Has Academic Freedom Failed? Can Liberalism Defend It?

Patrick Deneen has argued that both the philosophy of liberalism and the principle of academic freedom are fundamentally flawed. In this piece I argue that the liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill provides a convincing counterargument to Deneen’s criticisms. Author information: Dan Becker graduated from Ursinus College in May of 2019 with degrees in philosophy and psychology

A sufficiently fast algorithm for finding close to optimal clique trees

AbstractWe offer an algorithm that finds a clique tree such that the size of the largest clique is at most (2α+1)k where k is the size of the largest clique in a clique tree in which this size is minimized and α is the approximation ratio of an α-approximation algorithm for the 3-way vertex cut problem. When α=4/3, our algorithm's complexity is O(24.67kn·poly(n)) and it errs by a factor of 3.67 where poly(n) is the running time of linear programming. This algorithm is extended to find clique trees in which the state space of the largest clique is bounded. When k=O(logn), our algorithm yields a polynomial inference algorithm for Bayesian networks

The Power of Stories: Using Fiction & Nonfiction to Develop Information Literacy Skills

In this presentation, we will outline our experiences crafting new credit-bearing courses that integrate information literacy skills using non-traditional materials. Through the use of fiction and films based on real women, science fiction, and popular nonfiction, we will share how we built courses that satisfy university information literacy curriculum requirements. One challenge of credit-bearing information literacy courses can be providing authentic context for students. Students may not understand how skills transfer outside of the artificial contexts provided. We will address ways course content can be used to provide authentic context by asking students to use non-traditional materials to consider research. We will demonstrate the way that course content has impacted our design decisions, assessment, and instructional activities while adhering to common objectives. Course A uses fictional depictions of real women in fiction and film to engage students in discussions of authority. Students research the real women whose stories are told fictionally. This research forces them to grapple with what authority means in both fictional and non-fictional contexts. Course B uses science fiction to understand complex, technical science concepts. By combining active learning with science fiction stories and films, students can identify the role of science in a story, problems and solutions in modern science, and pseudoscience. Science fiction helps students communicate scientific concepts clearly, value forms of science journalism, and explore “forbidden knowledge,” the scientific method, transparency, and peer review. Course C uses popular nonfiction to consider scholarship as a conversation. Using Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari, students are asked to consider the larger conversation that Ansari is part of. By considering the book’s research, students consider academic privilege and how we determine authority. Through stand-up comedy and Ansari’s Netflix show students evaluate how purpose impacts production and product, and how conversations are constructed as accessible or inaccessible

TGFβ signaling is associated with changes in inflammatory gene expression and perineuronal net degradation around inhibitory neurons following various neurological insults.

Brain damage due to stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI), both leading causes of serious long-term disability, often leads to the development of epilepsy. Patients who develop post-injury epilepsy tend to have poor functional outcomes. Emerging evidence highlights a potential role for blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction in the development of post-injury epilepsy. However, common mechanisms underlying the pathological hyperexcitability are largely unknown. Here, we show that comparative transcriptome analyses predict remodeling of extracellular matrix (ECM) as a common response to different types of injuries. ECM-related transcriptional changes were induced by the serum protein albumin via TGFβ signaling in primary astrocytes. In accordance with transcriptional responses, we found persistent degradation of protective ECM structures called perineuronal nets (PNNs) around fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons, in a rat model of TBI as well as in brains of human epileptic patients. Exposure of a naïve brain to albumin was sufficient to induce the transcriptional and translational upregulation of molecules related to ECM remodeling and the persistent breakdown of PNNs around fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons, which was contingent on TGFβ signaling activation. Our findings provide insights on how albumin extravasation that occurs upon BBB dysfunction in various brain injuries can predispose neural circuitry to the development of chronic inhibition deficits

Corrugated Silicon Platelet Feed Horn Array for CMB Polarimetry at 150 GHz

Next generation cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization anisotropy measurements will feature focal plane arrays with more than 600 millimeter-wave detectors. We make use of high-resolution photolithography and wafer-scale etch tools to build planar arrays of corrugated platelet feeds in silicon with highly symmetric beams, low cross-polarization and low side lobes. A compact Au-plated corrugated Si feed designed for 150 GHz operation exhibited performance equivalent to that of electroformed feeds: ~-0.2 dB insertion loss, <-20 dB return loss from 120 GHz to 170 GHz, <-25 dB side lobes and <-23 dB cross-polarization. We are currently fabricating a 50 mm diameter array with 84 horns consisting of 33 Si platelets as a prototype for the SPTpol and ACTpol telescopes. Our fabrication facilities permit arrays up to 150 mm in diameter.Comment: 12 pages; SPIE proceedings for Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V (Conference 7741, June 2010, San Diego, CA, USA

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