Freshmen Welcome

The preparations for this year’s Freshman Welcome actually started 5 months in advance. This preparation was to start a Big Brother-Big Sister Program between the upper classmen and incoming freshmen. To do this, each upper classman was given the names of 4 to 5 incoming students to correspond with during the summer. Through these letters the new students found out about things like forestry, forestry club, and college life, and it also gave them someone to go to when they had a question

Maximizing the Sum Rate in Cellular Networks Using Multi-Convex Optimization

In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm to maximize the sum rate in interference-limited scenarios where each user decodes its own message with the presence of unknown interferences and noise considering the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio. It is known that the problem of adapting the transmit and receive filters of the users to maximize the sum rate with a sum transmit power constraint is non-convex. Our novel approach is to formulate the sum rate maximization problem as an equivalent multi-convex optimization problem by adding two sets of auxiliary variables. An iterative algorithm which alternatingly adjusts the system variables and the auxiliary variables is proposed to solve the multi-convex optimization problem. The proposed algorithm is applied to a downlink cellular scenario consisting of several cells each of which contains a base station serving several mobile stations. We examine the two cases, with or without several half-duplex amplify-and-forward relays assisting the transmission. A sum power constraint at the base stations and a sum power constraint at the relays are assumed. Finally, we show that the proposed multi-convex formulation of the sum rate maximization problem is applicable to many other wireless systems in which the estimated data symbols are multi-affine functions of the system variables.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure

Christmas Tree Sales

This year’s Christmas tree sales were an overwhelming success. Four hundred trees were sold in seven days, bringing in more than one thousand dollars profit

Proton Structure Functions from Chiral Dynamics and QCD Constraints

The spin fractions and deep inelastic structure functions of the proton are analyzed using chiral field theory involving Goldstone bosons. A detailed comparison with recent chiral models sheds light on their successful description of the spin fractions of the proton as being due to neglecting helicity non-flip chiral transitions. This approximation is valid for zero mass quarks but not for constituent quarks. Since the chiral spin fraction models with the pure spin-flip approximation reproduce the measured spin fractions of the proton, axialvector constituent-quark-Goldstone boson coupling is found to be inconsistent with the proton spin data. Initial quark valence distributions are then constructed using quark counting constraints at Bjorken $x \to 1$ and Regge behavior at $x \to 0$. Sea quark distributions predicted by chiral field theory on this basis have correct order of magnitude and shape. The spin fractions agree with the data.Comment: 30 pages, 2 tables, 10 figure-ps files, LaTex. Accepted by Int. J. Mod. Phys. A. More details added on polarized chiral splitting function

The Open Anchoring Quest Dataset: Anchored Estimates from 96 Studies on Anchoring Effects

People’s estimates are biased toward previously considered numbers (anchoring). We have aggregated all available data from anchoring studies that included at least two anchors into one large dataset. Data were standardized to comprise one estimate per row, coded according to a wide range of variables, and are available for download and analyses online (https://metaanalyses.shinyapps.io/OpAQ/). Because the dataset includes both original and meta-data it allows for fine-grained analyses (e.g., correlations of estimates for different tasks) but also for meta-analyses (e.g., effect sizes for anchoring effects).Journal of Open Psychology Dat

Computability of simple games: A complete investigation of the sixty-four possibilities

Classify simple games into sixteen "types" in terms of the four conventional axioms: monotonicity, properness, strongness, and nonweakness. Further classify them into sixty-four classes in terms of finiteness (existence of a finite carrier) and algorithmic computability. For each such class, we either show that it is empty or give an example of a game belonging to it. We observe that if a type contains an infinite game, then it contains both computable ones and noncomputable ones. This strongly suggests that computability is logically, as well as conceptually, unrelated to the conventional axioms.Comment: 25 page

Artifacts from manganese reduction in rock samples prepared by focused ion beam (FIB) slicing for X-ray microspectroscopic analysis

Abstract. Manganese (Mn)-rich natural rock coatings, so-called rock varnishes, are discussed controversially regarding their genesis. Biogenic and abiogenic mechanisms, as well as a combination of both, have been proposed to be responsible for the Mn oxidation and deposition process. We conducted scanning transmission X-ray microscopy - near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (STXM-NEXAFS) measurements to examine the abundance and spatial distribution of the different oxidation states of Mn within these nano- to micrometer thick crusts. Such microanalytical measurements of thin and hard rock crusts require sample preparation with minimal contamination risk. Focused ion beam (FIB) slicing, a well-established technique in geosciences, was used in this study to obtain 100–200 nm thin slices of the samples for X-ray transmission spectroscopy. However, even though this preparation is suitable to investigate element distributions and structures in rock samples, we observed that, using standard parameters, modifications of the Mn oxidation states occur in the surfaces of the FIB slices. Based on our results, the preparation technique likely causes the reduction of Mn4+ to Mn2+/3+. We draw attention to this issue, since FIB slicing, SEM imaging, and other preparation and visualization techniques operating in the keV range are well-established in geosciences, but researchers are often unaware of the potential for reduction of Mn and possibly other elements in the samples’ surface layers