cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
The Oxidation State of Hawaiian Magmas
Creators: name: Vollinger, Michael
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2017

description: In order to estimate the oxygen fugacity of Hawaiian lavas I have measured the ferric/ferrous ratios of samples from the 1984 eruption of Mauna Loa volcano and from the ongoing (1983-2017) Puu Oo eruption of Kilauea volcano. Fifteen samples were studied from the 21 day Mauna Loa eruption and 86 samples, erupted between 1983 and 2004, of the 34 year long Kilauea eruption. Both studies show that, in order to obtain reliable estimates of oxygen fugacity when, where, and how basaltic lava is sampled is of critical importance. Water-quenched lavas and spatter sampled at, or near vents, are less oxidized than water-quenched samples taken from open flow channels several kilometers away from the vent, or from slowly-cooled solidified flows. Additionally, samples of water-quenched lava traveling in lava tubes are less prone to oxidation than lava flowing in open channels, with oxygen fugacities similar to those of near vent quenched samples. The oxidation state of the rapidly quenched near vent or lava tube samples is at or below magnetite-wüstite (MW). This contrasts with the oxidation state of previously reported values for Hawaiian lavas, which are closer to fayalite-magnetite-quartz (FMQ) or nickel-nickel oxide (NNO). From this I conclude that the initial oxygen fugacity of Hawaiian parental magmas is close to MW and not FMQ, and that previous estimates of the oxidation state of Hawaiian magmas, based on data from solidified lava flows, were too high. This implies that the plume source of both Mauna Loa and Kilauea magmas is also close to MW, but not as reduced as the mantle source of mid-ocean ridge basalts.
Labor Union Membership and Black Political Participation
Creators: name: Wilkerson, Tiamba
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2017

description: Despite the connection between labor status and citizenship in Black history, little scholarly consideration has been given to the specific role of labor organizations in Black political participation. This research examines the impact of labor union membership on Black political activity in the immediate post-Civil Rights period, and argues that, similarly to churches and voluntary associations such as the NAACP, labor unions are an important vehicle for political mobilization of the Black community. Results show that Black union members were significantly more likely than non-members to participate in a range of electoral and non-electoral political activities, and to a greater degree, especially members with less education. Considering both demographic shifts in the labor movement and the recent upsurge in Black political activity vis a vis the Black Lives Matter movement, understanding the potential of labor unions as a site of political activism for the Black community---one that can address both political and economic issues---could be important to the growth and sustenance of both movements.
Looking at Shadows of Entanglement Wedges
Creators: name: Kusuki, Yuya
name: Suzuki, Yuki
name: Takayanagi, Tadashi
name: Umemoto, Koji
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a new method of deriving shapes of entanglement wedges directly from CFT calculations. We point out that a reduced density matrix in holographic CFTs possesses a sharp wedge structure such that inside the wedge we can distinguish two local excitations, while outside we cannot. We can determine this wedge, which we call a CFT wedge, by computing a distinguishability measure. We find that CFT wedges defined by the fidelity or Bures distance as a distinguishability measure, coincide perfectly with shadows of entanglement wedges in AdS/CFT. We confirm this agreement between CFT wedges and entanglement wedges for two dimensional holographic CFTs where the subsystem is chosen to be an interval or double intervals, as well as higher dimensional CFTs with a round ball subsystem. On the other hand if we consider a free scalar CFT, we find that there are no sharp CFT wedges. This shows that sharp entanglement wedges emerge only for holographic CFTs owing to the large N factorization. We also generalize our analysis to a time-dependent example and to a holographic boundary conformal field theory (AdS/BCFT). Finally we study other distinguishability measures to define CFT wedges. We observe that some of measures lead to CFT wedges which slightly deviate from the entanglement wedges in AdS/CFT and we give a heuristic explanation for this. This paper is an extended version of our earlier letter arXiv:1908.09939 and includes various new observations and examples.
description: 80 pages, 24 figures, latex; typos corrected (v2), Dedicated to the memory of Tohru Eguchi
Determinants of household avoidance behavior to cope with unsafe drinking water: case study of Cameroon
Creators: name: Armand, Totouom Fotue Luc
name: Armand, Totouom Fotue Luc
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Consumer/Household Economics
subject: Environmental Economics and Policy
subject: Resource /Energy Economics and Policy
subject: determinants
subject: household avoidance behavior
subject: drinking water
subject: nested logit model

