The Supernova Relic Neutrino Background

An upper bound to the supernova relic neutrino background from all past Type II supernovae is obtained using observations of the Universal metal enrichment history. We show that an unambiguous detection of these relic neutrinos by the Super-Kamiokande detector is unlikely. We also analyze the event rate in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (where coincident neutrons from anti-nu_e + D --> n + n + e+ might enhance background rejection), and arrive at the same conclusion. If the relic neutrino flux should be observed to exceed our upper bound and if the observations of the metal enrichment history (for z<1) are not in considerable error, then either the Type II supernova rate does not track the metal enrichment history or some mechanism may be responsible for transforming anti-nu_{mu,tau} --> anti-nu_e.Comment: Matches version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Foundations for Esports Curricula in Higher Education

Esports has generated an industry of increasing economic and cultural importance. In recent years, universities and other higher education institutions have responded to its growth by establishing programmes of study which aim to satisfy the needs of innovators operating in the area. However, there is not yet consensus on what an esports curriculum should include. Despite being a technology-driven sector with ethical and professional dimensions that intersect computing, current ACM and IEEE curricula do not mention esports. Furthermore, existing courses tend to provide teaching and training on a wide variety of topics aside from those traditionally in computer science. These include: live events management; psychological research; sports science; marketing; public relations; video (livestream) production; and community management; in addition to coaching and communication. This working group examined the requirements for developing esports studies at universities with a focus on understanding career prospects in esports and on the challenges presented by its interdisciplinary complexity. Thereby, paving the way for a framework to support the design of esports curricula in higher education

Realising local government visions for developing district heating: experiences from a learning country

District heating (DH) has an important role to play in enabling cities to transition to low-carbon heating. Although schemes are commonplace in some countries, in ‘learning countries’ where building-level technologies make up the majority of heating systems there are numerous barriers to introducing DH. Local governments are seen as key actors in helping to create a ‘shared vision’ for DH amongst stakeholders. This study uses interviews with stakeholders from a range of sectors in the UK (an example of a learning country) to examine the visions of local actors for developing DH and the types of national policy that would support local implementation of these visions. The analysis shows that in engaging with DH development local governments seek multiple types of value. Realising this value will most likely happen by taking a long-term, planned approach to development. In contrast, national government policy is geared towards techno-economic criteria and may lead to only a minority of potential sites being developed, without realisation of wider social or environmental benefits aligned to local visions. The work highlights the importance of local strategic planning, enabled by aligned national policy, in realising the full economic, environmental and social benefits of DH

Stimulant Medication and Reading Performance

The study examined the sustained effects of methylphenidate on reading performance in a sample of 42 boys, ages 8 to 11, with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Two subgroups were formed based on the presence or absence of co-occurring conduct disorders. Subjects were selected on the basis of their positive response to methylphenidate as determined in a series of original medication trials (Forness, Cantwell, Swanson, Hanna, & Youpa, 1991). For the purpose of this study, subjects were placed on their optimal dose of medication for a 6-week period and then tested on measures of oral reading and reading comprehension equivalent to those used in the original trials, retested after a week without medication (placebo), then tested again the following week after return to medication. Only the subgroup with conduct disorders responded, and this response was limited to reading comprehension improvement in only those subjects who also demonstrated improvement in oral reading on original trials. No response differences were found between subjects with or without learning disabilities.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68569/2/10.1177_002221949202500205.pd

The trajectory of clinical responses in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis who achieve sustained remission in response to abatacept: subanalysis of AVERT-2, a randomized phase IIIb study

Background: AVERT-2 (a phase IIIb, two-stage study) evaluated abatacept + methotrexate versus methotrexate alone, in methotrexate-naive, anti-citrullinated protein antibody-positive patients with early (Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease

Microbial Ecology of the Osiris-Rex Assembly Test and Launch Environment.

