO contributions by using the QCD factorization approach are taken into
account, the branching ratios are the following: , , and , while the experimental results are
, , and respectively. All
estimates are in good agreement with the experimental results.Comment: Repeated topi
Development and applications of programmable DNA-guided Argonaute-based artificial restriction enzymes
No full textRestriction enzymes or formally known as restriction endonucleases are a class of nuclease enzymes which recognize short DNA sequences and cleave DNA molecules at or near their recognition site. Type II restriction enzymes are capable of cleavage of DNA at a fixed location with respect to their recognition sequence and some type II restriction enzymes are able to generate defined cohesive ends (a.k.a sticky ends) on DNA molecules after cleavage. Because of these two remarkable features, upon their discovery, type II restriction enzymes revolutionized molecular biology and helped give rise to the field of modern biotechnology. To date, type II restriction enzymes still play a major role in biological research with more than 600 enzymes with >235 distinct sequence specificities commercially available. While type II restriction enzymes are able to cleave DNA molecules specifically, they only recognize short DNA sequences (4-8 base pairs) which limits some of their applications. To address this challenge, artificial restriction enzymes (AREs) such as ZFNs, TALENs, or CRISPR-Cas nucleases were developed. While these AREs have longer recognition sequences compared to type II restriction enzymes, they are not able to produce defined sticky ends on DNA molecules or target all desired DNA sequences which significantly constrains their applications in vitro. In this dissertation, I describe the development and applications of a new class of artificial restriction enzymes capable of targeting virtually any DNA sequences with high specificities and generating defined sticky ends of varying length.
Argonaute proteins are a family of nucleic acid guide-dependent proteins which can be found in all domains of life. Some prokaryotic Argonaute proteins (pAgos) are able to use short single-stranded DNA molecules as guides to target complementary DNA sequences. I first utilized this capability of pAgos and developed a Pyrococcus furiosus Argonaute (PfAgo) based platform for generation of programmable DNA-guided artificial restriction enzymes. This platform was used to generate 18 AREs for DNA fingerprinting and molecular cloning of PCR-amplified or genomic DNAs. Next, I studied the potential of other pAgos for use as AREs. Through these studies, I was able to create an engineered version of PfAgo enzyme which demonstrates lower non-guided nuclease activity as well as higher specificity for cleavage of high GC-content DNA sequences compared to the wild-type PfAgo enzyme.
To demonstrate some of the applications of the newly developed AREs, I first created a method for rapid and highly accurate assembly of linear DNA molecules by PfAgo-based AREs. Using this method, plasmid DNA molecules up to 27 kb in size can be assembled from up to 10 DNA fragments with high efficiencies. This method also exhibits extremely low error rates and is able to assemble DNA molecules containing sequence repeats as well as DNA molecules with high GC-content. Next, I evaluated the capability and limitations of PfAgo-based AREs in direct cloning of microbial biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). Using PfAgo-based AREs, I was able to clone microbial BGCs ranging from 13-42 kb in size from both Bacillus and Streptomyces species with high efficiencies. However, PfAgo-based AREs did not exhibit 100% success rate for this application. As a result, I developed an alternative method for cloning microbial BGCs named Cas12a assisted precise targeted cloning using in vivo Cre-lox recombination (CAPTURE). This method which consists of Cas12a digestion, a newly developed DNA assembly approach termed T4 polymerase exo + fill-in DNA assembly, and Cre-lox in vivo DNA circularization, is capable of cloning microbial natural product BGCs ranging from 10-113 kb in size regardless of their GC-content or repetitive DNA sequence with ~100% cloning efficiency and success rate.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2022-12-01The student, Behnam Enghiad, accepted the attached license on 2020-11-27 at 15:43.The student, Behnam Enghiad, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2020-11-27 at 16:00.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2020-12-03 at 07:52.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15970 on 2022-01-12 at 13:02:47Made available in DSpace on 2022-01-12T22:51:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Corrigendum:Social smart city research: interconnections between participatory governance, data privacy, artificial intelligence and ethical sustainable development
No full textIn the published article, the second author's name was incorrectly written as “Behnaz Bababei Morad.” The correct spelling is “Behnaz Babaeimorad.” In the published article, there was an error in affiliation 3. This was incorrectly written as “Department of Urban Planning, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.” It should be “Department of Urban Planning, Ahv.C., Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.” In the published article, there was an error regarding the affiliations for the third author, Behnam Ghasemzadeh. As well as having affiliations 2, 4, and 5, they should also have “1Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran.” The authors apologize for these errors and state that they do not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.</p
