Search

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of students formally enrolled in a California community college promise program at Mountain View Community College, Lakeview Community College, Hillcrest Community College, and Ocean Valley Community College, each located in Southern California. The theoretical framework guiding this study was grounded in Astin’s theory of student involvement which provided a lens to analyze the experiences of promise students and their pursuit of bachelor’s degrees. The central research question under investigation was: What do promise program students previously enrolled at a California community college that have transferred to a four-year university describe as their experiences? Participants who transferred to a public California four-year university were selected using purposeful sampling. Data were collected through individual interviews, letter writing, and a focus group, and analyzed using Moustakas’s modification of the van Kaam method of analysis of phenomenological data. Four themes were revealed during the data analysis process including shaping academic self-perceptions, community college sentiments, community of support, and racing against time. A major finding of the study was that although participants faced innate stress attempting to transfer within a two-year period, all were able to accomplish their goals through perseverance and leveraging support from others.

A common way of illustrating phylogeographic results is through the use of haplotype networks. While these networks help to visualize relationships between individuals, populations, and species, evolutionary studies often only quantitatively analyze genetic diversity among haplotypes and ignore other network properties. Here, we present a new metric, haplotype network branch diversity (HBd), as an easy way to quantifiably compare haplotype network complexity. Our metric builds off the logic of combining genetic and topological diversity to estimate complexity previously used by the published metric haplotype network diversity (HNd). However, unlike HNd which uses a combination of network features to produce complexity values that cannot be defined in probabilistic terms, thereby obscuring the values' implication for a sampled population, HBd uses frequencies of haplotype classes to incorporate topological information of networks, keeping the focus on the population and providing easy-to-interpret probabilistic values for randomly sampled individuals. The goal of this study is to introduce this more intuitive metric and provide an R script that allows researchers to calculate diversity and complexity indices from haplotype networks. A group of datasets, generated manually (model dataset) and based on published data (empirical dataset), were used to illustrate the behavior of HBd and both of its terms, haplotype diversity, and a new index called branch diversity. Results followed a predicted trend in both model and empirical datasets, from low metric values in simple networks to high values in complex networks. In short, the new combined metric joins genetic and topological diversity of haplotype networks, into a single complexity value. Based on our analysis, we recommend the use of HBd, as it makes direct comparisons of network complexity straightforward and provides probabilistic values that can readily discriminate situations that are difficult to resolve with ava

The human cortex contains inhibitory interneurons derived from the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE), a germinal zone in the embryonic ventral forebrain. How this germinal zone generates sufficient interneurons for the human brain remains unclear. We found that the human MGE (hMGE) contains nests of proliferative neuroblasts with ultrastructural and transcriptomic features that distinguish them from other progenitors in the hMGE. When dissociated hMGE cells are transplanted into the neonatal mouse brain, they reform into nests containing proliferating neuroblasts that generate young neurons that migrate extensively into the mouse forebrain and mature into different subtypes of functional interneurons. Together, these results indicate that the nest organization and sustained proliferation of neuroblasts in the hMGE provide a mechanism for the extended production of interneurons for the human forebrain.

En els últims anys hi ha hagut un creixement del nombre d’auditories de sistemes d'informació que es porten a terme, causat pel creixement exponencial de les noves tecnologies. Cada vegada és més necessari per garantir la seguretat dels sistemes d’informació les empreses o organitzacions, ja que una violació de la seguretat pot provocar grans conseqüències econòmiques per l’empresa L'objectiu principal d'aquest treball és entendre el procés complet d’una auditoria de sistemes d’informació. S'ha documentat el procés d’obtenció de dades, els tipus de risc, tipus de control i les formes de gestionar els riscos. El cos del treball es basa en estudiar l’automatització de processos. Es planteja un cas d’automatització d’un procés d’extracció de dades del software SAP, de la política de contrasenyes d’una empresa relacionat amb el món de l’auditoria de sistemes d’informació. S’aplica un automatització amb un software anomenat UiPath dins d’un entorn de Microsoft Windows. Els resultats de l’estudi demostren la reducció del temps en un 43% sent favorable l’ús d’automatitzacions en processos d’extracció de dades.

