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Pooja, Sir (Narrative Feature Film)
(2024-08-29) Rauniyar, Deepak
A taut police procedural set against the volatile backdrop of the India-Nepal border, POOJA, SIR is the third feature film by Deepak Rauniyar. The film had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in August 2024—one of the most prestigious film festivals globally, recognized at the same level as Cannes and Berlin. It received widespread critical acclaim, with Screen International Daily calling it “a spare, affecting thriller… builds to a resolution that does more than simply answer whodunit.” The Film Fest Post described it as “one of Venice Film Festival’s most remarkable and must-watch entries this year” and praised its “visionary direction.” Other critics highlighted its “unique blend of social realism and Hollywood thriller aesthetics.” Since its Venice premiere, POOJA, SIR has screened at over two dozen major international film festivals, including Tallinn Black Nights, Göteborg, Busan, Thessaloniki, and Mumbai, further solidifying its global recognition. The film is set for theatrical release in multiple countries, including Nepal and the U.S. this March, followed by a summer rollout across most of Europe and Australia. Additionally, the UK’s Channel 4 has acquired its broadcast rights. Notable festival premieres (so far): World Premiere: Venice International Film Festival (Aug 28 – Sept 7, 2024) FilmFest Hamburg (Sep. 26 - Oct. 5, 2024) Busan International Film Festival (Oct. 2 - 11, 2024) MAMI Mumbai Film Festival (Oct. 19 - 24, 2024) Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Oct. 31 - Nov. 10, 2024) Dharamshala International Film Festival (Nov. 7 - 10, 2024) Mezipatra Queer Film Festival, Prague & Brno (Nov. 7 - 22, 2024) San Diego Asian Film Festival (Nov. 7 - 16, 2024) World Film Festival of Bangkok (Nov. 7 - 17, 2024) PÖFF: Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Nov. 8 - 24, 2024) QCinema International Film Festival, Manila (Nov. 8 - 17, 2024) Films From the South Norway (Nov. 9 - 17, 2024) International Film Festival of Kerala (Dec. 13 - 20, 2024) Goteborg International Film Festival (Jan. 24 - Feb. 2, 2025)
Mechanical computing with transmissive snapping of kirigami shells
(Wiley, 2024-10) Yang, Yi; Feng, Jin; Holmes, Douglas P.
Continuum shape‐morphing structures with the capability to encode memory and execute logic operations have garnered significant interest for the development of mechanical systems with embodied intelligence and soft robots. Achieving the integration of memory and computing within a mechanical system necessitates building blocks that possess a range of tunable, metastable states. Prior efforts have been dedicated to constructing mechanical memory and logic through the exploitation of snap‐through instabilities in multistable structures. Typically, the creation of each logic gate demands a distinct structural design. Here, presents an unconventional design strategy that leverages a single kirigami architecture to perform and switch between multiple fundamental logic operations. By utilizing the kirigami architecture as the fundamental element, mechanical signal transmission is demonstrated and half‐adder computations are performed. It is envisioned that this design strategy can be applied to a wide range of materials and structures, and reduce the complexity of developing materials systems with embodied intelligence.
The influence of affect and stimulus valence on fear extinction and return of fear
(2024) Fitzgerald, Hayley E.; Otto, Michael W.
Fear conditioning paradigms provide a translational research framework for investigating factors that may enhance extinction learning and reduce return of fear. The current study experimentally evaluated the effects of two factors, stimulus valence and affect, in a three-day paradigm. One-hundred and fifty adults were recruited; approximately one third (N = 53, M(SD) age=20.1 (2.5)) met final inclusion criteria. Day one procedures included habituation and fear acquisition: pairing one conditioned stimulus (i.e., the CS+) with an aversive stimulus. Participants were randomized to positive affect induction (PAI) or negative affect induction (NAI) before extinction on day two. Day three consisted of extinction retest, reinstatement, and return of fear test. I predicted that PAI would increase both positive affect and CS+ valence relative to NAI. I further hypothesized that individuals receiving PAI would evidence less return of fear at reinstatement, faster extinction learning, and increased likelihood of selecting a CS+ corresponding stimulus in an implicit valence task. Primary study outcomes were differential skin conductance responses (SCRs) and self-reported CS-US contingency ratings (i.e., degree to which the aversive stimulus was expected to follow each conditioned stimulus).Preliminary analyses indicated that habituation, fear acquisition, and extinction largely occurred as expected. Additionally, the PAI and NAI conditions influenced affect in the expected directions on day two. Against predictions, the NAI group evidenced greater increases in CS+ valence than the PAI group following affect induction.
