Radio Continuum Emission at 1.4 GHz from KISS Emission-Line Galaxies

We have searched the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty centimeters (FIRST) and the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) 1.4 GHz radio surveys for sources that are coincident with emission-line galaxy (ELG) candidates from the KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey (KISS). A total of 207 of the 2157 KISS ELGs (~10%) in the first two H-alpha-selected survey lists were found to possess radio detections in FIRST and/or NVSS. Follow-up spectra exist for all of the radio detections, allowing us to determine the activity type (star-forming vs. AGN) for the entire sample. We explore the properties of the radio-detected KISS galaxies in order to gain a better insight into the nature of radio-emitting galaxies in the local universe (z < 0.1). No dwarf galaxies were detected, despite the large numbers of low-luminosity galaxies present in KISS, suggesting that lower mass, lower luminosity objects do not possess strong galaxian-scale magnetic fields. Due to the selection technique used for KISS, our radio ELGs represent a quasi-volume-limited sample, which allows us to develop a clearer picture of the radio galaxy population at low redshift. Nearly 2/3rds of the KISS radio galaxies are starburst/star-forming galaxies, which is in stark contrast to the results of flux-limited radio surveys that are dominated by AGNs and elliptical galaxies (i.e., classic radio galaxies). While there are many AGNs among the KISS radio galaxies, there are no objects with large radio powers in our local volume. We derive a radio luminosity function (RLF) for the KISS ELGs that agrees very well with previous RLFs that adequately sample the lower-luminosity radio population.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal (April 2004); 23 pages, 16 figure

A kiss is just...

This paper proposes that a survey of representations of men not-kissing men in recent television drama series makes clear a particularly hysterical fascination. While the Australian program GP has managed to produce a banal representation of two men kissing, American equivalents have resorted to a series of strategies which make insistently clear that not only can men not kiss-but that the act of not-kissing must be repeatedly displayed. By refusing to have lovers kiss; by having lovers kiss but refusing to show the act; by having gay lovers, but having one played by a woman; by having men kiss but rendering the act ridiculous; in these ways, American television programs make clear the importance of this act by consistently pointing towards it and declaring its impossibility. This paper calls for the justice of equal access to public images of kissing

Effects of Selective Deletion of Tyrosine Hydroxylase from Kisspeptin Cells on Puberty and Reproduction in Male and Female Mice.

The neuropeptide kisspeptin, encoded by Kiss1, regulates reproduction by stimulating GnRH secretion. Kiss1-syntheizing neurons reside primarily in the hypothalamic anteroventral periventricular (AVPV/PeN) and arcuate (ARC) nuclei. AVPV/PeN Kiss1 neurons are sexually dimorphic, with females expressing more Kiss1 than males, and participate in estradiol (E2)-induced positive feedback control of GnRH secretion. In mice, most AVPV/PeN Kiss1 cells coexpress tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme in catecholamine synthesis (in this case, dopamine). Dopamine treatment can inhibit GnRH neurons, but the function of dopamine signaling arising specifically from AVPV/PeN Kiss1 cells is unknown. We generated a novel TH flox mouse and used Cre-Lox technology to selectively ablate TH specifically from Kiss1 cells. We then examined the effects of selective TH knock-out on puberty and reproduction in both sexes. In control mice, 90% of AVPV/PeN Kiss1 neurons coexpressed TH, whereas in mice lacking TH exclusively in Kiss1 cells (termed Kiss THKOs), TH was successfully absent from virtually all Kiss1 cells. Despite this absence of TH, both female and male Kiss THKOs displayed normal body weights, puberty onset, and basal gonadotropin levels in adulthood, although testosterone (T) was significantly elevated in adult male Kiss THKOs. The E2-induced LH surge was unaffected in Kiss THKO females, and neuronal activation status of kisspeptin and GnRH cells was also normal. Supporting this, fertility and fecundity were normal in Kiss THKOs of both sexes. Thus, despite high colocalization of TH and Kiss1 in the AVPV/PeN, dopamine produced in these cells is not required for puberty or reproduction, and its function remains unknown