description: This study analyses the determinants of household avoidance behavior to cope with unsafe drinking water in Cameroon. The study is based on primary data collected in 2013 from a sample of 789 households in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé. The econometric approach used in the study is the same as McConnell and Rosado (2000). The main findings of the estimated model are the following: the decision to adjust water quality decreases when income decreases, when there is no child under five in the household, and when the quality of the water consumed is not a concern. Also, the probability of adopting a given avoidance measure decreases with its cost of adoption and increases with its efficiency (measured by people’s favourable opinion on the quality of water after adjustment). Implications for public policies are discussed in the paper.
Modeling the magnetized Local Bubble from dust data
Creators: name: Pelgrims, V.
name: Ferrière, K.
name: Boulanger, F.
name: Lallement, R.
name: Montier, L.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The Sun is embedded in the so-called Local Bubble (LB) -- a cavity of hot plasma created by supernova explosions and surrounded by a shell of cold, dusty gas. Knowing the local distortion of the Galactic magnetic field associated with the LB is critical for the modeling of interstellar polarization data at high Galactic latitudes. In this his paper, we relate the structure of the Galactic magnetic field on the LB scale to three-dimensional (3D) maps of the local interstellar medium (ISM). First, we extracted the geometry of the LB shell, its inner surface, in particular from 3D dust extinction maps of the local ISM. We expanded the shell inner surface in spherical harmonics, up to a variable maximum multipole degree, which enabled us to control the level of complexity for the modeled surface. Next, we applied an analytical model for the ordered magnetic field in the shell to the modeled shell surface. This magnetic field model was successfully fitted to the \textit{Planck} 353~GHz dust polarized emission maps over the Galactic polar caps. For each polar cap, the direction of the mean magnetic field derived from dust polarization (together with the prior that the field points toward longitude $90^\circ \pm 90^\circ$) is found to be consistent with the Faraday spectra of the nearby diffuse synchrotron emission. Our work presents a new approach to modeling the local structure of the Galactic magnetic field. We expect our methodology and our results to be useful both in modeling the local ISM as traced by its different components and in modeling the dust polarized emission, which is a long-awaited input for studies of the polarized foregrounds for cosmic microwave background.
description: v2 closely match the final and accepted version at A&A
AutoPlug: An Automated Metadata Service for Smart Outlets
Creators: name: Ambati, Lurdh Pradeep Reddy
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2017

description: Low-cost network-connected smart outlets are now available for monitoring, controlling, and scheduling the energy usage of electrical devices. As a result, such smart outlets are being integrated into automated home management systems, which remotely control them by analyzing and interpreting their data. However, to effectively interpret data and control devices, the system must know the type of device that is plugged into each smart outlet. Existing systems require users to manually input and maintain the outlet metadata that associates a device type with a smart outlet. Such manual operation is time-consuming and error-prone: users must initially inventory all outlet-to-device mappings, enter them into the management system, and then update this metadata every time a new device is plugged in or moves to a new outlet. To address the problem, we propose AutoPlug, a system that automatically identifies and tracks the devices plugged into smart outlets in real time without user intervention. AutoPlug combines machine learning techniques with time-series analysis of device energy data in real time to accurately identify and track devices on startup, and as they move from outlet-to-outlet. We show that AutoPlug achieves ∼90% identification accuracy on real data collected from 13 distinct device types, while also detecting when a device changes outlets with an accuracy >90%. We implement an AutoPlug prototype on Raspberry Pi and deploy it live in a real home for a period of 20 days. We show that its performance enables it to monitor up to 25 outlets withlatency.
Tau Flavour Violation in Sparticle Decays at the LHC
Creators: name: Carvalho, D. F.
name: Ellis, J.
name: Gomez, M. E.
name: Lola, S.
name: Romao, J. C.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2002
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We consider sparticle decays that violate tau lepton number, motivated by neutrino oscillation data. We work in the context of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM), in which the different sleptons have identical masses at the GUT scale, and neutrino Dirac Yukawa couplings mix them. We find that the branching ratio for decay of the heavier neutralino chi_2 to chi + tau mu is enhanced when the LSP mass m_chi = m_stau_1, including the region of CMSSM parameter space where coannihilation keeps the relic chi density within the range preferred by cosmology. Thus chi_2 to chi + tau mu decay may provide a physics opportunity for observing the violation of tau lepton number at the LHC that is complementary to tau to mu + gamma decay. Likewise, chi_2 to chi + e mu decay is also enhanced in the coannihilation region, providing a complement to mu to e + gamma decay.
description: 11 pages, 3 figures
Uncovering tasselsheath3. A Genomic and Phenotypic Analysis of a Maize Floral Mutant.
Creators: name: ZHANG, THOMPSON
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2018

