10,484 research outputs found

    Complete solo piano works of Zhou Long

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    Access to thesis restricted until 07/2023.Zhou Long is a contemporary composer of Chinese American descent, who belongs to a generation of Chinese composers that began introducing traditional Chinese music to western audiences. He gained international recognition after receiving the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for his opera, Madame White Snake (2011). Very few performances, recordings, and publications currently exist on Zhou’s piano music, and this doctoral lecture recital is the first time an artist has performed the complete collection of Zhou’s solo piano pieces. The pieces include: Mongolian Folk- Tune Variations, Wu Kui, Pianogongs, and Pianobells. In his piano music, Zhou makes use of unconventional extended piano techniques, imitates and evokes Chinese traditional instruments, and likes to make connections with other art genres. Also, the prominence of percussive elements in Zhou’s music is of a great importance. In this lecture recital, the author has mainly focused on 1) the background information of Zhou Long and his solo piano works; 2) the influence of Chinese traditional instruments, ancient literatures and aesthetic concepts, in addition to folk elements on his piano music; 3) how the composer combined those elements with western music and compositional skills; and 4) the exploration of the percussive usage of the piano along with various sound effect. Much of the discussion were from the author’s own observations; it also include insights from an interview the author conducted with the composer. Through the combined presentation of the lecture and performance of Zhou Long’s four piano pieces, the author intended to help bring exposure to his piano works, and to serve as a guide for piano students and teachers interested in exploring Zhou’s piano music.Thesis (D.A.

    Application of particle swarm optimization in adaptive self-interference cancellation

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    This thesis investigates the application of particle swarm optimization in self-interference cancellation. To achieve cancellation, the receiver has to differentiate between the transmit and receive signal. The transmit signal is already known at the transmitting side but it undergoes some distortion before it reaches the receiving end. An adaptive filter proves to be useful in estimating the distortion, but its weight remains an unknown factor. This thesis uses the particle swarm optimization algorithm to dynamically adjust the weights of the filter.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2022-08-01The student, Jingchao Zhou, accepted the attached license on 2020-07-07 at 14:08.The student, Jingchao Zhou, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-07-07 at 14:14.This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-07-07 at 17:20.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15513 on 2020-10-02 at 15:31:36Made available in DSpace on 2020-10-07T22:44:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 ZHOU-THESIS-2020.pdf: 1884339 bytes, checksum: 5d78c3eb8481f8526d8eac1fe13de97e (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4210 bytes, checksum: aa21ee415c67c81c143dd263675bb8a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-07-07Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 116208 Lift date: 2022-10-07T22:44:53Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemAuthor requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemU of I Onl

    On the Existence of Single-Price Equilibria in a Matching Model with Divisible Money and Production Cost ("International Journal of Economic Theory" Volume 1, Issue 3, September 2005, Pages: 219-231. )

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    This paper investigates Zhou [4]'s money search model, where money is divisible, agents can hold any amount of money, and production of goods is costly, and presents a sufficient condition, expressed in terms of exogenously given parameters, for the existence of single-price equilibria.

    The Death of the Author, or Not: An Examination of Contemporary Western Literary Theory (Book Review)

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    Zhou, M. (2017) The Death of the Author, or Not: An Examination of Contemporary Western Literary Theory (Book Review). Journal of East-West Thought, 2(7), 103-104.Jiang Zhang, The Death of the Author, or Not: An Examination of Contemporary Western Literary Theory. Beijing; China Social Sciences Press, 2017. 500 pp

    "On the Existence of Single-Price Equilibria in a Matching Model with Divisible Money and Production Cost"

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    This paper investigates Zhou [4]'s money search model, where money is divisible, agents can hold any amount of money, and production of goods is costly, and presents a sufficient condition, expressed in terms of exogenously given parameters, for the existence of single-price equilibria.

    Angiotensin II induces soluble fms-Like tyrosine kinase-1 release via calcineurin signaling pathway in pregnancy

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    Maternal endothelial dysfunction in preeclampsia is associated with increased soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), a circulating antagonist of vascular endothelial growth factor and placental growth factor. Angiotensin II (Ang II) is a potent vasoconstrictor that increases concomitant with sFlt-1 during pregnancy. Therefore, we speculated that Ang II may promote the expression of sFlt-1 in pregnancy. Here we report that infusion of Ang II significantly increases circulating levels of sFlt-1 in pregnant mice, thereby demonstrating that Ang II is a regulator of sFlt-1 secretion in vivo. Furthermore, Ang II stimulated sFlt-1 production in a dose- and time-dependent manner from human villous explants and cultured trophoblasts but not from endothelial cells, suggesting that trophoblasts are the primary source of sFlt-1 during pregnancy. As expected, Ang II-induced sFlt-1 secretion resulted in the inhibition of endothelial cell migration and in vitro tube formation. In vitro and in vivo studies with losartan, small interfering RNA specific for calcineurin and FK506 demonstrated that Ang II-mediated sFlt-1 release was via Ang II type 1 receptor activation and calcineurin signaling, respectively. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized regulatory role for Ang II on sFlt-1 expression in murine and human pregnancy and suggest that elevated sFlt-1 levels in preeclampsia may be caused by a dysregulation of the local renin/angiotensin system

    DMM Prize 2018 winner: Wenqing Zhou

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    Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM) is delighted to announce that the winner of the DMM Prize 2018 is Wenqing Zhou, for her paper entitled ‘Neutrophil-specific knockout demonstrates a role for mitochondria in regulating neutrophil motility in zebrafish’ (Zhou et al., 2018a). The prize of $1000 is awarded to the first author of the paper that is judged by the journal's editors to be the most outstanding contribution to the journal that year. To be considered for the prize, the first author must be a student or a postdoc of no more than 5 years standing

    Mulberry leaf and its effects against obesity: A systematic review of phytochemistry, molecular mechanisms and applications

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    Background: Obesity and hyperlipidemia can induce a variety of diseases, and have become major health problems worldwide. How to effectively prevent and control obesity has become one of the hot-spots of contemporary research. Mulberry leaf is the dried leaf of Morus alba L., which is approved by the Ministry of Health as a "homology of medicine and food", rich in diverse active constituents and with a variety of health effects including anti-obesity and anti-hyperlipidemia activities. Purpose: The review attempts to summarize and provide the molecular basis, mechanism, safety and products for further exploration and application of mulberry leaf on the treatment on the control of weight gain and obesity. Methods: This review is conducted by using ScienceDirect, PubMed, CNKI and Web of Science databases following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Results: Based on the research progress of domestic and foreign scholars, the effective phytochemicals, molecular mechanisms and product applications of mulberry leaf in the prevention and treatment of obesity and related metabolic diseases were summarized. Conclusion: Mulberry leaf has excellent medicinal and health care value in obesity treatment. However, its pharmacodynamic substance basis and molecular mechanisms need to be further studied

    Research on a special scarifier mechanism with finite element analysis method

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    Abstract—A scarifier mechanism with rotary tillage and antirotary grubbing is proposed for inducing the power of tillage in hardens soil. MAT147 material modal is amended by experimental method and soil high-speed cutting finite element modal is build through SPH method, further, the tools parameter of proposed mechanism and soil cutting speed are studied by FEA numerical simulation through orthogonal experiments method. Finally, the result shows that the proposed mechanism with proper structural parameters and work speeds can reduce the requirement of power of tillage and increase the working efficiency of small agricultural machinery
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