El present document tracta sobre la integració de vàries energies renovables en un habitatge unifamiliar real per autoconsum, situat al municipi de Sant Pere de Torelló. En el document es realitza un estudi profund de la zona, l’habitatge i les diferents energies renovables que es coneixen avui en dia per determinar quina és la millor opció tenint en compte tant l’estalvi energètic com l’econòmic. En primer lloc s’estudia les necessitats elèctriques i tèrmiques de la instal·lació de l’habitatge. En segon lloc s’estudia la viabilitat d’incorporar sistemes de generació d’energia a partir de fonts renovables per abastir les necessitats de l’habitatge. En tercer lloc s’estudia el dimensionament d’aquests sistemes i dels seus components. Per finalitzar es valora tot el conjunt de la instal·lació i es treuen les conclusions., This document deals with the integration of various renewable energies for self-consumption in a real single-family home located in the municipality of Sant Pere de Torelló. The document provides an in-depth study of the area, the housing and the various renewable energies known today with the aim of determining which is the best option. In order to do so, both energy and economic savings have been taken into account. Firstly, the electrical and thermal needs of the home installation have been studied. Secondly, the feasibility of incorporating energy generation systems from renewable sources to supply housing needs has been studied. Third, the sizing of these systems and their components has been studied. Finally, the whole installation has been evaluated and conclusions have been drawn.

The formation of the Baja California peninsula separated the distributions of 19 marine fishes into disjunct Pacific and Sea of Cortez populations. Similarly, their Pacific distributions cross phylogeographic points that diminish the genetic connectivity of their populations. This resulted in multiple species experiencing a gradient of gene flow and an extraordinary framework to study mechanisms of divergence and signals of selection under different scenarios of isolation. Genetic isolation in these species has previously been studied using only a handful of markers. In this dissertation, Restriction Site-Associated DNA (RADseq) is used to genotype thousands of genome-wide makers to study the evolutionary history, characterized genomic patterns of divergence among populations, and search for signals of drift and selection, in four of these species: the sargo, Anisotremus davidsonii (ADA); the longjaw mudsucker, Gillichthys mirabilis (GMI), the California sheephead, Semicossyphus pulcher (SPU); and the zebraperch, Kyphosus azureus (KAZ). While, no evidence of isolation was found for SPU, estimated dates the disjunction of ADA, GMI, and KAZ, were 60, 284, and 23 thousand years, respectively. A dispersal episode where species migrated northwards and then became isolated by the warming of the seawater temperate in the south of the Baja California peninsula at the end of the last glaciation period, and a vicariant isolation resulting from the closure of a mid-peninsular seaway, are the plausible historical events that produced the current distributions of these species. Lower than expected levels of genomic gene flow (significant p-values) were seen across Point Conception in GMI (FST=0.15), Punta Eugenia in ADA (FST=0.02), and across the peninsula in KAZ, GMI and ADA (FST=0.03, 0.11, and 0.23, respectively). Furthermore, when comparing disjunct populations, 19 to 46 % of outlier loci matched coding genes in all species and analyses identified 15 genomic regions, potenti

Nanopore DNA sequencing is a novel method forsequencing DNA where an electronic signal is modulated bynucleotides passing through nanosized pores embedded in a mem-brane. While current state-of-the-art solutions employ recurrentneural networks to analyse the signal, temporal convolutionalnetworks have recently been shown to match or outperformrecurrent networks in signal processing tasks. In this project, weinvestigate the performance of temporal convolutional networkson a simplified version of the sequencing task, where thegoal is to predict the nucleotides passing through the pore ateach instance in time, without reconstructing the correspondingDNA sequence. The impact of several network parameters onpredictive performance is analysed to determine an optimalarchitecture. While the implemented networks are shown tobe proficient at predicting nucleotides within the pore, thecurrent implementation is unlikely to outperform state-of-the-art solutions without further improvement., En nyligen utvecklad metod för att sekvensera DNA innefattar att en elektrisk signal moduleras genom att nukleotider passerar genom porer i nanostorlek. I kommersiella lösningar analyseras denna signal med hjälp av maskininlärning via Recurrent Neural Networks, men en variant av neruala nätverk som kallas Temporal Convolution Networks har nyligen har visat sig ha bättre prestanda jämfört med Recurrent Networks för olika typer av signalbehandlingsproblem. Målet med detta projekt är att undersöka användbarheten av Temporal Convolutional Networks för en förenklad version av DNA-sekvensering, där uppdraget endast är att identifera de nukleotider som passerar genom poren vid varje given tidpunkt, istället för att rekonstruera en komplett DNA-sekvens. För att kunna bestämma en optimal arkitektur på nätverket så undersöks effekten av flera olika parametrar. De implementerade nätverken visas ha god förmåga att klassificera nukleotider, men är troligtvis i behov av ytterligare förbättringar för att kunna konkurrera med nuvarande kommersiella lösningar., Kandidatexjobb i elektroteknik 2020, KTH, Stockholm