description: In the modern era, maize has become the most successful crop grown in the United States. According to the USDA over 90 million acres of land are planted to corn and 96.2% of the U.S feed grain production is made up of the cereal. Part of the success of maize is due to its floral architecture, and its pollination technique in which the flower opens, exposing stamens containing pollen into the air. A unique organ called the lodicule functions as a release mechanism, forcing the flower to open. Lodicules from grasses and eudicot petals are homologous, yet there is little known of how lodicules are specified during development. Other examples of maize mutants with defects in the lodicule have been discovered including silky1, bearded ear, and sterile tassel silky ear1, but there has been no definitive pathway found that specifies the developmental characteristics of the lodicule. My work has focused on a maize mutant, tasselsheath3 (tsh3), which displays a floral phenotype in the lodicule whorl to better understand this organ.
Analysis of tsh3 was separated into two sections: a quantitative phenotypic analysis of the tsh3 floral mutant phenotype, compared to a previously unstudied floral phenotype of tasselsheath1 (tsh1), as well as a tsh1; tsh3 double mutant. I found that lodicule morphology and lodicule number was affected in tsh1, tsh3, and the tsh1; tsh3 mutants. Section two was to identify the single gene that was disrupted in tsh3 mutants. Through both fine mapping and next generation sequencing I was able to localize tsh3 to a region between 148.1mbp and 152.8mbp on chromosome 6. This 4.7mbp region of interest contains 64 protein coding genes. As evidenced by the phenotyping data, tsh3 plays a role specifying lodicule identity during development and has been localized to this region of chromosome 6 on the maize genome.
Search for New Physics in Photon-Lepton Events in Proton-Antiproton Collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV
Creators: name: CDF Collaboration
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2001
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present the results of a search in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV for anomalous production of events containing a photon with large transverse energy and a lepton (e or mu) with large transverse energy, using 86 pb^{-1} of data collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab during the 1994-95 collider run at the Fermilab Tevatron. The presence of large missing transverse energy, additional photons, or additional leptons in these events is also analyzed. The results are consistent with standard model expectations, with the possible exception of photon-lepton events with large missing transverse energy, for which the observed total is 16 events and the expected mean total is 7.6+/-0.7 events.
description: REVTEX4, 76 pages, 18 figures, 20 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. D
Air-Assisted Atomization at Constant Mass and Momentum Flow Rate: Investigation of the Ambient Pressure Influence with the SPH Method
Creators: name: Chaussonnet, Geoffroy
name: Joshi, Shreyas
name: Wachter, Simon
name: Koch, Rainer
name: Jakobs, Tobias
name: Kolb, Thomas
name: Bauer, Hans-Jörg
Publisher: name: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Year: 2019
Subjects: liquid atomization
fuel injection
smoothed particle hydrodynamics

description: A twin-fluid atomizer configuration is simulated by means of the 2D weakly-compressible Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics method, and compared to experiments. The Gas-to-Liquid-Ratio, the momentum flux ratio and the velocity ratio are set constant for different ambient pressures, which leads to different gaseous flow sections. The objectives of this study are to (i) investigate the effect of ambient pressure at constant global parameters, and (ii) to verify the capability of 2D SPH to qualitatively predict the proper disintegration mechanism and to recover the correct evolution of the spray characteristics. The setup consists of an axial liquid jet of water fragmented by a co-flowing high-speed air stream (Ug = 80 m/s) in a pressurized atmosphere up to 16 bar. The results are compared to the experiment, and presented in terms of (i) mean velocity profiles, (ii) drop size distributions and (iii) Sauter Mean Diameter of the spray. It is found that there exists an optimal pressure to minimize the mean size of the spray droplets. Finally, two new quantities related to atomization are presented: (i) the breakup activity that quantifies the number of breakup events per time and volume unit and (ii) the fragmentation spectrum of the whole breakup chain, which characterizes the cascade phenomenon in terms of probability. The breakup activity confirms the presence of the optimal pressure and the fragmentation spectrum gives information on the type of breakup, depending on the ambient pressure.
Supplementary document for Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes with High Efficiency at High Brightness via Shell Engineering - 5154147.pdf
Creators: name: Ba, Guohang
name: Xu, Qiulei
name: Li, Xinyu
name: Lin, Qingli
name: Shen, Huaibin
name: Du, Zuliang
Publisher: name: Optica Publishing Group
Year: 2021
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: supplement 1 for manuscript ID 421029
Nomisia negebensis Levy 1995
Creators: name: Seyyar, O
name: Ayyildiz, N
name: Topcu, A
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Gnaphosidae
Nomisia
Nomisia negebensis