Concerning the core outcomes, none of the hypotheses were supported: PAI did not result in less return of fear at reinstatement, faster extinction learning, nor increased likelihood of selecting a CS+ corresponding stimulus in an implicit valence task. The reinstatement-focused findings were complicated by participants not evidencing return of fear at reinstatement test on average. Unexpectedly, exploratory analyses indicated a trend toward NAI resulting in greater extinction learning compared to PAI for CS-US contingency ratings but not for differential SCRs.
Overall, findings did not support the hypothesis that positive affect enhances extinction or reduces return of fear compared to negative affect. The observed absence of return of fear in the current study has implications for the design of future fear conditioning paradigms.
Decomposing persistent monitoring problems using numerical optimal control
(2025) Hall, Jonas; Andersson, Sean B.; Cassandras, Christos G.
This thesis addresses the challenge of optimizing Persistent Monitoring (PM) missions by decomposing complex control problems using numerical optimal control techniques. Persistent monitoring involves continuously gathering information about dynamically evolving systems, with applications in environmental monitoring, disaster response, surveillance, and more. Persistent monitoring missions inherently involve challenging trade-offs between exploration and exploitation, as agents must balance visiting multiple locations against thoroughly observing dynamic targets. This complexity is compounded by the requirement to optimize both discrete decisions, such as determining the order of target visits, and continuous decisions related to agent trajectories. Such considerations render the direct solution of PM problems difficult, particularly in multi-dimensional settings. A hierarchical decomposition that leverages a typical structure in PM problems is proposed to efficiently address these challenges. First, foundational theoretical results in one-dimensional PM scenarios are established, demonstrating that optimal controls can be represented via finite-dimensional parameterizations. Building upon this, the approach is generalized to two-dimensional mission spaces by casting PM problems into bilevel optimization problems, wherein lower-level subproblems are simplified optimal control problems, and upper-level problems optimize trajectory boundary conditions. This decomposition significantly reduces computational complexity, enabling real-time applicability and adaptability. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed methodologies are validated through extensive numerical experiments, demonstrating improved solution quality and computational efficiency compared to existing methods. The approach not only provides a practical solution framework for complex PM tasks but also lays the groundwork for future research. For example, multi-agent and mobile-target settings are only handled in one-dimensional scenarios in this thesis. Extending the proposed methods in two-dimensional spaces to such settings may be an interesting avenue for future work.
Methodism and American Empire Reflections on Decolonizing the Church
(Abingdon Press, 2023) Scott, David William; Maia, Filipe
Through historical analyses and theological reflections, this volume chronicles the formation of an understanding of The United Methodist Church since the mid-20th century that is both global and at the same time dominated by American ...
Synthesis of 4-aminobenzimidazole and 4-nitroindole nucleosides and nucleotides
(Boston University, 1976) Atwood, Edwards Stengle
The synthesis of two analogues of adenosine, 4-amino-1-β-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole and 4-nitro-1-β-D-ribofuranosylindole,
and their associated nucleoside-5' phosphates
is described. The interaction of 4-arninobenzimidazole
nucleoside-5' triphosphate with the enzyme adenylate kinase is also described.
4-Nitro-l-β-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole was prepared from 4(7)-nitrobenzimidazole and 2,3,5-tri-0-benzoyl-ribofuranosyl bromide by the mercuric cyanide method in 50-60%
yield. After removal of the benzoyl groups, 4-aminobenzimidazole nucleoside-5' phosphate was prepared by direct phosphorylation followed by reduction of the nitro group by hydrogenation over 5% Pd/C in 60% yield. The nucleoside
di- and triphosphates were prepared using the anion exchange method of Michelson.