El presente proyecto final de estudios tiene como objeto el cálculo y diseño de un intercambiador de calor de carcasa y tubo tipo TEMA partiendo de una hoja de datos TEMA, el cual viene indicado todas las condiciones para su fabricación. El proyecto esta dividido en dos partes, la primera parte introductoria, donde se explica tipos de intercambiadores, características de un intercambiador de carcasa y tubo, normativas que se utilizan, materiales de fabricación, explicación de tipos de soldaduras y ensayos no destructivos. Una segunda parte, en la cual se ha escogido un intercambiador de calor fabricado, y se realizará tanto el calculo térmico y mecánico, como su diseño, la planificación de fabricación y ensayos de calidad., El present projecte final d’estudis té com a objectiu el càlcul i disseny d’un bescanviador de calor de carcassa i tubs tipus TEMA partint d’una fulla de dades TEMA, la qual indica totes les condicions per la seva fabricació. El projecte està dividit en dos parts, la primera part introductòria, on s’explica tipus de bescanviadors, característiques d’un bescanviador de carcassa y tubs, normatives que s’utilitzen, materials per la seva fabricació, explicació de tipus de soldadura i assajos no destructius. A la segona part, el qual s’ha escollit un bescanviador de calor fabricat, i es realitzarà el càlcul tèrmic i mecànic, com el seu disseny, la planificació de fabricació i assajos de qualitat., The purpose of this final project is to calculate and design a TEMA type shell and tube heat exchanger based on a TEMA data sheet, which indicates all the conditions for its manufacture. The project is divided into two parts, the first introductory part, which explains the types of heat exchangers, characteristics of a shell and tube heat exchanger, regulations, materials of manufacturing, explanation of types of welds, and non-destructive tests. In a second part, a manufactured heat exchanger has been chosen, and both the thermal and mechanical calculation and its design, manufacturing planning and quality tests will be carried out.

El projecte consisteix en el desenvolupament d’una plataforma al núvol que permeti controlar i monitoritzar una impressora 3D de forma remota. La plataforma disposa d’un sistema de comunicació a temps real entre el servidor i els clients, tant els de tipus usuari com màquina. També permet penjar arxius GCODE que posteriorment seran descarregats per la màquina de forma automàtica quan aquesta estigui llesta per processar-los. A més, conté un registre de totes les impressions realitzades amb la possibilitat de tornar-les a imprimir. Les impressions pendents seran gestionades per una cua intel·ligent capaç de només tenir en compte, els treballs que es puguin processar. Pel que fa els usuaris, existirà un usuari administrador que serà l’encarregat de proporcionar accés als nous usuaris convencionals. Els usuaris convencionals només podran modificar o eliminar els seus propis treballs, metre que els administradors tindran el control total sobre aquests. Aquesta plataforma està pensada per agilitzar la gestió d’impressores 3D en un entorn d’alta productivitat on es requereix del màxim rendiment de la màquina., The project consists of the development of a cloud platform that allows the users to control and monitor a 3D printer remotely. The platform has a real-time communication system between the server and clients, both user and machine type. It also lets you load GCODE files that will later be downloaded automatically by the machine when it will be ready to process them. Also, it contains a record of all prints made with the possibility of reprinting them. Pending prints will be managed by a smart queue capable of taking into account only jobs that can be processed. As for users, there will be an administrator user who will be in charge of providing access to new conventional users. Conventional users will only be able to modify or delete their jobs, and administrators will have full control over them. This platform is designed to streamline the management of 3D printers in a high productivity environment where the maximum performance of the machine is required.