The literary kiss: gestures of subterfuge

A complex, polyvalent phenomenon, the kiss, once embedded in a literary text, is first and foremost a cipher to be decoded. Texts effectively expose its many-sidedness: not merely its potentially seductive power or ostensible expression of affection, but, no less compellingly, its risky demeanors, its capacity to establish dominance, to terrorize, to subdue, to belittle, to ingratiate, even to infuriate. Variously bestowed, retracted, avowed, disavowed, meaningful, meaningless, the kiss can become, as it does in the work so named by Kate Chopin, a multi-layered form of contrivance, the incarnation of tempting, albeit ultimately invidious, non-realities. Though, perhaps, not manifest at first blush, a careful reading reveals that each occasion marked by the “joining of lips” yields an odd sequence of awkward and oft deleterious, consequences: motion is superseded by motive, candor by disingenuousness—all in an unending slew of backward and forward slippages. Thus is engendered the metaphorization of an altered reality—structured all but exclusively upon the relentless deceits it proffers. Jubilation and despair come and go, as though wholly inter-changeable; acceptance and rejection, promulgation and rescission are converted into mere variants of the same gestures of ambivalence, if not of travesty. One might thus conclude that the kiss adopts significance worthy of note only as a metonym for and of factitiousness, vacuity and thinly-veiled distortion. Chopin’s script adeptly explores the multifarious comportments and consequences of the kiss: an act fashioned as a “weapon” of dubious value, as a tactical strategy, as a play-act borne of ulterior objectives and, which, as such, deftly prostitutes itself, willingly, nefariously. In the given context, the kiss-act lays bare the heroine’s ostensible “liberation” to be more imagined than real. Her would-be triumph over gendered subjugation exists, if at all, as but an ill-conceived romantic daydream—destined to slake gradually into a woeful destiny of loneliness and imprisonment. Chopin’s brief narration center-stages betrayal, challenges authenticity and valorizes consummate illegitimacy

Kernel Interpolation for Scalable Structured Gaussian Processes (KISS-GP)

We introduce a new structured kernel interpolation (SKI) framework, which generalises and unifies inducing point methods for scalable Gaussian processes (GPs). SKI methods produce kernel approximations for fast computations through kernel interpolation. The SKI framework clarifies how the quality of an inducing point approach depends on the number of inducing (aka interpolation) points, interpolation strategy, and GP covariance kernel. SKI also provides a mechanism to create new scalable kernel methods, through choosing different kernel interpolation strategies. Using SKI, with local cubic kernel interpolation, we introduce KISS-GP, which is 1) more scalable than inducing point alternatives, 2) naturally enables Kronecker and Toeplitz algebra for substantial additional gains in scalability, without requiring any grid data, and 3) can be used for fast and expressive kernel learning. KISS-GP costs O(n) time and storage for GP inference. We evaluate KISS-GP for kernel matrix approximation, kernel learning, and natural sound modelling.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure

Comparing Infrared Star-Formation Rate Indicators with Optically-Derived Quantities

We examine the UV reprocessing efficiencies of warm dust and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) through an analysis of the mid- and far-infrared surface luminosity densities of 85 nearby H$\alpha$-selected star-forming galaxies detected by the volume-limited KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey (KISS). Because H$\alpha$ selection is not biased toward continuum-bright objects, the KISS sample spans a wide range in stellar masses ($10^8$-$10^{12}\rm{M}_\odot$), as well as H$\alpha$ luminosity ($10^{39}$-$10^{43}\rm{ergs/s}$), mid-infrared 8.0$\mu$m luminosity ($10^{41}$-$10^{44}\rm{ergs/s}$), and [Bw-R] color (-.1-2.2). We find that mid-infrared polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission in the Spitzer IRAC 8.0$\mu$m band correlates with star formation, and that the efficiency with which galaxies reprocess UV energy into PAH emission depends on metallicity. We also find that the relationship between far-infrared luminosity in the Spitzer MIPS 24$\mu$m band pass and H$\alpha$-measured star-formation rate varies from galaxy to galaxy within our sample; we do not observe a metallicity dependence in this relationship. We use optical colors and established mass-to-light relationships to determine stellar masses for the KISS galaxies; we compare these masses to those of nearby galaxies as a confirmation that the volume-limited nature of KISS avoids strong biases. We also examine the relationship between IRAC 3.6$\mu$m luminosity and galaxy stellar mass, and find a color-dependent correlation between the two.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

KISS: Stochastic Packet Inspection Classifier for UDP Traffic

This paper proposes KISS, a novel Internet classifica- tion engine. Motivated by the expected raise of UDP traffic, which stems from the momentum of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) streaming appli- cations, we propose a novel classification framework that leverages on statistical characterization of payload. Statistical signatures are derived by the means of a Chi-Square-like test, which extracts the protocol "format," but ignores the protocol "semantic" and "synchronization" rules. The signatures feed a decision process based either on the geometric distance among samples, or on Sup- port Vector Machines. KISS is very accurate, and its signatures are intrinsically robust to packet sampling, reordering, and flow asym- metry, so that it can be used on almost any network. KISS is tested in different scenarios, considering traditional client-server proto- cols, VoIP, and both traditional and new P2P Internet applications. Results are astonishing. The average True Positive percentage is 99.6%, with the worst case equal to 98.1,% while results are al- most perfect when dealing with new P2P streaming applications