4-Nitro-1-β-D-ribofuranosylindole was synthesized in 70﹪yield by condensing 4-nitroindole and 2,3,5-tri-O-benzoylriboruranosyl bromide in the presence of silver (𝙸) oxide in benzene. The benzoyl groups were removed with methanolic ammonia. The nucleoside-5' phosphate was prepared
by blocking the 2' and 3' hydroxyl, groups with the ethoxyformylidene group and condensing the 5' hydroxyl with cyanoethyl phosphate in the presence of mesitylene sulfonyl chloride. The nucleoside-5' diphosphate was prepared by the anion exchange method. An unsuccessful attempt to
prerared the nucleoside triphosphate by the same method is described.
Kinetic measurements were made for the interaction of 4-aminobenzirnidazole nucleoside-5' triphosphate with adenylate kinase in the presence of 1 mM adenosine monophosphate.
Km for the benzimidazole nucleotide is 0.40 mM
as opposed to 0.029 mM for a.denosine triphosphate under the same conditions. Vmax for the benzimidazole triphosphate is 12 times that of ATP.
How important are baleen whales as prey for killer whales (Orcinus orca) in high latitudes?
(Boston University, 2004) Mehta, Amee V.
Transient-type killer whales (Orcinus orca) feed primarily or exclusively on
marine mammals, however, whether large whales represent an important prey source for
killer whales has been debated. A recent hypothesis by Springer et al. (2003) suggested
that overexploitation of large whales by industrial whaling forced killer whales to prey
switch from baleen whales to pinnipeds and sea otters, resulting in population declines
for these smaller marine mammals in the North Pacific and southern Bering Sea. This
prey-switching hypothesis is contingent upon the idea that killer whales regularly attack
mysticetes while they are in these high-latitude areas. In this study, I used photographic
and sighting data from baleen whales in twenty-four regions worldwide to determine the
proportion of whales that bear scars ( rake marks) from killer whale attacks and to
examine the timing of scar acquisition. The results of this study show that there is
considerable geographic variation in the proportion of whales with rake marks, however,
in every region, the vast majority of the scars seen were present on the whales' bodies by
the time the animals were first sighted. This would indicate that most killer whale attacks
on baleen whales target young animals, possibly calves on their first migration from the
low-latitude breeding and calving areas to the high-latitude feeding areas. This study
suggests that baleen whales are not important prey for killer whales in high latitudes and
that the picture of the marine ecosystem proposed by the prey-switching hypothesis is
incomplete and inaccurate.
Advancing multi-scale network and agent-based computational lung models: potential for personalized prediction of disease progression
(2025) Hall, Joseph Karl; Suki, Béla
The lung is a structurally and mechanically complex organ that is susceptible to many diseases that cause permanent lung damage, such as emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis. There has been an advent of computational models of lung diseases to better understand their underlying mechanisms. To replicate the mechanical behaviors seen in the lungs, spring network models have been utilized on both the alveolar scale and the full-lung scale; additionally, agent-based models have been utilized to apply biological behaviors to spring network models. The union of these two model types — the structural and the biological — has led to important breakthroughs in understanding pathogenesis of lung diseases. However, these models have been focused on uniform tessellating shapes which do not capture the complex structural heterogeneity seen in the lungs. Additionally, these networks tend to be generic as well as esoteric, limiting broader application. There is therefore a need for a more robust means of creating subject-specific models and interpreting the results. The main thesis of this work is therefore that subject-specific spring network models can be utilized to understand the underlying mechanisms of lung pathologies, which in turn can be used to predict disease progression. This work outlines the development of non-uniform and ultimately subject-specific models of lung tissue using spring network model and agent-based model hybrids. These models are then compared to and validated by physiological data, and show complex emergent behavior consistent with real lung diseases. In conclusion, these non-uniform and subject-specific models are far more robust at capturing and understanding existing lung structural pathologies and show great promise to predict disease progression on a personalized basis.
IInfluence of psychosocial factors, physical activity status and body composition on blood pressure in lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual young adults
(2025) Nessen, Evan Joseph; Moreira-Bouchard, Jesse D.; Roberts, Lisa M.