The administration of a high fat content diet is an accelerating factor for metabolic syndrome, impaired glucose tolerance, and early type 2 diabetes. The present study aims to assess the impact of a high fat diet on tuberculosis progression and microbiota composition in an experimental animal model using a C3HeB/FeJ mouse strain submitted to single or multiple consecutive aerosol infections. These models allowed us to study the protection induced by Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination as well as by the natural immunity induced by chemotherapy after a low dose Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Our results show that a high fat diet is able to trigger a pro-inflammatory response, which results in a faster progression toward active tuberculosis and an impaired protective effect of BCG vaccination, which is not the case for natural immunity. This may be related to dysbiosis and a reduction in the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio in the gut microbiota caused by a decrease in the abundance of the Porphyromonadaceae family and, in particular, the Barnesiella genus. It should also be noted that a high fat diet is also related to an increase in the genera Alistipes, Parasuterella, Mucispirillum, and Akkermansia, which have previously been related to dysbiotic processes. As diabetes mellitus type 2 is a risk factor for developing tuberculosis, these findings may prove useful in the search for new prophylactic strategies for this population subset.

We present IPchain, a blockchain to store the allocations and delegations of IP addresses, with the aim of easing the deployment of secure interdomain routing systems. Interdomain routing security is of vital importance to the Internet since it prevents unwanted traffic redirections. IPchain makes use of blockchains' properties to provide flexible trust models and simplified management when compared to existing systems. In this paper we argue that Proof of Stake is a suitable consensus algorithm for IPchain due to the unique incentive structure of this use-case. We have implemented and evaluated IPchain's performance and scalability storing around 150k IP prefixes in a 1GB chain., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures

Le leadership est un facteur de compétitivité, d’efficacité collective et de progrès social et environnemental. Il est au cœur de la vie managériale des entreprises et soulève de nombreuses interrogations : Comment sait-on ce que l’on sait sur le leadership ? Quelles sont les dérives et les vertus du leadership charismatique ? Le leadership est-il une pratique rationnelle ? Quelles sont les limites et les possibilités des formations dédiées au leadership ? Comment appréhender les nouveaux défis de la mondialisation et du changement ? Comment appréhender les défis posés par le bilan triple et la diversité grandissante ? Quels sont les nouveaux défis de la communication ? Afin d’appréhender les dimensions morales, politiques et pratiques du leadership, l’auteur a interviewé 20 dirigeants de premiers plan (Vincent Bolloré, Alain Ducasse, Françoise Gri...) et 20 acteurs clés de la vie sociale des entreprises (Stéphane Fouks, Bruno Mettling, Véronique Morali...).

In this work we study the mass distribution of two irregular galaxies, UGC 6446 and UGC 7524, by means of HI rotation curves derived from high resolution HI velocity fields obtained through the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope data archive. We constrain the stellar and gas content of both galaxies with stellar population synthesis models and by deriving the HI+He+metals rotation curves from the total HI surface density maps, respectively. The discrepancy between the circular velocity maxima of the stellar plus the HI+He+metals rotation curves and the observed HI rotation curves of both galaxies requires the inclusion of a substantial amount of dark matter. We explore the Navarro Frenk and White, Burkert, Di Cintio, Einasto and Stadel dark matter halo models. We obtain acceptable fits to the observed HI rotation curves of UGC 6446 and UGC 7524 with the cored Burkert, Einasto and Stadel dark matter halos. In particular, Einasto and Stadel models prove to be an appropriate alternative to the Burkert dark matter halo. This result should increase the empirical basis that justify the usage of dark matter exponential models to adjust the observed rotation curves of real galaxies., Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Main Journal

