Full-depth Coadds of the WISE and First-year NEOWISE-Reactivation Images

The Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) Reactivation mission released data from its first full year of observations in 2015. This data set includes ~2.5 million exposures in each of W1 and W2, effectively doubling the amount of WISE imaging available at 3.4 and 4.6 microns relative to the AllWISE release. We have created the first ever full-sky set of coadds combining all publicly available W1 and W2 exposures from both the AllWISE and NEOWISE-Reactivation (NEOWISER) mission phases. We employ an adaptation of the unWISE image coaddition framework (Lang 2014), which preserves the native WISE angular resolution and is optimized for forced photometry. By incorporating two additional scans of the entire sky, we not only improve the W1/W2 depths, but also largely eliminate time-dependent artifacts such as off-axis scattered moonlight. We anticipate that our new coadds will have a broad range of applications, including target selection for upcoming spectroscopic cosmology surveys, identification of distant/massive galaxy clusters, and discovery of high-redshift quasars. In particular, our full-depth AllWISE+NEOWISER coadds will be an important input for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) selection of luminous red galaxy and quasar targets. Our full-depth W1/W2 coadds are already in use within the DECam Legacy Survey (DECaLS) and Mayall z-band Legacy Survey (MzLS) reduction pipelines. Much more work still remains in order to fully leverage NEOWISER imaging for astrophysical applications beyond the solar system.Comment: coadds available at http://unwise.me, zoomable full-sky rendering at http://legacysurvey.org/viewe

Does Sex Sell? A Look at the Effects of Sex and Violence on Motion Picture Revenues

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is responsible for assigning all movies one of five movie ratings (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17). Previous research has found that G and PGrated movies perform better at the box office, yet movie studios continue to make more PG-13 and R-rated movies. Other research has used data on a film’s levels of sex, violence and profanity (SVP), to explore the link between SVP, movie rating, and box office revenues. In this paper, we use a more recent data set and include additional variables to account for movie quality to further explore this relationship. We investigate the issue of how the amount of SVP has changed in the last fifteen years. We also use theater-level data for a major Midwestern theater chain to extend our analysis beyond total box office revenues, examining the effects on revenues in four ticket categories: adult, child, senior citizen, and student. Finally, we explore the difference between foreign and domestic box office responses to SVP levels and suggest that there is a justifiable reason why movie studios continue to produce far more PG-13 and R movies than G and PG movies

Does Sex Sell? A Look at the Effects of Sex and Violence on Motion Picture Revenues

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is responsible for assigning all movies one of five movie ratings (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17). Previous research has found that G and PGrated movies perform better at the box office, yet movie studios continue to make more PG-13 and R-rated movies. Other research has used data on a film’s levels of sex, violence and profanity (SVP), to explore the link between SVP, movie rating, and box office revenues. In this paper, we use a more recent data set and include additional variables to account for movie quality to further explore this relationship. We investigate the issue of how the amount of SVP has changed in the last fifteen years. We also use theater-level data for a major Midwestern theater chain to extend our analysis beyond total box office revenues, examining the effects on revenues in four ticket categories: adult, child, senior citizen, and student. Finally, we explore the difference between foreign and domestic box office responses to SVP levels and suggest that there is a justifiable reason why movie studios continue to produce far more PG-13 and R movies than G and PG movies

Draft Genome Sequence of Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens Strain UCD-AKU (Phylum Actinobacteria).

Here we present the draft genome of an actinobacterium, Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens strain UCD-AKU, isolated from a residential carpet. The genome assembly contains 3,692,614 bp in 130 contigs. This is the first member of the Curtobacterium genus to be sequenced

Draft Genome Sequence of Kocuria sp. Strain UCD-OTCP (Phylum Actinobacteria).

Here, we present the draft genome of Kocuria sp. strain UCD-OTCP, a member of the phylum Actinobacteria, isolated from a restaurant chair cushion. The assembly contains 3,791,485 bp (G+C content of 73%) and is contained in 68 scaffolds

Draft Genome Sequence of Dietzia sp. Strain UCD-THP (Phylum Actinobacteria).

