745 research outputs found
On the Stern sequence and a related sequence
No full textIn this dissertation, we discuss properties of the Stern sequence, denoted by s(n), and define a related sequence. First, we give a brief historical background and known results. We then discuss the second and third largest values for the Stern sequence, as well as the asymptotics when a value m will first appear in a row in the diatomic array. We also investigate the distribution of values for the Stern sequence, as well as the gaps of the ordered values from a row.
After this, we investigate the properties of the related sequence called w(n):=s(3n)/2. We give recurrences for the sequence and find generalized recurrences and a reduction formula. We attempt to find a combinatorial interpretation for w(n), as well as a generating function for the sequence. We also find the largest value of w(n) for a row of its triangular array. We consider sums of w(n) and the average order of magnitude, which is the same average order of the Stern sequence. We also examine the greatest common divisor of consecutive terms, as well as the sequence w(n) modulo 2. Finally, we define a polynomial analogue and investigate some of its properties.Item withdrawn by Laura Spradlin ([email protected]) on 2014-03-12T16:30:01Z
Item was in collections:
University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1)
No. of bitstreams: 3
Lansing_Jennifer.pdf: 888377 bytes, checksum: c2de3ce625b31014adba5c8bfe909bf0 (MD5)
Lansing_Jennifer.tex: 172382 bytes, checksum: 889ea003b6c13876f422757e29968c09 (MD5)
Lansing_Jennifer.pdf: 888383 bytes, checksum: 7e5c94512160735277ae3a982ff3479c (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-30T16:46:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3
Jennifer_Lansing.pdf: 888392 bytes, checksum: 704f178dcf136311863427c09f792cc9 (MD5)
Lansing_Jennifer.tex: 172404 bytes, checksum: 8e812a81f73116ed39a75e6cc2c0ec90 (MD5)
license.txt: 4065 bytes, checksum: cb3c14ba88285d51880c1ca0621341b2 (MD5
Stern, Seriously: The Article I Judicial Power, Fraudulent Transfers, and Leveraged Buyouts
No full textThis paper offers a new way to understand the causes and cures of problems created by Stern v. Marshall, the Supreme Court’s 2011 opinion constricting bankruptcy court power. Stern held that a bankruptcy court, created under Article I of the Constitution, may not adjudicate a “tortious-interference-with-gift” claim. Although the Stern majority said its holding was “narrow,” it has resulted in a significant spike in litigation over its meaning and scope. Why would such a seemingly arcane and technical opinion produce hundreds of disputes in only two years? We argue that litigation over Stern derives from indeterminacy in the rhetoric of the majority opinion, which is rooted in broad claims about the separation of powers that have little to do with bankruptcy. We further argue that the best way to resolve Stern’s indeterminacy — and thus the amount and cost of Stern litigation — is to take its methodology, not its rhetoric, seriously. Methodologically, Stern teaches that we should assess (1) the structural effects, and (2) the historical character of suits before bankruptcy courts. We infer from the Court’s muted response to the Chrysler bankruptcy that it does not, in fact, worry that bankruptcy courts will undermine the separation of powers. This leaves only (what we call) “historical formalism” to define the scope of bankruptcy court power. We apply the methodology to fraudulent transfer attacks on failed leveraged buyouts, an important type of lawsuit which, until Stern, bankruptcy courts regularly adjudicated. Historically, such suits had important “public” purposes that should bring them within the Article I judicial power. We make this argument because we worry about other proposals to solve the Stern problem that would impute party “consent” or treat bankruptcy courts as magistrates. The Court has agreed to consider these in the 2013-14 term in In re Bellingham Insurance Agency. We argue that these technical maneuvers will only create greater litigation costs in a system ill-suited to absorb them. The Court should accept its commitment to historical formalism, and recognize that bankruptcy courts have the power to adjudicate fraudulent transfers in most cases.Temple University. James E. Beasley School of La
Implementing the GRADE approach in systematic reviews that adhere to JBI methodological conduct
No full textGRADE is a methodological approach used to establish certainty in a body of evidence and is now widely adopted among the evidence synthesis and guideline development community. JBI is an international evidence-based health care organization that provides guidance for a range of evidence synthesis approaches. The GRADE approach is currently endorsed for use in a subset of JBI systematic reviews; however, there is some uncertainty regarding when (and how) GRADE may be implemented in reviews that follow JBI methodology.Cindy Stern, Zachary Munn, Timothy H. Barker, Kylie Porritt, Jennifer C. Stone, Robin Pap, Hanan Khalil, Edoardo Aromatari
