Supplemental data for "Bear encounters with seismic stations in Alaska and northwestern Canada"

This collection is established as a supplement to a published manuscript, "Bear encounters with seismic stations in Alaska and northwestern Canada".This project was supported by the National Science Foundation, Grant EAR-1352688

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 3 Controls Neural Stem Cell Activation in Mice and Humans

Peer reviewe

First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment

The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment is a dark matter detector centered on a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. This Letter reports results from LZ's first search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with an exposure of 60 live days using a fiducial mass of 5.5 t. A profile-likelihood ratio analysis shows the data to be consistent with a background-only hypothesis, setting new limits on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon, spin-dependent WIMP-neutron, and spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross-sections for WIMP masses above 9 GeV/c$^2$. The most stringent limit is set at 30 GeV/c$^2$, excluding cross sections above 5.9$\times 10^{-48}$ cm$^2$ at the 90\% confidence level.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. See https://tinyurl.com/LZDataReleaseRun1 for a data release related to this pape

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Gender, Genre, and the Victorian Dramatic Monologue

Gender, Genre, and the Victorian Dramatic Monologue describes how female and male poets used the dramatic monologue to create a dialogue about gender and subjectivity. I first chart the evolution of the dramatic monologue by explaining changing Victorian literary critical values as evident in the use of the terms subjective and objective. As opposed to earlier literary interest in objectivity, later Victorian poets use the monologue to experiment with new subject positions, valuing individual perspectives most. I trace this pattern in the way Victorian poets across the period use the developing monologue to create often simultaneous and overlapping conversations about subjectivity. In the first conversation, poets such as Levy, Mew, and “Michael Field” (Bradley and Cooper) use the Magdalen figure to create a powerful subject position through the fusion of the sexualized and objectified female body and the embodiment of divine female power. In the second conversation, poets feature the prostitute as the ultimate example of an other consumed in an intimate, yet impersonal, relationship in order to explore whether individuals can achieve critical distance, the ability to observe and judge objectively, or whether observation requires a violent mastering of the other, turning the other into an object. Such poems include Dante Gabriel Rossetti\u27s Jenny, Webster\u27s A Castaway, and Browning\u27s Fifine at the Fair. In the third conversation, Christina Rossetti and Mary Coleridge, among others like Hopkins, Swinburne, and “Field,” all experiment with the poetic genre to probe the very paradox at the core of this project—the abject position made subjectively powerful. In the fourth conversation, turn-of-the-century poets like Levy and Kendall create individual speakers with multiple subjectivities, and poets like Webster embrace similar multiplicity through allusive techniques that provide positions of power

The Subventricular Zone Microenvironment and Its Regulation

The subventricular zone (SVZ) is the larger of two neurogenic niches in the murine brain that persists throughout adulthood. Stem cells in the region provide a constant supply of neuronal precursors that migrate through the anterior forebrain to the olfactory bulb where they differentiate and integrate into the olfactory network. This thesis consists of two studies both aimed at elucidating the mechanisms regulating proliferation, migration, and differentiation in the SVZ microenvironment, but through two different approaches. In the first study we utilize a disease model mouse, the MRL/MpJ, which develops late onset systemic lupus erythematosus, but has enhanced regenerative capacities. We revealed these mice had increased SVZ neurogenesis that coincided with clusters of proliferative cells associated with blood vessels. Our study supports the idea that the neural vasculature provides important regulatory signals to the region. In the second study, we focused on EphA4, a tyrosine kinase receptor important for neural development. Its continued expression in the adult SVZ led us to hypothesize that it retained a regulatory role within the region. Using an EphA4 knockout mouse, we reveal that EphA4 organizes astrocytes into glial tubes, which help guide neuroblasts to their destination, the olfactory bulb. These findings provide insight for strategies aimed at promoting neurogenesis and may lead to the development of therapeutic treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

Reading the text right: Robert Browning and iconoclasm

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2003This thesis explores Robert Browning's revolutionary, iconoclastic poetry. Browning utilizes revisionist methodology to approach individualistic truth. Using the idols Francis Bacon outlines in 'Novum Organum' as a means by which to assess Browning's iconoclasm, the paper is organized according to the 'Idols of the Theatre, ' philosophical iconoclasm; 'Idols of the Cave, ' cultural iconoclasm; 'Idols of the Market-Place, ' linguistic iconoclasm; and 'Idols of the Tribe, ' perceptual iconoclasm. It includes analysis of Browning's philosophical iconoclasm in Paracelsus and 'Fra Lippo Lippi;' his cultural iconoclasm in 'Statue and the Bust, ' 'Bishop Blougram's Apology, ' and 'Saul'; his linguistic iconoclasm in 'An Epistle ... of Karshish, the Arab Physician' and 'A Death in the Desert'; and his perceptual iconoclasm in 'Caliban upon Setebos.' Browning, while not overtly political, was revolutionary-minded in the way he viewed his art and the world. Breaking apart the idols of his readers, Browning incites the individual to revolution

Connexin 43-mediated neurovascular interactions regulate neurogenesis in the adult brain subventricular zone

Summary: The subventricular zone (SVZ) is the largest neural stem cell (NSC) niche in the adult brain; herein, the blood-brain barrier is leaky, allowing direct interactions between NSCs and endothelial cells (ECs). Mechanisms by which direct NSC-EC interactions in the adult SVZ control NSC behavior are unclear. We found that Cx43 is highly expressed by SVZ NSCs and ECs, and its deletion in either leads to increased NSC proliferation and neuroblast generation, suggesting that Cx43-mediated NSC-EC interactions maintain NSC quiescence. This is further supported by single-cell RNA sequencing and in vitro studies showing that ECs control NSC proliferation by regulating expression of genes associated with NSC quiescence and/or activation in a Cx43-dependent manner. Cx43 mediates these effects in a channel-independent manner involving its cytoplasmic tail and ERK activation. Such insights inform adult NSC regulation and maintenance aimed at stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative disorders