Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy observed by H.E.S.S

Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are characterized by a large measured mass-to-light ratio and are not expected to be the site of high-luminosity non-thermal high-energy gamma-ray emissions. Therefore they are among the most promising candidates for indirect searches of dark matter particle annihilation signals in gamma rays. The Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy has been regularly observed by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) of Cherenkov telescopes for more than 90 hours, searching for TeV gamma-ray emission from annihilation of dark matter particles. In absence of a significant signal, new constraints on the annihilation crosssection of the dark matter particles applicable for Majorana Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are derived.Comment: In Proceedings of the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2013), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil

Some universal noiseless multiterminal source coding theorems

Fixed and variable-rate block and sliding-block weighted universal noiseless coding theorems are obtained which extend the Slepian-Wolf theorem for a single multiterminal source to a family of finite-alphabet, stationary, ergodic multiterminal sources

THE STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE OF MAYA SACRIFICE: A CASE STUDY OF RITUALIZED HUMAN SACRIFICE AT MIDNIGHT TERROR CAVE, BELIZE

The site of Midnight Terror Cave is located in the karstic Roaring Creek Valley near the village of Springfield in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was discovered in 2006 and fieldwork was conducted by the Western Belize Regional Cave Survey Project and California State University, Los Angeles, between 2008 and 2010. This dissertation focuses on the osteological analysis of the bones of 118 individuals recovered and recorded at the site. The osteological, contextual, and demographic evidence is framed within ritual and costly signaling theory of structural violence and viewed with the ethnohistoric and ethnographic literature of the ancient and modern Maya in mind. Analyses of the data indicate that the site’s remains constitute the largest assemblage of probably sacrificed individuals in the Southern Maya Lowlands, and that these sacrifices may have coincided with the Terminal Classic droughts. Demographic analysis indicates that the mortuary assemblage is significantly different from what would be expected for a “normal” cemetery assemblage of a horticultural society. The large quantities of older children and young adults apparently sacrificed in this cave suggest that these may have been petitions to the Maya rain deity. Isotopic data and paleopathology evidence suggest that geographical outsiders and possible social outcasts were at least sometimes chosen for sacrifice

Association between health insurance literacy and avoidance of health care services owing to cost

Importance: Navigating health insurance and health care choices requires considerable health insurance literacy. Although recommended preventive services are exempt from out-of-pocket costs under the Affordable Care Act, many people may remain unaware of this provision and its effect on their required payment. Little is known about the association between individuals\u27 health insurance literacy and their use of preventive or nonpreventive health care services. Objective: To assess the association between health insurance literacy and self-reported avoidance of health care services owing to cost. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this survey study, a US national, geographically diverse, nonprobability sample of 506 US residents aged 18 years or older with current health insurance coverage was recruited to participate in an online survey between February 22 and 23, 2016. Main Outcomes and Measures: The validated 21-item Health Insurance Literacy Measure (HILM) assessed individuals\u27 self-rated confidence in selecting and using health insurance (score range, 0-84, with higher scores indicating greater levels of health insurance literacy). Dependent variables included delayed or foregone preventive and nonpreventive services in the past 12 months owing to perceived costs, and preventive and nonpreventive use of services. Covariates included age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, educational level, high-deductible health insurance plan, health literacy, numeracy, and chronic health conditions. Analyses included descriptive statistics and bivariate and multivariable logistic regression. Results: A total of 506 of 511 participants who began the survey completed it (participation rate, 99.0%). Of the 506 participants, 339 (67.0%) were younger than 35 years (mean [SD] age, 34 [10.4] years), 228 (45.1%) were women, 406 of 504 who reported race (80.6%) were white, and 245 (48.4%) attended college for 4 or more years. A total of 228 participants (45.1%) had 1 or more chronic health condition, 361 of 500 (72.2%) who responded to the survey item had seen a physician in the outpatient setting in the past 12 months, and 446 of the 501 (89.0%) who responded to the survey item had their health insurance plan for 12 or more months. One hundred fifty respondents (29.6%) reported having delayed or foregone care because of cost. The mean (SD) HILM score was 63.5 (12.3). In multivariable logistic regression, each 12-point increase in HILM score was associated with a lower likelihood of both delayed or foregone preventive care (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.61; 95% CI, 0.48-0.78) and delayed or foregone nonpreventive care (aOR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.55-0.91). Conclusions and Relevance: This study\u27s findings suggest that lower health insurance literacy may be associated with greater avoidance of both preventive and nonpreventive services. It appears that to improve appropriate use of recommended health care services, including preventive health services, clinicians, health plans, and policymakers may need to communicate health insurance concepts in accessible ways regardless of individuals\u27 health insurance literacy. Plain language communication may be able to improve patients\u27 understanding of services exempt from out-of-pocket costs