description: Nomisia negebensis Levy, 1995
 Material examined.  TURKEY: Ni  ğ de Province: Ulukışla district, Meydan Plateau, on soil, steppe habitat, 28.VI.2007, nearly 2300m, leg. O. Seyyar, (2♀♀); Kahramanmara ş Province: Göksun district, Keklikoluk village (38° 10'N, 36° 27'E), 1605m, on ground, steppe habitat, 19.X.2008, leg. O. Seyyar, (3♀♀).
 Comments. This species was only known from its type locality, in Israel (Levy, 1995). It is a new record for the Turkish araneofauna.
description: Published as part of Seyyar, O, Ayyildiz, N & Topcu, A, 2009, Description of a new species of the genus Nomisia Dalmas, 1921 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Turkey with some faunistical remarks, pp. 62-68 in Zootaxa 2006 on pages 67-68
Efficient construction of many-body Fock states having the lowest energies
Creators: name: Chrostowski, Andrzej
name: Sowiński, Tomasz
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: To perform efficient many-body calculations in the framework of the exact diagonalization of the Hamiltonian one needs an appropriately tailored Fock basis built from the single-particle orbitals. The simplest way to compose the basis is to choose a finite set of single-particle wave functions and find all possible distributions of a given number of particles in these states. It is known, however, that this construction leads to very inaccurate results since it does not take into account different many-body states having the same energy on equal footing. Here we present a fast and surprisingly simple algorithm for generating the many-body Fock basis build from many-body Fock states having the lowest non-interacting energies. The algorithm is insensitive to details of the distribution of single-particle energies and it can be used for an arbitrary number of particles obeying bosonic or fermionic statistics. Moreover, it can be easily generalized to a larger number of components. Taking as a simple example the system of two ultra-cold bosons in an anharmonic trap, we show that exact calculations in the basis generated with the algorithm are substantially more accurate than calculations performed within the standard approach.
Graded Poisson-Sigma Models and Dilaton-Deformed 2D Supergravity Algebra
Creators: name: Bergamin, L.
name: Kummer, W.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2002
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Fermionic extensions of generic 2d gravity theories obtained from the graded Poisson-Sigma model (gPSM) approach show a large degree of ambiguity. In addition, obstructions may reduce the allowed range of fields as given by the bosonic theory, or even prohibit any extension in certain cases. In our present work we relate the finite W-algebras inherent in the gPSM algebra of constraints to algebras which can be interpreted as supergravities in the usual sense (Neuveu-Schwarz or Ramond algebras resp.), deformed by the presence of the dilaton field. With very straightforward and natural assumptions on them --like demanding rigid supersymmetry in a certain flat limit, or linking the anti-commutator of certain fermionic charges to the Hamiltonian constraint-- in the ``genuine'' supergravity obtained in this way the ambiguities disappear, as well as the obstructions referred to above. Thus all especially interesting bosonic models (spherically reduced gravity, the Jackiw-Teitelboim model etc.)\ under these conditions possess a unique fermionic extension and are free from new singularities. The superspace supergravity model of Howe is found as a special case of this supergravity action. For this class of models the relation between bosonic potential and prepotential does not introduce obstructions as well.
description: 22 pages, LaTeX, JHEP class. v3: Final version, to appear in JHEP
Search for Cold Dark Matter and Solar Neutrinos with GENIUS and GENIUS-TF
Creators: name: Krivosheina, I. V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2002
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The new project GENIUS will cover a wide range of the parameter space of predictions of SUSY for neutralinos as cold dark matter. Further it has the potential to be a real-time detector for low-energy (pp and 7Be) solar neutrinos. A GENIUS Test Facility has just been funded and will come into operation by end of 2002.
description: 4 pages, revtex, 3 figures, Talk was presented at International School on Nuclear Physics, 23rd Course: Neutrinos in Astro, Particle and Nuclear Physics, Erice, September 18 - 26, 2001, Publ. in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, Vol. 48 (2002) 283 - 286, Home Page of Heidelberg Non-Accelerator Particle Physics Group: http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/non_acc/
Implications of Pgrmc1 Regulation of Kit Ligand Synthesis in the Hippocampus
Creators: name: Woods, Haley
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2017

