13,519 research outputs found
Complete solo piano works of Zhou Long
No full textAccess 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
No full textThis 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
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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
Redescription and commentary on the Chinese mayfly Vietnamella sinensis (Ephemeroptera: Vietnamellidae)
No full textHu, Ze, Ma, Zhen-Xing, Luo, Juan-Yan, Zhou, Chang-Fa (2017): Redescription and commentary on the Chinese mayfly Vietnamella sinensis (Ephemeroptera: Vietnamellidae). Zootaxa 4286 (3): 381-390, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4286.3.
The Death of the Author, or Not: An Examination of Contemporary Western Literary Theory (Book Review)
No full textZhou, 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
Angiotensin II induces soluble fms-Like tyrosine kinase-1 release via calcineurin signaling pathway in pregnancy
No full textMaternal 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
No full textDisease 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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
On-demand ridesharing operation: matching, pricing, and routing
No full textExcessive private vehicles in densely populated cities, together with the increasing need for mobility, have been constantly challenging the existing transportation systems. Fortunately, mobility on-demand services, such as ride-hailing and ridesharing, are becoming a growing trend in megacities due to their convenience and cost-effectiveness. These services are envisioned as enablers of a shift from car ownership to vehicle usage. Nonetheless, the impact of mobility on-demand service on transport systems is complicated and largely depends on governance and operation strategies. Accordingly, this dissertation aims at developing novel management strategies, involving matching, pricing, and routing, to improve ridesharing system efficiency. Meanwhile, the impact of such methods on urban transportation systems is evaluated.
Firstly, an innovative strategy is proposed to integrate vehicle assignment with the prediction of time-dependent link travel times. We unify the assignment and routing problem into a linear integer problem where k-shortest paths are provided to reduce congestion. The results indicate that the proposed strategy can significantly improve ridesharing system performance, such as reducing the passengers' waiting and travel times, by mitigating congestion effects arising from ridesharing fleets. Additionally, we account for traveller's modal choice and ridesharing pricing fairness. A novel discounting method is designed based on the proposed fairness principles. Moreover, computationally efficient optimisation models are constructed accounting for co-existing ride-hailing and ridesharing services. The real travel dataset is utilised to assess the proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed optimisation strategy, considering traveller behaviour and fairness, can significantly improve fleet performance while maintaining fair service quality. Lastly, we present a simulation-based service assessment framework to test online ridesharing strategies with shared autonomous vehicles. Individual socio-demographic features are considered in generating future demand for SAVs. Travellers' mode choices are explicitly modelled, and advanced ridesharing strategies, involving optimal matching and pricing, are tested in a mixed-traffic urban network, with both private cars and shared autonomous vehicles. Compared to rule-based methods, optimal matching and fairness pricing combined method can greatly improve both fleet performance and transportation efficiency.
In summary, this dissertation reveals that dynamic ridesharing offers a promising pathway toward achieving more sustainable mobility, provided it is properly managed
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