On the efficiency of mitigation measures in reducing the amplified response at transition zones in railway tracks: tuned mass dampers, auxiliary rails, and under-sleeper pads
No full textIn transition zones, railway tracks experience significant inhomogeneity in their mechanical properties—more specifically in vertical stiffness. In such areas, conventional tracks (soft tracks) are typically encountered with other engineering structures with noticeably larger stiffness, such as bridges and culverts (stiff tracks). This inhomogeneity together with the passage of high-speed trains leads to amplification in dynamic response, which in turn results in faster degradation and higher cost of maintenance at transition zones. In practice, various mitigation measures have been adopted which have led to improvement in track performance to a certain degree.This thesis is mainly focused on the feasibility of using the tuned mass damper (TMD), as a novel mitigation measure, for improving the aforementioned undesired behavior. Additionally, the efficiency of two already existing corrective measures, namely auxiliary rail and under sleeper pad (USP), is investigated at transition zone.The track is modeled as an infinite one-dimensional Euler-Bernoulli beam resting on a piecewise-homogeneous and continuously distributed Kelvin foundation. For each mitigation measure, semi-analytical solutions are derived through the Fourier transform method. Regarding TMD analysis, mechanical parameters are optimized by an evolutionary algorithm (NSGA-II), in which the discrepancy between the soft and the stiff tracks’ wavenumbers is minimized. In regard to auxiliary rail, two configurations with multiple number of extra rails (ERs) are evaluated; ERs over soft track only, and ERs over all domains. Additionally, USPs with different stiffness are considered for their arrangement along the track. The efficiency corresponding to each mitigation measure is mainly evaluated through dynamic amplification factor (DAF) and power input.The system with TMD demonstrates a significant reduction in DAF amplitude corresponding to the load velocity for which the optimization is performed. This improvement is also evident for velocities close to the aforementioned load speed. In fact, the addition of TMD results in presence of a free propagating wave behind the load and decreasing the critical velocity in the corresponding system. The outcomes corresponding to power input suggest a significant reduction in potential damage to the foundation due to the employment of TMD.Furthermore, the application of ER leads to improvement in dynamic performance of the track by increasing the critical velocity to a larger value, at which the corresponding DAF indicates no reduction. In addition, considering more than one ER along the track does not lead to a noticeably better result compared to when only one ER is added. Moreover, applying ER over soft track leads to inhomogeneity in bending stiffness and mass corresponding to the beam element at transition point. Therefore, the system with ER over all domains indicates a better dynamic behavior. Potentially, less damage to the foundation can be signified in the system with ER according to the power input response.Finally, USP can significantly affect the equivalent stiffness of the track. It is concluded that the efficiency of USPs in mitigating the amplified response is strongly dependent on their stiffness and arrangement along the track, as well as the stiffness variation in the supporting structure; improper design of USPs alignment can adversely result in even more amplified responses.Civil Engineering | Structural Engineerin
Modelling the legal spaces of 3D underground objects in 3D land administration systems
No full textOne of the significant challenges in current 2D Land Administration Systems (LAS) is defining and registering the Rights, Restrictions and Responsibilities (RRRs) attached to the underground objects. A 3D LAS can facilitate a better understanding, as well as a more efficient registration and clear visualisation of the RRRs than a 2D LAS, through 3D digital modelling of the legal ownership of underground objects below the surface. To register the objects below the surface in a 3D LAS, 3D physical data as well as 3D legal data shall either be registered and integrated into one model, or the physical and legal models shall be linked effectively. In the context of this paper, the IFC (ISO 16739:2018) is used to register the 3D physical data, while the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM, ISO 19152:2012) is used to structure the legal data. To achieve the link of the respective legal and physical data, the classes of the LADM are mapped to the elements of the IFC. A standardised workflow is presented in this paper where the inclusion of the legal, organisational and technical aspects of modelling the legal ownership results in a comprehensive approach to solve the challenges that currently prevent the registration of the RRRs of 3D objects below the surface in LASs. This paper also provides a general method for mapping the LADM classes to the IFC entities. Two case studies were conducted to assess the technical aspect of the workflow, where the RRRs of objects below the surface and the parcels above the surface were registered and visualised on the 3D geospatial visualisation platform CesiumJS.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Digital Technologie
The artistic phenomenon in the selected poetry of Bahnam Atallah