description: The mammalian hippocampus is responsible for many crucial brain functions such as learning, memory, and neurogenesis in adults. Its degeneration is a pathology associated with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. A variety of genes have been associated with both neuroprotection and neurogenesis in the brain, some of which include progesterone membrane component 1 (Pgrmc1) and kit ligand (KitL). Pgrmc1 is recognized for mediating hormonal functions in both the ovary and neuroendocrine regions such as the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV), but its functions in the hippocampus are not well known. Both Pgrmc1 and KitL share downstream targets, the most strongly supported being genes in the Janus kinase (Jak)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (Stat) pathway. I hypothesized that Pgrmc1 regulates neural targets through KitL/c-Kit signaling. To investigate this hypothesis I used a variety of in vivo and in vitro techniques. These techniques included mapping both KitL and receptor c-Kit in the adult female rat brain using in situ hybridization. I used Pgrmc1 silencing with siRNA in hippocampal-derived mHe-18 cells and Pgrmc1/2 double conditional knock out mouse brains to study Pgrmc1 regulation of KitL synthesis. To determine common downstream targets of KitL and Pgrmc1 I then treated mHe-18 cells with soluble KitL protein. Finally, to determine whether c-Kit mediated effects of Pgrmc1, I treated cells with both Pgrmc1 siRNA and AG-1296, a c-Kit inhibitor. The results show that Pgrmc1 regulates KitL expression, as well as downstream targets Pias1, 2, 3, and 4. However, AG-1296 did not abrogate Pgrmc1 regulation of the downstream targets, demonstrating regulation independent of KitL signaling. Taken together, these results suggest that while Pgrmc1 alters KitL expression and regulates the same genes as KitL/c-Kit, the mechanism of action likely differs. Considering that these two genes are involved in neurogenesis and neuroprotection, as well as memory and learning, a better understanding of the pathways may help lead the way in treating neurodegenerative diseases in the future.
Regulation of Katanin Activity on Microtubules
Creators: name: Tyler, Madison A.
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2017

description: The cytoskeleton is a dynamic network of microtubules constantly being reorganized to meet the spatiotemporal demands of the cell. Microtubules are organized into subcellular highways to control cell processes such as cell division, cargo transport, and neuronal development and maintenance. Reorganization of this intricate network is tightly regulated by various stabilizing and destabilizing microtubule-associated proteins that decorate the network. Katanin p60 is a microtubule destabilizing enzyme from the ATPases Associated with various Activities (AAA+) family. It can both sever and depolymerize microtubules. In order to sever microtubules, katanin recognizes the tubulin carboxy-terminal tails (CTTs) and hydrolyzes ATP. Using super-resolution microscopy and image analysis, we find that the tubulin CTTs are not required for katanin to depolymerize microtubules. We also characterize the regulation of microtubule severing and depolymerization by katanin in various nucleotide states. A better understanding of how CTTs and nucleotides regulate microtubule severing and depolymerization by katanin will help future research aimed to correct katanin activity when these processes goes awry as in improper chromosome segregation during mitosis or loss of microtubule integrity in neuronal diseases.
Synthesis and characterization of a manganese(III) schiff base complex and exploration of Br···Br interaction in the solid state structure of the complex
Creators: name: Ipsita Mondal
name: Kousik Ghosh
name: Franconetti, Antonio
name: Frontera, Antonio
name: Chatterjee, Sudipta
name: Shouvik Chattopadhyay
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Biophysics
subject: Biochemistry
subject: Medicine
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: A mononuclear manganese(III) complex, [MnL(CH3OH)(H2O)]ClO4, has been synthesized and structurally characterized {H2L = N,N'-bis(5-bromo-3-methoxysalicylidene)2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediamine}. The energetic features of significant supramolecular interactions present in the complex, i.e. Br···Br, hydrogen-bonding and π···π stacking interactions, have been calculated using DFT calculations and further corroborated with NCI plot index computational tool. Catalase mimicking activity (catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water) of the complex has been investigated. The complex catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide effectively in solution. The efficiency of the complex toward catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide is related to its structure.
The role of galaxies and AGN in reionising the IGM -- III : IGM-galaxy cross-correlations at z~6 from 8 quasar fields with DEIMOS and MUSE
Creators: name: Meyer, Romain A.
name: Kakiichi, Koki
name: Bosman, Sarah E. I.
name: Ellis, Richard S.
name: Laporte, Nicolas
name: Robertson, Brant E.
name: Ryan-Weber, Emma V.
name: Mawatari, Ken
name: Zitrin, Adi
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present improved results of the measurement of the correlation between galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) transmission at the end of reionisation. We have gathered a sample of $13$ spectroscopically confirmed Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and $21$ Lyman-$α$ emitters (LAEs) at angular separations $20'' \lesssim θ\lesssim 10'$ ($\sim 0.1-4$ pMpc at $z\sim 6$) from the sightlines to $8$ background $z\gtrsim 6$ quasars. We report for the first time the detection of an excess of Lyman-$α$ transmission spikes at $\sim 10-60$ cMpc from LAEs ($3.2σ$) and LBGs ($1.9σ$). We interpret the data with an improved model of the galaxy-Lyman-$α$ transmission and two-point cross-correlations which includes the enhanced photoionisation due to clustered faint sources, enhanced gas densities around the central bright objects and spatial variations of the mean free path. The observed LAE(LBG)-Lyman-$α$ transmission spike two-point cross-correlation function (2PCCF) constrains the luminosity-averaged escape fraction of all galaxies contributing to reionisation to $\langle f_{\rm esc} \rangle_{M_{\rm UV} -20 \, (2σ)$) is necessary to reproduce the observed 2PCCF and that reionisation might be driven by different sub-populations around LBGs and LAEs at $z\sim 6$.
description: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 17 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables + appendices. Key results: Figs. 6,13,14. Updated version matches the published one ('online' Appendices are directly in the arXiv pdf). Conclusions unchanged from earlier preprint
Characterization of Calcium Homeostasis Parameters in TRPV3 and CaV3.2 Double Null Mice
Creators: name: Mehregan, Aujan
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2017