Aerosol Dynamics in Atmospheric Aromatic Photooxidation
No full textAerosol formation and growth in aromatic hydrocarbon / NO_x systems was studied in a series of outdoor smog chamber experiments. Analysis of the aerosol size distributions in those experiments that exhibited steady condensational growth provides estimates for the gas-phase partial pressures of the condensing species. Saturation ratios during these growth periods are estimated by comparing these partial pressures with vapor pressures obtained from an analysis of nucleation (Stern et al., 1987), and are found to be in the range of 5 to 20. Modeling of the size–distribution dynamics during the experiments is carried out using the sectional model ESMAP (Warren and Seinfeld, 1985). The full size-distribution model predicts more nucleation than an integral model (Stern et al., 1987), because the polydisperse aerosol representation leads to a lower condensation rate than that predicted for a monodisperse aerosol
Studies on the molecular mechanism of T cell triggering and detection and characterization of antigen-specific T cells
No full textThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, February 2005.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Vita.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-143).(cont.) Identification and characterization of T cell epitopes derived from infectious agents or vaccines can greatly enhance the ability to study and eventually direct the immune response. This work contains a description of a novel technique for identifying and characterizing specific T cell responses in parallel. The system involves incubating heterogeneous T cell mixtures with artificial antigen-presenting microarrays, which include immobilized cytokine capture antibodies, co-stimulatory molecules, and MHC complexes presenting many different potential T cell epitope peptides. These microarrays can rapidly, conveniently, and sensitively detect antigen-specific T cells and characterize the functional responses to many different epitopes in parallel in a location-dependent manner.T cells recognize cognate peptide antigen in complex with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins; however, the molecular events which trigger T cells upon binding of MHC-peptide to the T cell receptor (TCR) are unclear. To gain a better understanding of this mechanism, CD4+ T cells were treated with soluble class II MHC-peptide monomers and oligomers instead of antigen-presenting cells, and the activation response was monitored. These experiments showed a requirement for multivalent TCR engagement to induce activation. Mathematical modeling of oligomeric equilibrium binding states indicates that the level of the T cell response correlates with the predicted number of receptor cross-links formed by soluble MHC oligomers. Treatment of CD8+ T cells with class I MHC monomers and oligomers revealed a confusing process whereby peptide derived from soluble MHC reagents was loaded on to endogenous MHC complexes on the T cell surface and re-presented to other cells. When this method of stimulation was circumvented, multivalent TCR engagement was found to be required for CD8+ T cell activation, similar to CD4+ T cells. In both types of cells, monomeric MHC-peptide binding can compete off activation responses induced by MHC-peptide oligomers in the same mixture, further emphasizing the non-productive nature of monovalent TCR engagement. However, exquisite antigen sensitivity might be achieved on the surface of an APC due to the contribution of non-activating MHC-peptide complexes. Even though solubme monomeric MHC does not cause activation, soluble heterodimeric MHC-peptide ligands with only one activating peptide induce T cell activation responses.by Jennifer Drignat Stone.Ph.D
Construction and validation of the consequences of race-related motivated reasoning scale