No abstract availabl

Global typologies of coastal wetland status to inform conservation and management

Global-scale conservation initiatives and policy instruments rely on ecosystem indicators to track progress towards targets and objectives. A deeper understanding of indicator interrelationships would benefit these efforts and help characterize ecosystem status. We study interrelationships among 34 indicators for mangroves, saltmarsh, and seagrass ecosystems, and develop data-driven, spatially explicit typologies of coastal wetland status at a global scale. After accounting for environmental covariates and gap-filling missing data, we obtained two levels of clustering at 5 and 18 typologies, providing outputs at different scales for different end users. We generated 2,845 cells (1° (lat) × 1° (long)) globally, of which 29.7% were characterized by high land- and marine-based impacts and a high proportion of threatened species, 13.5% by high climate-based impacts, and 9.6% were refuges with lower impacts, high fish density and a low proportion of threatened species. We identify instances where specific actions could have positive outcomes for coastal wetlands across regions facing similar issues. For example, land- and marine-based threats to coastal wetlands were associated with ecological structure and function indicators, suggesting that reducing these threats may reduce habitat degradation and threats to species persistence. However, several interdimensional relationships might be affected by temporal or spatial mismatches in data. Weak relationships mean that global biodiversity maps that categorize areas by single indicators (such as threats or trends in habitat size) may not be representative of changes in other indicators (e.g., ecosystem function). By simplifying the complex global mosaic of coastal wetland status and identifying regions with similar issues that could benefit from knowledge exchange across national boundaries, we help set the scene for globally and regionally coordinated conservation

The impact of the metabotropic glutamate receptor and other gene family interaction networks on autism

Although multiple reports show that defective genetic networks underlie the aetiology of autism, few have translated into pharmacotherapeutic opportunities. Since drugs compete with endogenous small molecules for protein binding, many successful drugs target large gene families with multiple drug binding sites. Here we search for defective gene family interaction networks (GFINs) in 6,742 patients with the ASDs relative to 12,544 neurologically normal controls, to find potentially druggable genetic targets. We find significant enrichment of structural defects (P≤2.40E-09, 1.8-fold enrichment) in the metabotropic glutamate receptor (GRM) GFIN, previously observed to impact attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia. Also, the MXD-MYC-MAX network of genes, previously implicated in cancer, is significantly enriched (P≤3.83E-23, 2.5-fold enrichment), as is the calmodulin 1 (CALM1) gene interaction network (P≤4.16E-04, 14.4-fold enrichment), which regulates voltage-independent calcium-activated action potentials at the neuronal synapse. We find that multiple defective gene family interactions underlie autism, presenting new translational opportunities to explore for therapeutic interventions

Reproducibility in the absence of selective reporting : An illustration from large-scale brain asymmetry research

Altres ajuts: Max Planck Society (Germany).The problem of poor reproducibility of scientific findings has received much attention over recent years, in a variety of fields including psychology and neuroscience. The problem has been partly attributed to publication bias and unwanted practices such as p-hacking. Low statistical power in individual studies is also understood to be an important factor. In a recent multisite collaborative study, we mapped brain anatomical left-right asymmetries for regional measures of surface area and cortical thickness, in 99 MRI datasets from around the world, for a total of over 17,000 participants. In the present study, we revisited these hemispheric effects from the perspective of reproducibility. Within each dataset, we considered that an effect had been reproduced when it matched the meta-analytic effect from the 98 other datasets, in terms of effect direction and significance threshold. In this sense, the results within each dataset were viewed as coming from separate studies in an "ideal publishing environment," that is, free from selective reporting and p hacking. We found an average reproducibility rate of 63.2% (SD = 22.9%, min = 22.2%, max = 97.0%). As expected, reproducibility was higher for larger effects and in larger datasets. Reproducibility was not obviously related to the age of participants, scanner field strength, FreeSurfer software version, cortical regional measurement reliability, or regional size. These findings constitute an empirical illustration of reproducibility in the absence of publication bias or p hacking, when assessing realistic biological effects in heterogeneous neuroscience data, and given typically-used sample sizes