description: In mammals, calcium influx is required for oocyte maturation and egg activation, as it supports the persistent calcium oscillations induced by fertilization. These oscillations are required for the initiation of embryo development. The molecular identities of the plasma membrane calcium-permeant channels that underlie calcium influx are not established. Among these channels, Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid, member 3 (TRPV3) allows divalent cations, namely strontium (Sr2+) and calcium (Ca2+) with high permeability, into cells, and its expression pattern seems to predict an essential role in the initiation of development. Another channel that was identified to be expressed in oocytes/eggs is the low-voltage-activated T-type channel, CaV3.2. However, the ability to accurately probe the expression and function of these channels on Ca2+ homeostasis in mouse eggs is hindered by the lack of specific and known pharmacological agents and antibodies for these channels.
Here, we simultaneously knockout out these two Ca2+ influx channels in the mouse to explore the effects on Ca2+ homeostasis. We examined fertility rates, development, and morphological defects that arose from the double null pups. Next, we investigated the consequences on Ca2+ store content in immature and mature oocytes and eggs. We also examined the effects on fertilization-induced Ca2+ oscillations in response to in vitro fertilization and PLCz cRNA microinjection. We found that female mice null for these channels display drastic subfertility compared to the single knockout mice for these channels. Additionally, the Ca2+ store content is significantly diminished in double knockout eggs versus controls, as was the frequency of the fertilization-induced Ca2+ oscillations. These results suggest that these channels play a crucial role in Ca2+ influx during maturation and contribute to maintain Ca2+ oscillations post-fertilization. These null oocytes and eggs will be an important tool to perform electrophysiological studies to accurately measure the native current(s) of a specific channel(s) in eggs, and to identify the channel(s) that mediate Ca2+ during fertilization.
Final Report on ACIAR Small Project: Economic Impact and Rural Adjustment to Nature Conservation (Biodiversity) Programmes: A Case Study of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China
Creators: name: Tisdell, Clem
name: Tisdell, Clem
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 1996
Subjects: subject: Environmental Economics and Policy
subject: Xishuangbanna
subject: China

description: China contains a high degree of biodiversity and many unique species, but its rapid economic development threatens their continuing existence. Furthermore because of its rapid economic growth, there is a risk of environmental changes occurring which could result in unsustainable ‘development’ occurring in China. These problems have been recognised both worldwide and within China. For example, the World Bank has extended financial assistance to China through its Global Environmental Facility (GEF) to assist China’s conservation of biodiversity. Further, the State Council of China adopted in 1994 China’s Agenda 21: White Paper on China’s Population, Environment and Development in the 21st Century, and this includes strategies for conservation of biodiversity. China’s Agenda 21 is a response to the United Nations’ Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 which called upon all nations to draw up an agenda for sustainable development in the 21st century. It is, however, one thing to formulate plans for biodiversity conservation and another to put them into practice successfully. Since biodiversity conservation programmes are mostly implemented in rural areas, it is necessary to study their socio-economic impact on local rural communities. The success or failure of nature conservation programmes depends eventually on such impacts. It is not enough from a practical policy point of view to consider only the ecology of nature conservation. It is in this context that this project is of considerable importance, particularly because it is a cooperative project with biologists and ecologists. It was decided to concentrate the study on Xishuangbanna Prefecture in Yunnan, and in particular pay special attention to Xishuangbanna State Nature Reserve. This decision was taken because Xishuangbanna had been identified by ecologists as a region of megadiversity. It is also an area in which considerable economic change is occurring. Furthermore, Chinese authorities had expressed concern about several socio-economic problems which could adversely affect biodiversity conservation in Xishuangbanna and were anxious to develop possible win-win strategies for the area which might provide a basis for conservation strategies elsewhere in China. Strong Chinese support existed for the project and this was followed up by excellent cooperation on the Chinese side.
Radiative Decay Width Measurements of Neutral Kaon Excitations Using the Primakoff Effect
Creators: name: KTeV Collaboration
name: Alavi-Harati, A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2001
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We produce a sample consisting of 147 candidate events, with minimal backgrounds, of the mixed axial vector pair K1(1270)-K1(1400) by exciting Kl's in the Coulomb field of lead and report the first measurements of the radiative widths Gamma_r(K1(1400)) = 280.8+-23.2(stat)+-40.4(syst) keV and Gamma_r(K1(1270)) = 73.2+- 6.1(stat)+-28.3(syst) keV. We also place 90% CL upper limits Gamma_r(K*(1410)) < 52.9 keV for the vector state and Gamma_r(K2*(1430)) < 5.4 keV for the tensor state. These measurements allow for significant tests of quark-model predictions of radiative widths for the low-lying vector mesons.
description: PRL-size article, 4 figures
Mapping Sandbars in the Connecticut River Watershed through Aerial Images for Floodplain Conservation
Creators: name: Backiel, Bogumila
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2018