No full textThis study is dedicated to tackle one of the major issues that preoccupied the mainstream of our contemporary critics namely the artistic phenomenon for the reason that it is for several poets a uniqueness. For Behnam Atallah in particular, whose poems were a field approached by critics and researchers due to its artistic aspects. This research aims at revealing how the poet employs a number of elements in his poetry, representing the language, image and rhythm. We have restricted the study to the poetry of Behnam Attalla and his poetical feats in a period from 1982 to 2012 in which his poems included relevant experiences in a historical point of view. The research statement exist in his qualitative poetical experience that is considered to be one of the most significant whether in Iraqi or Arabic poetry. As he does not publish his poem unless he examined its thorough process. Therefore, this research is aimed to handle this experience in his works in the context that analyses its chief elements, experience methods and nationality. The author will employ that method that he found to be the optimal for such type of studies with artistic features that is to be the descriptive- analytic method that deals with the text as an independent structure and self-sufficient that enabled the to grant the method a literary an aesthetic beauty focused on the linguistic composition esthetics, form. as well as it granted the rhythmic character to the poetic text. So it is hoped the researcher r comes up with some conclusion which include: that the Behnam Atallah,s poem characterized and excelled in his language poetic construction as his poem is based on the high standards in the poetry point of view in addition to linguistic stylistic phenomena, his poetic image stands on the material of the painting rather than on the article. The rhythm is also a compensation for the rhythm of the internal rather than the meter system and rhyme
Doctor of Philosophy
No full textdissertationConstruction job sites are dynamic environments with various resources operating simultaneously. For most construction projects, a significant expense is the budget allocated to acquiring and renting heavy equipment. Carefully analyzing heavy equipment productivity rates and monitoring productive times are significant factors in the success of construction projects. Traditional methods for construction equipment performance monitoring are through direct observations and surveys. These methods are labor-intensive and prone to error, making them impractical for larger job. As a result, there is an increasing demand for efficient and systematic solutions for productivity analysis of heavy equipment. Construction equipment productivity rates are directly associated with activities the machine performs during routine operations. Recognizing these activities is the first step toward analyzing efficiency rates. Recent technological advancements motivated researchers to develop automated techniques for automated equipment activity detection in construction job sites. This dissertation aims to use an audio-based method to develop an acoustical model of construction job sites with multiple machines for activity recognition and productivity analysis. In the first phase, the author proposes a method by investigating the feasibility of integrating two major sources of data, kinematic and acoustic, to address the distinct weaknesses of these existing methods. In the second phase, the author focuses on hardwarebased methods by investigating several beamformers to separate equipment sounds for the iv multiple-machine scenario using microphone arrays. In the first step of the third phase, the author utilizes software-based methods and binary Time-Frequency Masking (TFM) to separate equipment sound using single-channel microphones. In the second step of the second phase, the author improves the framework to generalize it for more than two machines by proposing a data augmentation method and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for multiple-equipment activity recognition. Finally, the author proposes a method to calculate the productivity rates and cycle times using the recognized activities. This study has been tested on various case studies and the results show that the final activity recognition method recognizes multiple-equipment activities with accuracies up to 98.1% and 88.1% for synthetic and real-world mixed sound data, respectively, demonstrating the capability of this method for progress monitoring of construction equipment
Retinitis Pigmentosa GTPase Regulator (RPGR) protein isoforms in mammalian retina:insights into X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa and associated ciliopathies
No full textMutations in the cilia-centrosomal protein Retinitis Pigmentosa GTPase Regulator (RPGR) are a frequent cause of retinal degeneration. The RPGR gene undergoes complex alternative splicing and encodes multiple protein isoforms. To elucidate the function of major RPGR isoforms (RPGR 1-19 and RPGR ORF15), we have generated isoform-specific antibodies and examined their expression and localization in the retina. Using sucrose-gradient centrifugation, immunofluorescence and co-immunoprecipitation methods, we show that RPGR isoforms localize to distinct sub-cellular compartments in mammalian photoreceptors and associate with a number of cilia-centrosomal proteins. The RCC1-like domain of RPGR, which is present in all major RPGR isoforms, is sufficient to target it to the cilia and centrosomes in cultured cells. Our findings indicate that multiple isotypes of RPGR may perform overlapping yet somewhat distinct transport-related functions in photoreceptors
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