Simultaneous Coherent Structure Coloring facilitates interpretable clustering of scientific data by amplifying dissimilarity

The clustering of data into physically meaningful subsets often requires assumptions regarding the number, size, or shape of the subgroups. Here, we present a new method, simultaneous coherent structure coloring (sCSC), which accomplishes the task of unsupervised clustering without a priori guidance regarding the underlying structure of the data. sCSC performs a sequence of binary splittings on the dataset such that the most dissimilar data points are required to be in separate clusters. To achieve this, we obtain a set of orthogonal coordinates along which dissimilarity in the dataset is maximized from a generalized eigenvalue problem based on the pairwise dissimilarity between the data points to be clustered. This sequence of bifurcations produces a binary tree representation of the system, from which the number of clusters in the data and their interrelationships naturally emerge. To illustrate the effectiveness of the method in the absence of a priori assumptions, we apply it to three exemplary problems in fluid dynamics. Then, we illustrate its capacity for interpretability using a high-dimensional protein folding simulation dataset. While we restrict our examples to dynamical physical systems in this work, we anticipate straightforward translation to other fields where existing analysis tools require ad hoc assumptions on the data structure, lack the interpretability of the present method, or in which the underlying processes are less accessible, such as genomics and neuroscience

A Step Towards Stronger Police-Youth Relationships: Examining How Youth and Police View the Role of Police in Communities

In an effort to identify barriers to stronger police-youth relationships, this study looks at whether there is a potential contrast in the way police officers and youth view the role of police in communities. An extensive review of literature was conducted to examine how policing practices may influence the way officers view their role in addition to the way youth perceptions of police are shaped. A deficit was revealed in the research on how youth view a police officer’s role, in particular. To answer this question, a sequential explanatory design was implemented. Multi-phase research was conducted through two slightly varying surveys followed by in-person interviews that were completed by 16-24-year-old members of a YouthBuild program and police department, both of which are located in a mid-sized coastal Massachusetts city. Findings showed that the hurdle was not in the way police officers and youth view the role of police, but in the perceptions that youth hold of police in addition to the lack of understanding by police of youth experience in the community. Suggestions are made towards overcoming such hurdles through the implementation of community partnerships with organizations that provide support to local youth. Limitations presented in time allotted for research, number of participants, and the diversity of police officer participants

How Women Of Color Feminists Enabled Coalitional Members to Work Across Difference

This research analyzes different theories of coalition in relation to the feminist movement. It first analyzes the model of a leftist hegemony as a type of coalitional model theorized by Laclau and Mouffe. Laclau and Mouffe move outside of a Marxist paradigm by acknowledging that unjust social conflicts exist beyond class. They theorize that a coalition based on multiple groups of oppressed people coming together in the name of liberty and equality will be enough to address sexism. Their model does not account for the inevitable factions that would exist within such a large coalition. The ethical component Laclau and Mouffe are missing can be found in the works of women of color feminists. The research then turns to women of color feminists and analyzes the different ethical components of coalition they developed and why. The research looks to the works of Maria Lugones in which she argues that playfulness, empathy, and self-reflection are necessities of coalitions, a speech spoken by Bernice Johnson Reagan in which she theorizes coalition as a dangerous place that people must be willing to suffer through for survival, interviews with Audre Lorde in which she speaks to the need of self-acceptance and love in a coalition, and work by Mari Matsuda in when she argues that coalitions need to be open-ended and must have a foundation of trust. Examination of their works show that there are multiple working models of feminist coalitions but that a comprehensive coalition theory requires a model of how coalitional members should interact with each other

The History and Future of Genetically Modified Crops: Frankenfoods, Superweeds, and the Developing World

In a 1992 letter to the New York Times, a man named Paul Lewis referred to genetically modified (GM) crops as Frankenfood, and wryly suggested it might be time to gather the villagers, light some torches and head to the castle. Little did Lewis know that his neologism would become the rallying cry for activists around the world protesting the dangers of genetic engineering. The environmental activist group Greenpeace made great use of the Frankenfood epithet in their anti-GM campaigns of the 1990s, though they have since backed away from the word and the hardline stance it represents. But genetically modified crops, like Dr. Frankenstein\u27s legendary creation, continue to be sadly misunderstood

Extreme pCO2 Variability in a Macrotidal Eelgrass Meadow Mediated by Tidal and Diurnal Cycles

It has been suggested that photosynthetic activity of macrophytes in coastal areas can decrease pCO2 and may provide areas of refuge for organisms sensitive to ocean acidification. To assess the effect of a large eel grass meadow on water chemistry, discreet samples were collected hourly over several 24 hour cycles in Padilla Bay, WA. Calculated pCO2 ranged from less than 100 ppm to greater than 700 ppm, often over the course of only a few hours. Aragonite saturation, DIC and pH were also highly variable. These data, weather station data and in-situ sensors(Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve) were used to develop a model that estimates pCO2 for the summer season. Tidal height and photosynthetically active radiation were the most significant predictors of pH and pCO2, with Salinity and DO. Model estimates suggest that an even wider range of pCO2 values are common in this estuary, especially in the early summer. Data from a mooring in 20 meters of water over a kilometer from the intertidal eel grass environment, provide some hints of the spatial extent of influence

A Role for Actin, Cdc1p, and Myo2p in the Inheritance of Late Golgi Elements in \u3cem\u3eSaccharomyces cerevisiae\u3c/em\u3e

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Golgi elements are present in the bud very early in the cell cycle. We have analyzed this Golgi inheritance process using fluorescence microscopy and genetics. In rapidly growing cells, late Golgi elements show an actin-dependent concentration at sites of polarized growth. Late Golgi elements are apparently transported into the bud along actin cables and are also retained in the bud by a mechanism that may involve actin. A visual screen for mutants defective in the inheritance of late Golgi elements yielded multiple alleles of CDC1. Mutations in CDC1 severely depolarize the actin cytoskeleton, and these mutations prevent late Golgi elements from being retained in the bud. The efficient localization of late Golgi elements to the bud requires the type V myosin Myo2p, further suggesting that actin plays a role in Golgi inheritance. Surprisingly, early and late Golgi elements are inherited by different pathways, with early Golgi elements localizing to the bud in a Cdc1p- and Myo2p-independent manner. We propose that early Golgi elements arise from ER membranes that are present in the bud. These two pathways of Golgi inheritance in S. cerevisiae resemble Golgi inheritance pathways in vertebrate cells

The primary cosmic ray spectrum above 10 to the 19th power eV

Progress on a re-evaluation of the spectrum of cosmic rays determined with the Haverah Park shower array is described. Particular attention is paid to the reality of some giant showers