description: Active geomorphic features of rivers like sandbars provide habitat for endangered and threatened riparian plant and animal species. However, human development has altered flow and sediment regimes, thus impairing formation of sandbars and islands. Large scale mapping of the fluvial geomorphology in river ecosystems like the Connecticut River is are necessary to understand the dynamics of these features and preserve habitat. Orthophotographs from 2012 from United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA), National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) were used to develop a model in ArcGIS Pro to identify fluvial geomorphic features in the Connecticut River and 12 of its major tributaries. This multi-stage image classification model identifies and ranks pixels of proximity and similar color to identify and map sandbars and islands. Locations of sandbars distribution were mapped and analyzed for each river. In the majority of rivers, sandbar area per reach decreases downstream. For the mainstem, sandbar area decreased towards the mouth but with three increases of sandbars due to meandering and major tributary confluences of the White and Deerfield rivers. Dams tend to decrease sandbars downstream but the effect of dams is context specific. Sandbars are stored upstream of the impoundment on the Black River as expected, sandbars appear downstream of a dam on the mainstem if a tributary confluence is present. Conservation of high sandbar area reaches and naturally eroding stream banks are necessary for preservation of endangered species. This spatial model for sandbar mapping can be applied in other river ecosystems across the region.
Ecological Function Value of Tropical Forests in the Central Mountainous Areas of Hainan Island
Creators: name: GAO, Jing
name: ZHOU, Zuguang
name: GAO, Jing
name: ZHOU, Zuguang
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Agribusiness
subject: Central mountainous areas
subject: Tropical forests
subject: Ecological function Value
subject: Hainan Island

description: The integrated value of the ecological function of tropical forests in the central mountainous areas of Hainan Island was 33.0648 billion yuan•a-1 in 2010 (soil improvement, soil consolidation, soil nutrient maintenance, water storage and moisture regulation, water purification, carbon sequestration, oxygen releasing, air purification, biodiversity conservation, eco-tourism), equivalent to 16.1% of GDP in Hainan Province this year (205.212 billion yuan). The tropical forests in the central mountainous areas of Hainan Island make great contribution to Hainan Island's ecology, and play an important role in maintaining the stability of the ecological environment in Hainan Island. Through the understanding of major ecological function value of tropical forests, it is necessary to make people cherish the tropical forests in the central ecological function conservation areas of Hainan Province, and spontaneously throw themselves into the ecological environment protection and construction, to promote the rapid and sustainable development of construction in Hainan Province as an international tourism island.
Protection of the Geographical Indication Right and New Plant Variety Right of Green Chinese Onion in China
Creators: name: HU, Zai
name: WANG, Shuting
name: SUN, Zhiguo
name: XIONG, Wanzhen
name: HUANG, Limin
name: HU, Zai
name: WANG, Shuting
name: SUN, Zhiguo
name: XIONG, Wanzhen
name: HUANG, Limin
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Agribusiness
subject: Green Chinese onion
subject: Geographical indication
subject: New plant variety right
subject: Intellectual property