In an embedded guided wave system, energy gets leaked out into the embedding material as bulk waves. This is referred to as leakage. This dissertation examines the possibility of using the leakage of an embedded ultrasonic guided wave system to identify the type, onset, and location of delamination in reinforced concrete. The study is motivated by the deteriorating infrastructure of the U.S. and proposes a structural health-monitoring tool for reinforced concrete bridge decks. The ultrasonic testing (UT) method proposed consists of a cylindrical waveguide (steel rebar) embedded in another material (concrete) in order to determine the onset of changes in the condition of the steel rebar and steel rebar-concrete interface. During the experimental work, it was observed that the ultrasonic guided wave leakage (UGWL) can successfully identify the onset of delamination with widths less than 0.008 inches. This study also demonstrated that the amplitude of the leaked waves radiating from the steel bar waveguide is sensitive to rust (onset of corrosion) and cracks independent from the steel and concrete interface. Velocity measurements can also be used to identify the development of these delamination and cracks; however, its sensitivity is less than that of amplitude measurements. In addition to being sensitive to the onset of the aforementioned deterioration, UGWL demonstrated an ability to estimate the location of both the onset of delamination and corrosion. The study showed that the influence that delamination and corrosion have on amplitude readings monitored by arrays of sensors opposes one another, and results suggest that it is possible to identify the onset and location of both these types of deteriorations simultaneously. The method utilizes amplitude measurements and demonstrates the potential to examine larger areas compared to most other non-destructive testing (NDT) methods used for bridge decks.

This study determined whether a cadenced-based exercise prescription (CBEP) enabled participants to increase the time they spend doing moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) to a greater extent than Standard Care (SC). Forty-six participants were recruited from the ENCOURAGE study and were allocated to SC (n=25) or CBEP (n=21). Data was collected at baseline (T0), prior to the intervention (T1) and then again at 16 (T2) and 24 (T3) weeks. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was assessed by accelerometry in 10 minute (MVPA10min) and sporadic bouts (MVPASpor) as well as step counts (StepsTotal, StepsMVPA). Although participants reported that CBEP helped them to increase their motivation to become more active, none of the accelerometer parameters differed between SC and CBEP at baseline, 8, 16, or 24 weeks. These data suggest that CBEP did not have an added benefit for influencing physical activity over time amongst a population of previously sedentary adults.

We review Foyle et al. (2011) previous results, by applying a Fourier intensity phases method to a nine object sample of galaxies. It was found that two of the objects (NGC 628 and NGC 5194), with strong two-arm patterns, present positive evidence for long-lived spirals. Only one of the objects (NGC 3627) shows the contrary evidence. As determined by an analysis of resolved mass maps, the rest of the objects can not be included in the analysis because they belong to flocculent and multi-arm type of spiral arms, which are not described by density wave theory., Comment: To appear in the conference proceedings of "Structure and Dynamics of Disk Galaxies", M.S. Seigar and P. Treuthardt, eds

Azimuthal age/color gradients across spiral arms are a signature of long-lived spirals. From a sample of 19 normal (or weakly barred) spirals where we have previously found azimuthal age/color gradient candidates, 13 objects were further selected if a two-armed grand-design pattern survived in a surface density stellar mass map. Mass maps were obtained from optical and near-infrared imaging, by comparing with a Monte Carlo library of stellar population synthesis models that allowed us to obtain the mass-to-light ratio in the J band, (M/L)_J, as a function of (g-i) versus (i-J) color. The selected spirals were analyzed with Fourier methods in search for other signatures of long-lived modes related to the gradients, such as the gradient divergence toward corotation, and the behavior of the phase angle of the two-armed spiral in different wavebands, as expected from theory. The results show additional signatures of long-lived spirals in at least 50% of the objects., Comment: ApJ in press

We have carried out a search for gas-rich dwarf galaxies that have lower rotation velocities in their outskirts than MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) predicts, so that the amplitude of their rotation curves cannot be fitted by arbitrarily increasing the mass-to-light ratio of the stellar component or by assuming additional undetected matter. With presently available data, the gas-rich galaxies UGC 4173, Holmberg II, ESO 245-G05, NGC 4861 and ESO 364-G029 deviate most from MOND predictions and, thereby, provide a sample of promising targets in testing the MOND framework. In the case of Holmberg II and NGC 4861, we find that their rotation curves are probably inconsistent with MOND, unless their inclinations and distances differ significantly from the nominal ones. The galaxy ESO 364-G029 is a promising target because its baryonic mass and rotation curve are similar to Holmberg II but presents a higher inclination. Deeper photometric and HI observations of ESO 364-G029, together with further decreasing systematic uncertainties, may provide a strong test to MOND., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal

Side Channel leakage is a serious threat to secure devices. Cryptographic information extraction is possible after examining any one of the various side channels, including electromagnetic. This work contributes a new method to achieve such a purpose. The Single Keybit Template Attack (SKTA) is introduced as a means to extract encryption keys from embedded processors and other integrated circuit devices performing DES encryptions by passively monitoring and exploiting unintentional RF emissions. Key extraction is accomplished by creating two templates for each bit value of the key based on instantaneous amplitude responses as a device executes DES operations. The resultant templates are input to a Maximum Likelihood processor for subsequent template discrimination with RF emissions captured from a target device. Plaintext and ciphertext are not necessary for SKTA to function. Using 8-bit microcontroller devices and experimentally collected side channel signals, key extraction is possible after examination of approximately 300 RF emission traces. After consideration of SKTA's capabilities, embedded processors using DES to process sensitive data warrants reconsideration., The original document contains color images.

Assuming that density waves trigger star formation, and that young stars preserve the velocity components of the molecular gas where they are born, we analyze the effects that non-circular gas orbits have on color gradients across spiral arms. We try two approaches, one involving semi-analytical solutions for spiral shocks, and another with magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulation data. We find that, if non-circular motions are ignored, the comparison between observed color gradients and stellar population synthesis models would in principle yield pattern speed values that are systematically too high for regions inside corotation, with the difference between the real and the measured pattern speeds increasing with decreasing radius. On the other hand, image processing and pixel averaging result in systematically lower measured spiral pattern speed values, regardless of the kinematics of stellar orbits. The net effect is that roughly the correct pattern speeds are recovered, although the trend of higher measured $\Omega_p$ at lower radii (as expected when non-circular motions exist but are neglected) should still be observed. We examine the Martinez-Garcia et al. (2009) photometric data and confirm that this is indeed the case. The comparison of the size of the systematic pattern speed offset in the data with the predictions of the semi-analytical and MHD models corroborates that spirals are more likely to end at Outer Lindblad Resonance, as these authors had already found., Comment: 32 pages, 15 figures, accepted to ApJ

Local learning methods, such as local linear regression and nearest neighbor classifiers, base estimates on nearby training samples, neighbors. Usually the number of neighbors used in estimation is fixed to be a global "optimal" value, chosen by cross-validation. This paper proposes adapting the number of neighbors used for estimation to the local geometry of the data, without need for cross-validation. The term enclosing neighborhood is introduced to describe a set of neighbors whose convex hull contains the test point when possible. It is proven that enclosing neighborhoods yield bounded estimation variance under some assumptions. Three such enclosing neighborhood definitions are presented: natural neighbors, natural neighbors inclusive, and enclosing kappa-NN. The effectiveness of these neighborhood definitions with local linear regression is tested for estimating look-up tables for color management. Significant improvements in error metrics are shown, indicating that enclosing neighborhoods may be a promising adaptive neighborhood definition for other local learning tasks as well, depending on the density of training samples.

Many cultures and civilizations throughout history have developed beliefs that explain the creation of man and his role in nature. With the development of these beliefs, man developed symbolism which he applied to material objects and objects that make up his environment. As man developed his ability to control his surroundings through construction, symbolism entered his architecture. Through the application of anthropological relationships with the environment and the use of symbolism, this thesis aspires to investigate relationships between man, horse and rider.

Eric Christopher Garcia, a graduate student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of New Mexico presents ""Sexuality, Ethnicity, and the Aesthetics of Resistance,"" as the fourth part of the Dolores Gonzales Colloquy Series. Ysaura Bernal-Enriquez presents her findings on the relationship between use and proficiency of Chicano Spanish in New Mexico and its implications for language revitalization as the fifth part of the Dolores Gonzales Colloquy Series.