No full textAuthor requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemThe purpose of the proposed study was to develop and provide initial psychometric support for a measure that captures the explicit consequences of race-related motivated reasoning. Race-related motivated reasoning is a set of biased cognitive and affective responses in interpreting and evaluating race-related information or stimuli. I focused on one area in which racial discrimination occurs: Police interactions. This area has been consistently described in current measures of racial mistrust, racism, and microaggressions. The Consequences of Race-Related Motivated Reasoning Scale (CRRMRS) originally consisted of vignette and corresponding items. Data from 1156 participants were collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) for two interrelated studies as part of the process in scale construction, initial validation and construct validity establishment. In Study 1, I used matrix sampling to reduce participants’ fatigue because of the large number of items. Each participant read vignette 1 and two subsequent randomized vignettes and corresponding questions to each vignette. The exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) resulted in 10 items with 3 factors: (1) Minimization of Racism, (2) Target Apathy, and (3) Target Blaming. In Study 2, findings from confirmatory factor analysis supported that the three-factor model was a good fit to the data for all six vignettes and the best fit compared to other competing models. Further analyses with measurement invariance tests and confirmatory factor analysis indicated the combination of vignette 1 and 4 and the combination of vignette 1 and 5 could be used for multitrait-multimethod data. Initial internal consistency estimates of the subscale scores were excellent in both studies. The CRRMRS latent factors were positively related to color-blind racial ideology and the general belief in just world in theoretically expected ways. The association between CRRMRS latent factors and feeling thermometers also provided support for the “hot cognition” assumption in race-related motivated reasoning.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2022-08-01The student, Tuyet-Mai Hoang, accepted the attached license on 2020-05-18 at 09:21.The student, Tuyet-Mai Hoang, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2020-05-18 at 09:22.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2020-05-22 at 14:00.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15416 on 2020-10-02 at 15:30:39Made available in DSpace on 2020-10-07T22:07:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
HOANG-DISSERTATION-2020.pdf: 2725066 bytes, checksum: ab529ea8d760975cac43d38b50710aa1 (MD5)
LICENSE.txt: 4212 bytes, checksum: bbbf3ca625a1354b44508c686286ff43 (MD5)
Previous issue date: 2020-05-22Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 116184
Lift date: 2022-10-07T22:07:19Z
Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemEmbargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 116184
Lift date: 2022-10-07T22:44:53Z
Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemU of I Onl
Selective C–H Activation of Molecular Nanodiamonds via Photoredox Catalysis
No full textWhile substituted adamantanes have widespread use in medicinal chemistry, materials science and ligand design, the use of diamantanes and higher diamondoids is limited to a much smaller number. Selective functionalization beyond adamantane is challenging as the number of very similar types of C–H bonds (2° and 3°) increases rapidly, and H-atom transfer does not provide a general solution for site selectivity. We report a new method using pyrylium photocatalysts that is effective for nanodiamond functionalization in up to 84% yield with exclusive 3° selectivity and moderate levels of regioselectivity between 3° sites. The proposed mechanism involving photooxidation, deprotonation, and radical C–C bond formation is corroborated through Stern–Volmer luminescence quenching, cyclic voltammetry and EPR studies. Our photoredox strategy offers a versatile approach for the streamlined synthesis of novel diamondoid building blocks
Stories Shouldn\u27t Be Easy to Tell : A Chat With Author Kerry Neville
No full textKerry Neville’s just-released collection of short stories, Remember to Forget Me, is described as filled with “enormous compassion.” She lives in Georgia where she teaches at Georgia College and State University. Her first collection of stories, Necessary Lies, received the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize in Fiction and was named a ForeWord Magazine Short Story Book of the Year. Her work has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Epoch, and Triquarterly, and online in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, and The Fix. She has twice been the recipient of the Dallas Museum of Art’s “Arts and Letters Prize for Fiction,” and has also been awarded the Texas Institute of Letters Kay Cattarulla Prize for the Short Story and the John Guyon Literary Nonfiction Prize from Crab Orchard Review
TISSUE-SPECIFIC MECHANISMS OF FGFR SIGNALING IN CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS: INSIGHTS FROM THE ERK-KTR BIOSENSOR