description: Geographical indication right and new plant variety right are important agricultural intellectual property. This article researches the current situation on protection of geographical indication right of green Chinese onion resources and new plant variety right. And it puts forward the following measures for improvement: (i) Promoting the implementation of geographical indication product protection based on the national quality system; (ii) Establishing the national quality standards of geographical indication green Chinese onion, in order to improve quality standardization; (iii) Encouraging more enterprises within the scope of protection of geographical indication to use special signs of geographical indication; (iv) Unifying the green Chinese onion brands within the scope of protection of geographical indication; (v) Achieving the dual protection of geographical indication right and new variety right of green Chinese onion; (vi) Developing the tourism resources on geographical indication green Chinese onion, to develop tourism agriculture.
An amplified-target loss approach for photoreceptor layer segmentation in pathological OCT scans
Creators: name: Orlando, José Ignacio
name: Breger, Anna
name: Bogunović, Hrvoje
name: Riedl, Sophie
name: Gerendas, Bianca S.
name: Ehler, Martin
name: Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Image and Video Processing (eess.IV)
subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Segmenting anatomical structures such as the photoreceptor layer in retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans is challenging in pathological scenarios. Supervised deep learning models trained with standard loss functions are usually able to characterize only the most common disease appeareance from a training set, resulting in suboptimal performance and poor generalization when dealing with unseen lesions. In this paper we propose to overcome this limitation by means of an augmented target loss function framework. We introduce a novel amplified-target loss that explicitly penalizes errors within the central area of the input images, based on the observation that most of the challenging disease appeareance is usually located in this area. We experimentally validated our approach using a data set with OCT scans of patients with macular diseases. We observe increased performance compared to the models that use only the standard losses. Our proposed loss function strongly supports the segmentation model to better distinguish photoreceptors in highly pathological scenarios.
description: Accepted for publication at MICCAI-OMIA 2019
Assessing Adaptive Capacity of Pioneer Valley Farmers
Creators: name: Carey, Angelica
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2018

description: This thesis explores Pioneer Valley farmers and their agricultural practices, knowledge and resources as they relate to climate change. Adaptive capacity is used throughout scientific literature, and often includes numerous components; for this thesis the measurement of farmers’ adaptive capacity would be assessed according to only three components: knowledge, past experiences and use of resources. Climate change and its impacts on agriculture have been studied but what is unclear is how prepared farmers are to deal with these impacts. Through literature review, survey development and recorded interviews, data was then analyzed both for quantitative and qualitative results to understand farmer’s adaptive capacity. Most Pioneer Valley farmers realized changes to their farming practices over 5 to 10 years but were not in consensus of the cause and if this could just be due to climate change. Despite belief in climate change, most were willing to accept assistance to climate change adaptation, even if not knowing what these adaptation strategies would include. As a pilot study, numerous considerations have been included for future work on this topic to reduce assumptions and improve results accuracy. The study was too small to translate to the greater Pioneer Valley for results, but the method is important and applicable in future research and should be examined further to maintain the integrity of the agriculture sector.
The Effects of Farm Commodity and Retail Food Policies on Obesity and Economic Welfare in the United States
Creators: name: Okrent, Abigail M.
name: Alston, Julian M.
name: Okrent, Abigail M.
name: Alston, Julian M.
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Consumer/Household Economics
subject: Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety
subject: Obesity
subject: Food Policy
subject: Fat Taxes
subject: Welfare
subject: Market Model

description: Many commentators have claimed that farm subsidies have contributed significantly to the ―obesity epidemic‖ by making fattening foods relatively cheap and abundant and, symmetrically, that taxing ―unhealthy‖ commodities or subsidizing ―healthy‖ commodities would contribute to reducing obesity rates. In this paper we use an equilibrium displacement model to estimate and compare the economic welfare effects from a range of hypothetical farm commodity and retail food policies as alternative mechanisms for encouraging consumption of healthy food or discouraging consumption of unhealthy food, or both. We find that, compared with retail taxes on fat, sugar, or all food, or subsidies on fruit and vegetables at the farm or retail, a tax on calories would be the most efficient as obesity policy. A tax on calories would have the lowest deadweight loss per pound of fat reduction in average adult weight, and would yield a net social gain once the impact on public health care expenditures is considered, whereas the other policies typically would involve significant net social costs.
Understanding Relational Competence in Emerging Adult Adoptees: A New Way to Conceptualize Competence in Close Relationships
Creators: name: Cashen, Krystal K.
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2017

description: Relatively little research has focused on the positive adjustment of emerging adult adoptees (Palacios & Brodzinsky, 2010). Given the developmental context of emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000), it is important to select a measure of adjustment that reflects the increased ambiguity seen in this time period. The present study aims to develop and validate a measure of relational competence, or competence in one’s closest relationship regardless of relationship type (i.e., romantic vs. nonromantic). This measure will be created by adapting the Romantic Competence Interview, a measure of romantic competence previously used with emerging adults (Shulman, Davila, & Shachar-Shapira, 2011). Participants included 162 emerging adult adoptees who were recruited as part of a larger longitudinal study (Grotevant, McRoy, Wrobel, & Ayers-Lopez, 2013). Indicators of relational competence were selected from measures of intimacy maturity coded from interviews in which participants discussed their self-identified closest relationship (White, Speisman, Costos, Kelly, & Bartis, 1984). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the proposed model of relational competence was a good fit to the data and that this model was invariant across relationship type and gender. No differences in relational competence scores were found by relationship type or by gender