827 research outputs found
Liam Rector, 14th Annual ODU Literary Festival
No full textLiam Rector is the author of The Sorrow of Architecture, a book of poems. He\u27s also the editor of The Day I Was Older: On the Poetry of Donald Hall. He has taught at Old Dominion University, George Mason, Goucher College, and Phillips Academy at Andover. In addition, he has administered literary programs at the Folger Academy of American Poets. Currently, Liam Rector is executive director of Associated Writing Programs, which has lately taken a leading role in defending the 1st amendment. Rector has been awarded both NEA and Guggenheim fellowships for poetry
Liam Rector, 12th Annual ODU Literary Festival
No full textLiam Rector is the author of a book of poetry, The Sorrow of Architecture, 1984, and editor of The Day I Was Older: On the Poetry of Donald Hall, 1989, and is currently working on a second book of poems, tentatively titled The Persistence of Virginia. He is executive director of the Associated Writing Programs, located at Old Dominion University
The Life-Cycle Income Analysis Model (LIAM): a study of a flexible dynamic microsimulation modelling computing framework
No full textThis paper describes a flexible computing framework designed to create a dynamic microsimulation model, the Life-cycle Income Analysis Model (LIAM). The principle computing characteristics include the degree of modularisation, parameterisation, generalisation and robustness. The paper describes the decisions taken with regard to type of dynamic model used. The LIAM framework has been used to create a number of different microsimulation models, including an Irish dynamic cohort model, a spatial dynamic microsimulation model for Ireland, an indirect tax and consumption model for EU15 as part of EUROMOD and a prototype EU dynamic population microsimulation model for 5 EU countries. Particular consideration is given to issues of parameterisation, alignment and computational efficiency.flexible; modular; dynamic; alignment; parameterisation; computational efficiency
Project Triton : A study into delivering targeted information to an individual based on implicit and explicit data.
No full textThe World Wide Web is frequently seen as a source of knowledge, however much of this remains undiscovered by its users. In recent times, recommender systems (e.g. Digg and Last.fm) have attempted to bridge this gap, alerting users to previously untapped knowledge. As more socially oriented services appear on the Web (e.g. Facebook and MySpace), it has never been easier to obtain information pertaining to an individual’s interests. At present, solutions for automated data recommendation tend to be highly topic specific (recommending only a certain topic such as news) and often only allow access to the system using monolithic interfaces. This report hopes to detail the stages from research to evaluation involved in creating an extensible framework, which will operate without the need for human intervention. The framework will feature several proof-of-concept plugins residing in a custom workflow, which target information that is useful to the user. Information will be retrieved automatically through plugins involved with data gathering (such as feed processing and page scraping), while users’ interests will be obtained implicitly (for example, using header information to derive location) or explicitly (taking advantage of Social Network APIs such as Facebook Connect). Finally, Third Parties will be able to integrate the framework into their own solutions using the customisable XML API (written in PHP), so that their products can provide custom user interfaces without style constraints
Validating a dynamic population microsimulation model: Recent experience in Australia
No full textAvailable published research on microsimulation tends to focus on the results of policy simulations rather than upon validation of the models and their outputs. Dynamic population microsimulation models, which age an entire population through time for some decades, create particular validation challenges. This article outlines some of the issues that arise when attempting to validate dynamic population models, including changing behaviour, the need to align results with other aggregate ‘official’ projections, data quality and useability. Drawing on recent experience with the construction of the new Australian Population and Policy Simulation Model (APPSIM), the article discusses the techniques being used to validate this new dynamic population microsimulation model.Dynamic microsimulation, validation, model output, usability
Antitumor platinum(IV) derivatives of carboplatin and the histone deacetylase inhibitor 4-phenylbutyric acid
No full textFive new platinum(IV) derivatives of carboplatin each incorporating the histone deacetylase inhibitor 4-phenylbutyrate in axial position were synthesized and characterized by 1H and 195Pt NMR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and elemental analysis, namely cis,trans-[Pt(CBDCA)(NH3)2(PBA)(OH)] (1), cis,trans-[Pt(CBDCA)(NH3)2(PBA)2] (2), cis,trans-[Pt(CBDCA)(NH3)2(PBA)(bz)] (3), cis,trans-[Pt(CBDCA)(NH3)2(PBA)(suc)] (4) and cis,trans-[Pt(CBDCA)(NH3)2)(PBA)(ac)] (5) (PBA = 4-phenylbutyrate, CBDCA = 1,1-cyclobutane dicarboxylate, bz = benzoate, suc = succinate and ac = acetate). The reduction behavior in the presence of ascorbic acid was studied by high performance liquid chromatography. The cytotoxicity against a panel of human tumor cell lines, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitory activity, cellular accumulation and the ability to induce apoptosis were evaluated. The most effective complex, compound 3, was found to be up to ten times more effective than carboplatin and to decrease cellular basal HDAC activity by approximately 18% in A431 human cervical cancer cells
Cultural Mythology and Anxieties of Belonging: Reconstructing the "bi-cultural" subject in the fiction of Toni Morrison, Amy Tan and Annie Proulx
No full textPhDThe thesis considers the construction of cultural identity in the writings of Tom Morrison,
Annie Proulx, and Amy Tan. It consists of three chapters, one dedicated to each of the
writers. In the examination of these writers the focus is upon the construction of the "bicultural"
subject in the contemporary United States. The paradigm of analysis is
constructed through discourses of space, landscape and physical geography.
The first chapter is devoted to Toni Morrison and is divided into two sections
dealing with the novels Beloved and Jazz. The first section examines how spatial
discourses disrupt binaries that marginalise the black community. It concentrates upon
the location of the "porch" in the novel and parallels it with the "porch" as a black spatial
icon. The Jazz section examines the idealised space of the City. It focuses on the
material layout of American Cities and discusses its relationship to constructions of
American cultural identity. The debate is used to highlight how the geographical
marginalisation of communities parallels their cultural alienation.