No full textFibroblast Growth Factors (FGFs) and their receptors (FGFRs) play essential roles in animal development and homeostasis. Both loss of function and gain of function mutations to FGF signaling can result in human diseases, including Kalmann syndrome, Achondroplasia, and cancers. With the long-term goal of guiding therapeutic interventions for these diseases, we aim to understand the proteins and mechanisms that allow for signaling by FGFRs. Upon ligand binding, phosphorylation by FGFRs leads to recruitment of GRB2, localization of SOS to the plasma membrane, and stimulation of Ras and Raf, MEK, and ERK signaling. In chapter two we seek to understand how FGFRs use different intracellular signaling mechanisms in distinct tissue types. We investigated FGFR signaling mechanisms in the Caenorhabditis elegans sex myoblasts and hypodermis, which both require the FGFR ortholog EGL-15. Previous phenotypic analysis suggested tissue-specific differences in EGL-15 signaling between the sex myoblast and hypodermis. We used the kinase reporter ERK-KTR to assess ERK activation in these tissue types. We found that the sex myoblast requires the EGL-15 C-terminal domain (CTD) to activate ERK. However, the hypodermis relies on a redundant mechanism utilizing an EGL-15 CTD-dependent and independent mechanism. Additionally, we identified soc-3, a gene expressed in the hypodermis that encodes a novel PH and PTB domain protein structurally similar to the DOK and IRS families of proteins. Using the ERK-KTR, we found that soc-3, the GAB1 ortholog soc-1, and the SHP2 ortholog ptp-2, are required for the EGL-15 CTD-independent mechanism in the hypodermis. This work demonstrates that EGL-15 uses tissue-specific mechanisms during development and identifies SOC-3 as a novel EGL-15 signaling factor in the hypodermis.The ERK-KTR is a powerful biosensor to monitor ERK activity in vivo and was instrumental for our research into FGFR signaling in C. elegans. Utilizing the ERK-KTR in other tissue types could also reveal important insights into ERK activation. In chapter three, we describe a robust quantitation method for the ERK-KTR in the germline and compare the ERK-KTR to a modified ERK-KTR, ERK-KTR(R7A). The germline is a tissue where cells are actively dividing and cell cycle Cyclin-Dependent Kinases (CDKs) are active, which may influence the localization of the ERK-KTR. ERK-KTR(R7A) introduces a missense mutation to a predicted cyclin binding site within the ERK binding sequence. We found that compared to the original ERK-KTR, there was no significant difference in ERK-KTR localization and reported ERK activity when using ERK-KTR (R7A). Together, these findings demonstrate that the ERK-KTR can be reliably used in multiple C. elegans tissues, including the germline, and our quantitation method provides a valuable tool for assessing the impact of mutations on reported ERK activity
Microbes to mammals: metabarcoding of the marine pelagic assemblage
No full textNo abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.Conveners: Ann Bucklin (USA), Rowena Stern (UK), Katja Metfies (Germany).CM 2017/C:447. Inclusion of DNA Sequencing into an Ecosystem Observing Program in the Southern California Bight. Kelly D. Goodwin, Lisa Zeigler Allen, Ariel Rabines, John McCrow, Andrew AllenCM 2017/C:230. The Earth Microbiome Project: lessons from a massive metagenetic survey. Luke R. ThompsonCM 2017/C:449. Assessing Biodiversity in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Through Environmental DNA Metabarcoding. Natalie Sawaya, Anni Djurhuus, Collin J. Closek, Megan Hepner, Emily Olesin, Lindsey Visser, Chris Kelble, Katherine Hubbard, Mya BreitbartCM 2017/C:441. Multi-gene metabarcoding of plankton tow samples and eDNA: a comparative morphological-molecular analysis of coastal zooplankton diversity. Annette F. Govindarajan, Jennifer M. Questel, Nancy J. Copley, John P. Wares, Ann BucklinCM 2017/C:201. Developing a robust framework for applying metabarcoding analyses to identify pelagic ichthyoplankton in the California Current. Dovi Kacev, David Gillett, Eric Stein, Andrew ThompsonCM 2017/C:160. Metabarcoding analysis of zooplankton biodiversity of the Pacific-Arctic Chukchi Borderlands region. Jennifer M. Questel, Russell R. Hopcroft, Ann BucklinCM 2017/C:75. Diet composition and variability of wild cephalopod paralarvae: a metagenomic approach to identifying dietary preferences. Lorena Olmos-Pérez, Álvaro Roura, Graham J. Pierce, Stéphane Boyer, Ángel F. GonzálezCM 2017/C:183. Metagenetic analysis of the pelagic food web: prey choice and selectivity of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus in the Gulf of Maine (NW Atlantic).. Heidi Yeh, Jennifer Questel, Ann BucklinCM 2017/C:437. DNA barcoding Pan-Arctic copepod assemblages: toward a regional reference DNA sequence database for COI and 18S rRNA. Hayley M. DeHart, Jennifer M. Questel, Russell R. Hopcroft, Ksenia N. Kosobokova, Ann BucklinCM 2017/C:409. Time-series analysis of zooplankton diversity of the NW Atlantic continental shelf based on COI and 18S rRNA metabarcodes. Ann Bucklin, Jennifer M. Questel, Bo Reese, Nancy J. Copley, Peter H. Wiebe</p
- …