On a zero speed sensitive cellular automaton

Using an unusual, yet natural invariant measure we show that there exists a sensitive cellular automaton whose perturbations propagate at asymptotically null speed for almost all configurations. More specifically, we prove that Lyapunov Exponents measuring pointwise or average linear speeds of the faster perturbations are equal to zero. We show that this implies the nullity of the measurable entropy. The measure m we consider gives the m-expansiveness property to the automaton. It is constructed with respect to a factor dynamical system based on simple "counter dynamics". As a counterpart, we prove that in the case of positively expansive automata, the perturbations move at positive linear speed over all the configurations

Structural Complexity of Random Binary Trees

Abstract — For each positive integer n, let Tn be a random rooted binary tree having finitely many vertices and exactly n leaves. We can view H(Tn), the entropy of Tn, as a measure of the structural complexity of tree Tn in the sense that approximately H(Tn) bits suffice to construct Tn. We are interested in determining conditions on the sequence (Tn: n = 1, 2, · · ·) under which H(Tn)/n converges to a limit as n → ∞. We exhibit some of our progress on the way to the solution of this problem. I

Mu and Delta Opioid Receptors Oppositely Regulate Motor Impulsivity in the Signaled Nose Poke Task

Impulsivity is a primary feature of many psychiatric disorders, most notably attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and drug addiction. Impulsivity includes a number of processes such as the inability to delay gratification, the inability to withhold a motor response, or acting before all of the relevant information is available. These processes are mediated by neural systems that include dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, glutamate and cannabinoids. We examine, for the first time, the role of opioid systems in impulsivity by testing whether inactivation of the mu- (Oprm1) or delta- (Oprd1) opioid receptor gene alters motor impulsivity in mice. Wild-type and knockout mice were examined on either a pure C57BL6/J (BL6) or a hybrid 50% C57Bl/6J–50% 129Sv/pas (HYB) background. Mice were trained to respond for sucrose in a signaled nose poke task that provides independent measures of associative learning (responses to the reward-paired cue) and motor impulsivity (premature responses). Oprm1 knockout mice displayed a remarkable decrease in motor impulsivity. This was observed on the two genetic backgrounds and did not result from impaired associative learning, as responses to the cue signaling reward did not differ across genotypes. Furthermore, mutant mice were insensitive to the effects of ethanol, which increased disinhibition and decreased conditioned responding in wild-type mice. In sharp contrast, mice lacking the Oprd1 gene were more impulsive than controls. Again, mutant animals showed no deficit in associative learning. Ethanol completely disrupted performance in these animals. Together, our results suggest that mu-opioid receptors enhance, whereas delta-opioid receptors inhibit, motor impulsivity. This reveals an unanticipated contribution of endogenous opioid receptor activity to disinhibition. In a broader context, these data suggest that alterations in mu- or delta-opioid receptor function may contribute to impulse control disorders

Mannose and xylose cannot be used as selectable agents for Vitis vinifera L. transformation

Only a few selectable marker systems for genetic engineering of grapevine have been studied in the past and only resistance to antibiotics has been used to recover transgenic vines. Since the acceptance of antibiotic resistances is small mannose and xylose were evaluated as selectable agents for the genetic transformation of grapevine. Survival of suspension cells and the ability to develop embryos from embryogenic calli were estimated in the presence of mannose and xylose. Embryogenic calli obtained from anther cultures of Vitis vinifera cv. Chardonnay were able to grow and to produce embryos even if mannose or xylose were the only source of carbohydrates