Hypertension (HTN) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. While estimated to affect 1 in 2 adults in the general population, HTN has recently been found to be more prevalent in individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+). Sexual minority adults have also been found to take on greater levels of tobacco and alcohol use, achieve greater levels of physical inactivity, and may have higher body mass index (BMI) when compared to heterosexual counterparts. HTN in the LGBTQ+ community is additionally thought to be mediated by excessive levels of identity-dependent psychosocial stress, as posited in the Minority Stress Theory. Previous studies examining the relation of stress and blood pressure in LGBTQ+ populations have largely been retrospective or used self-report data. We sought to pilot a study directly measuring stress, anxiety, and depression levels, cuff-based blood pressure and heart rate, self-reported physical activity levels and alcohol and tobacco use, as well as waist to hip ratios in healthy cisgender lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) and heterosexual emerging adults. Participants had a mean age of 21.9 years, representing early emerging adults. We identified that both stress and anxiety levels were significantly higher in grouped LGBQ individuals than heterosexual participants. However, we did not identify any significant differences in mean systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, heart rate, physical activity status, waist to hip ratio, or alcohol and tobacco use. However, weekly minutes of moderate to strenuous cardiovascular physical activity had a significant inverse relationship with anxiety levels among LGB participants. This association was not significant among heterosexual participants. We conclude from these data that emerging adult LGBQ individuals may be at an elevated risk for HTN based on the excess stress and anxiety identified. Additionally, we conclude that physical activity is particularly effective at modulating anxiety levels among LGB emerging adults. The early twenties may represent a critical time point at which a risk factor for HTN (stress and anxiety) is present without the development of a hypertensive phenotype.
The impact of manipulating visual stimuli via virtual reality on the autonomic responses to exercise in controlled environments
(2025) Ragland, Natasha; Allen, Dustin
Human thermoregulation is a complex integration of signals from peripheral and central signals, which are modified by physiological effectors related to vasodilation, vasoconstriction, and perspiration. Thermoregulation occurs primarily through evaporative heat loss during exercise or in hyperthermic environments, and at rest by dry heat loss through convection and radiation. Color and visual stimuli have been shown to influence both thermal perception, and physiologic responses that mimic thermoregulation mechanisms at rest. We hypothesize that when an individual is shown a hot VR during exercise, sweat volume will be greater than when they are shown a cold VR during the same exercise in the same environmental conditions. The secondary aim was to test the hypothesis that augmented thermoregulatory responses when participants were shown a hot VR would lead to lower body temperatures over the course of the exercise interval, seven recreationally active participants in their early to mid 20s participated in 5 total lab visits: a screening visit and 4 trial days. Two days participants cycled in neutral environments (20°C, 30% RH), and two days participants cycled in a hot environment (32°C, 30%RH). On both days in each environment participants were immersed in a hot virtual reality (NEUT + HOT, HOT + HOT) and a cold VR (NEUT + COLD, HOT + COLD). The intake visit consisted of screening for exclusion criteria and YMCA protocol to estimate participants mechanical efficiency and VO2max. On experimental days, (NEUT + HOT, HOT + HOT & NEUT + COLD, HOT + COLD) participants cycled for a duration of 40 minutes, at a set work rate of 5W of heat production/kg. Our results showed a significant increase in sweating when participants were shown a hot VR in the hot environmental conditions (HOT + HOT: 291.0 ± 35.5 g, HOT + COLD: 320.3 ± 42.5 g, p=0.009). Other comparisons were not statistically significant, such as ΔTcore at minute 40 in neutral (p=0.251) and hot environments (p=0.348). Our perceptual measures showed over the course of exercise participants reported feeling warmer in neutral (NEUT + COLD: 7.1 ± 19.7 NEUT + HOT: 18.8 ± 10.5, p= 0.087) and hot conditions when shown a hot VR (HOT + COLD: 60.0 ± 25.9 HOT + HOT: 70.4 ± 22.7, p= 0.080), however these differences did not reach our threshold for statistical significance. Our primary hypothesis was supported in the HOT + HOT condition when compared to the HOT + COLD condition showing when viewing a hot VR participants sweat on average 9.5% more. There were no significant differences in change in core body temperature that were observed in accordance with our secondary hypothesis. Thermoregulatory responses may be altered by visual stimuli and thermal perception.