Here, we present the draft genome sequence of an actinobacterium, Dietzia sp. strain UCD-THP, isolated from a residential toilet handle. The assembly contains 3,915,613 bp. The genome sequences of only two other Dietzia species have been published, those of Dietzia alimentaria and Dietzia cinnamea

Genetic Variation and the Fate of Beneficial Mutations in Asexual Populations

The fate of a newly arising beneficial mutation depends on many factors, such as the population size and the availability and fitness effects of other mutations that accumulate in the population. It has proved difficult to understand how these factors influence the trajectories of particular mutations, since experiments have primarily focused on characterizing successful clones emerging from a small number of evolving populations. Here, we present the results of a massively parallel experiment designed to measure the full spectrum of possible fates of new beneficial mutations in hundreds of experimental yeast populations, whether these mutations are ultimately successful or not. Using strains in which a particular class of beneficial mutation is detectable by fluorescence, we followed the trajectories of these beneficial mutations across 592 independent populations for 1000 generations. We find that the fitness advantage provided by individual mutations plays a surprisingly small role. Rather, underlying “background” genetic variation is quickly generated in our initially clonal populations and plays a crucial role in determining the fate of each individual beneficial mutation in the evolving population

Virtual Ground Truth, and Pre-selection of 3D Interest Points for Improved Repeatability Evaluation of 2D Detectors

In Computer Vision, finding simple features is performed using classifiers called interest point (IP) detectors, which are often utilised to track features as the scene changes. For 2D based classifiers it has been intuitive to measure repeated point reliability using 2D metrics given the difficulty to establish ground truth beyond 2D. The aim is to bridge the gap between 2D classifiers and 3D environments, and improve performance analysis of 2D IP classification on 3D objects. This paper builds on existing work with 3D scanned and artificial models to test conventional 2D feature detectors with the assistance of virtualised 3D scenes. Virtual space depth is leveraged in tests to perform pre-selection of closest repeatable points in both 2D and 3D contexts before repeatability is measured. This more reliable ground truth is used to analyse testing configurations with a singular and 12 model dataset across affine transforms in x, y and z rotation, as well as x,y scaling with 9 well known IP detectors. The virtual scene's ground truth demonstrates that 3D pre-selection eliminates a large portion of false positives that are normally considered repeated in 2D configurations. The results indicate that 3D virtual environments can provide assistance in comparing the performance of conventional detectors when extending their applications to 3D environments, and can result in better classification of features when testing prospective classifiers' performance. A ROC based informedness measure also highlights tradeoffs in 2D/3D performance compared to conventional repeatability measures.Comment: Accepted for publication in CCVPR 2018 Conference Proceedings, Wellington, New Zealand. 11 pages, 5 figure

Preventive Behaviors as Correlates of Periodontal Health Status

Objectives: This investigation examined current practices of brushing, flossing, and periodic dental visits and their association with periodontal health status. Methods : Data were collected using face-to-face interviews and 40-minute in-home dental examinations with a probability sample of adults 18 years of age or older, having at least one tooth, and living in housing units in the Detroit tricounty area. Complete examinations were performed on 319 individuals. Results : On average, subjects reported brushing their teeth about twice a day. About one-third of the population reported flossing at least once a day. Loss of periodontal attachment was related to frequency of brushing while subjects who exhibited acceptable flossing ability had less plaque and calculus, shallower pocket depths, and less attachment loss. Subjects reporting a periodic dental visit at least once a year had less plaque, gingivitis, and calculus than subjects reporting less frequent visits. In regression analyses, brushing thoroughness, flossing ability and frequency, and dental visit frequency were predictors of lower plaque, gingivitis, and calculus scores. In turn, these scores were predictors of shallower pocket depths and less attachment loss. Conclusions : Brushing, flossing, and periodic dental visits were correlated with better periodontal health. The behaviors appeared to be indirectly related to pocket depth and attachment loss through their associations with plaque, gingivitis, and calculus levels.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65572/1/j.1752-7325.1995.tb02324.x.pd