The second chapter is split into two sections, the first focuses upon The Joy Luck
Club, the second concerns The Kitchen God's Wife. Tan's work is discussed in relation
to cultural geographic debates about mythic geography. It deals with the different ways
in which Tan's texts try to palliate cultural anxieties about "belonging" by constructing a
culturally soothing mythic location. An idealised version of the Chinese-American
community is sustained through her constructions of both San Francisco and China,
which she employs and negotiates in different ways in the two texts.
The third chapter examines three Proulx texts, Postcards, Accordion Crimes, and
Close Range Wyoming Stories. The chapter explores the different ways these texts
negotiate cultural belonging in relation to geographic migration. Postcards is considered
in relation to the literary discourse of migration. In Accordion Crimes the employment of
similarly positivist conceptions of the construction of a "home" in North America is
examined. The final section examines the problematic nature of "location" as both
geographically and textually soothing.
The Epilogue suggests the possible extension of the thesis and foregrounds the
importance of the materiality of spatial construction to the cultural anxieties the thesis
examines
Changes in the fractionation profile of Al, Ni and Mo during bioleaching of spent hydroprocessing catalysts with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans.
No full textSpent hydroprocessing catalysts are known to contain a variety of potentially toxic metals and therefore studies on the bioavailability and mobility of these metals are critical for understanding the possible environmental risks of the spent catalysts. This study evaluates the different chemical fractions/forms of aluminium (Al), nickel (Ni) and molybdenum (Mo) in spent hydroprocessing catalyst and the changes they undergo during bioleaching with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. In the spent catalyst (prior to bioleaching), Al was primarily present in its residual form, suggesting its low environmental mobility. However, Ni comprised mainly an exchangeable fraction, indicating its high environmental mobility. Molybdenum was mainly in the oxidizable form (47.1%), which indicated that highly oxidizing conditions were required to liberate it from the spent catalyst. During bioleaching the exchangeable, reducible and oxidizable fractions of all the metals were leached, whereas the residual fractions remained largely unaffected. At the end of bioleaching process, the metals remaining in the bioleached sample were predominantly in the residual fraction (98.3-99.5%). The risk assessment code (RAC) and IR analysis also demonstrated that the environmental risks of the bioleached residue was significantly lower compared to the untreated spent catalyst. The results of the current study suggest that bioleaching is an effective method in removing the metals from spent catalysts and the bioleached residue poses little environmental risk.This work was supported by the Irish Research Council under grant GOIPD/2015/589. Dr Liam
Morrison acknowledges the Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) Research Professorship
Innovative Energy Technologies for Biofuels Bioenergy and a Sustainable Irish Bioeconomy
(IETSBIO3) research program to NUI, Galway.2019-06-0
Design, fabrication and molecular modeling of protein subunits for use in a novel hydrogel:
No full textUse of bioinspired, genetically engineered proteins in tissue engineering scaffolds represents a new opportunity for engineering these constructs. However, the production and rational modification of new, artificial proteins is hindered by significant gaps in knowledge regarding expression of artificial gene constructs in E. coli and their molecular modeling. This thesis focuses on the production of a novel hydrogel scaffold composed of four self-assembling protein modules and their rational modification using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. Two of the modules are based on the ABA triblock copolymer design. In this triblock, a hydrophilic, random coiled region is flanked by 28 amino-acid α−helical endblocks. The purpose of these endblocks is to function as virtual crosslinkers and support network formation. The length of the endblocks can be changed by the addition of two unlinked, fiber-forming peptides and thus potentially alter the gelation and melting points of the hydrogel. We evaluate the efficacy of production of these endblocks by two separate expression strategies in E. coli and demonstrate their ability to form hydrogels. Furthermore, we analyze the Gibbs free energy of formation of oligomeric intermediates that arise early on during fibrillogenesis from the unlinked peptides using the MM/PBSA module of Amber 9. Thermodynamic data demonstrates changes in the primary structure of these peptides affect the stability of the intermediate that seeds fiber formation. This analysis also suggests a shift in the fiber forming mechanism from monomer addition to protofibril addition. We offer how this data can be used to improve interhelical interactions between endblocks and unlinked peptides and how to develop coarse-grain models of fiber formation.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Christopher Liam Gaugha
Oxidative Stress Induced by Pt(IV) Pro-drugs Based on the Cisplatin Scaffold and Indole Carboxylic Acids in Axial Position
No full textThe use of Pt(IV) complexes as pro-drugs that are activated by intracellular reduction is a widely investigated approach to overcome the limitations of Pt(II) anticancer agents. A series of ten mono- and bis-carboxylated Pt(IV) complexes with axial indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and indole-3-propionic acid (IPA) ligands were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, ESI-MS, FT-IR, H-1 and Pt-195 NMR spectroscopy. Cellular uptake, DNA platination and cytotoxicity against a panel of human tumor cell lines were evaluated. All the complexes are able to overcome cisplatin-resistance and the most potent complex, cis, cis, trans-[Pt(NH3)(2)Cl-2(IPA)(OH)] was on average three times more active than cisplatin. Mechanistic studies revealed that the trend in cytotoxicity of the Pt(IV) complexes is primarily consistent with their ability to accumulate into cancer cells and to increase intracellular basal reactive oxygen species levels, which in turn results in the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and apoptosis induction. The role of the indole acid ligand as a redox modulator is discussed.D.T. would like to thank the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) for providing the financial support (PhD scholarship) for this research. This work was partially financially supported by the University of Padova (Grants 60A04-0443, 60A04-3189 and 60A04-4015/15)
- …
