Total cross sections for positrons scattered elastically from helium based on new measurements of total ionization cross sections

An improved technique is presented for employing the 2.3m spectrometer to measure total ionization cross sections, Q sub ion, for positrons incident on He. The new ionization cross section agree with the values reported earlier. Estimates are also presented of total elastic scattering cross section, Q sub el, obtained by subtracting from total scattering cross sections, Q sub tot, reported in the literature, the Q sub ion and Q sub Ps (total positronium formation cross sections) and total excitation cross sections, Q sub ex, published by another researcher. The Q sub ion and Q sub el measured with the 3m high resolution time-of-flight spectrometer for 54.9eV positrons are in accord with the results from the 2.3m spectrometer. The ionization cross sections are in fair agreement with theory tending for the most part to be higher, especially at 76.3 and 88.5eV. The elastic cross section agree quite well with theory to the vicinity of 50eV, but at 60eV and above the experimental elastic cross sections climb to and remain at about 0.30 pi a sub o sq while the theoretical values steadily decrease

Tourisme et accueil du public au mont Ventoux.

Aujourd'hui, terre mythique pour les cyclistes, terre d'aventures pour les sportifs de pleine nature, voire pour les skieurs, et passage obligé d'un circuit touristique provençal, le mont Ventoux est un lieu qui attire naturellement. Face à cet enjeu actuel, des réflexions autour de l'aménagement touristique de ce massif doivent être entreprises par l'ensemble des partenaires

La réserve de biosphère du mont Ventoux.

Aboutissement de l'épopée scientifique du Ventoux, la réserve de biosphère du Mont Ventoux voit le jour en 1990. C'est aux nombreux travaux scientifiques menés sur le massif, révélant son immense richesse tant sur les plans biologique et écologique qu'humain, que l'on doit cette reconnaissance internationale

Estimation of X-Band Scattering Properties of Tree Components

An X-band FM-CW very fine range resolution scatterometer was used to acquire backscattering data for individual branches for a number of tree species. Using a model to describe the scattering source function, dσ/dR = f(η, κ), and an experimental procedure for selected removal of plant parts, allows the estimation of η, the volume backscatter coefficient, and κ, the volume extinction coefficient. It is found that 1) leaves are strong attenuators as well as scatterers, 2) the albedo, ω = η/κ, at a given angle of incidence, is nearly independent of the tree type, 3) the tree limbs are good attenuators but rather poor scatterers, and 4) the albedo changes as a function of the angle of incidence and for deciduous trees is also a function of the season

Circulating Exosomal microRNAs as Predictive Biomarkers of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response in Breast Cancer

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is an increasingly used approach for treatment of breast cancer. The pathological complete response (pCR) is considered a good predictor of disease-specific survival. This study investigated whether circulating exosomal microRNAs could predict pCR in breast cancer patients treated with NACT. Method: Plasma samples of 20 breast cancer patients treated with NACT were collected prior to and after the first cycle. RNA sequencing was used to determine microRNA profiling. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was used to explore the expression patterns and survivability of the candidate miRNAs, and their potential targets based on the expression levels and copy number variation (CNV) data. Results: Three miRNAs before that NACT (miR-30b, miR-328 and miR-423) predicted pCR in all of the analyzed samples. Upregulation of miR-127 correlated with pCR in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). After the first NACT dose, pCR was predicted by exo-miR-141, while miR-34a, exo-miR182, and exo-miR-183 predicted non-pCR. A significant correlation between the candidate miRNAs and the overall survival, subtype, and metastasis in breast cancer, suggesting their potential role as predictive biomarkers of pCR. Conclusions: If the miRNAs identified in this study are validated in a large cohort of patients, they might serve as predictive non-invasive liquid biopsy biomarkers for monitoring pCR to NACT in breast cancer

Numeracy in the Jury Box: Numerical Ability, Meaningful Anchors, and Damage Award Decision Making

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this recordThis project employs an experimental design to test theoretical predictions regarding how numeracy can assist jurors in determining damage awards to compensate a plaintiff for pain and suffering, and how the use of meaningful numerical anchors may produce similar benefits. Mock jurors (N=345) reviewed a legal case and were asked to give a dollar award to compensate the plaintiff for pain and suffering. The presence and nature of a numerical anchor and the duration of pain and suffering were manipulated. Participants’ numeracy was measured. Results provided support for predictions. Jurors higher in numeracy gave awards that more appropriately reflected the duration of pain and suffering, and showed less variability in awards. Similar benefits were obtained by exposing jurors to meaningful numerical anchors to help them contextualize dollar amounts. Thus, introducing meaningful anchors to jurors may provide similar benefits to numeracy, without the drawbacks associated with selecting only numerate jurors

Guiding Jurors’ Damage Award Decisions: Experimental Investigations of Approaches Based on Theory and Practice

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Psychological Association via the DOI in this recordTheory and practitioner “scaling” advice informed hypotheses that guidance to mock jurors should (a) increase validity (vertical equity), decrease variability (reliability), and improve coherence in awards; (b) improve subjective experience of jurors’ decision-making (rated helpfulness, confidence, and difficulty); and (c) have the greatest impact when it includes both verbal and numerical benchmarks. Three mock juror experiments (N = 197 students, N = 476 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers, and N = 391 students) tested novel scaling approaches and predictions from the Hans-Reyna model of damage award decision-making. Jurors reviewed a legal case and provided a dollar award to compensate plaintiffs for pain and suffering following concussions. Experiments varied injury severity (low vs. high) and the plaintiff attorney’s guidance (no guidance, verbal guidance, numerical guidance, and verbal-plus-numerical guidance) between subjects. Results support predictions that, even without guidance, mock jurors appropriately categorize the gist of injuries as low or high severity, and dollar awards reflect that gist. Participants gave a higher award for more severe injuries, indicating that they extracted the qualitative gist of damages. Also, as expected, guidance, particularly verbal-plus-numerical guidance, had beneficial effects on jurors’ subjective experience, with participants reporting that it was a helpful aid in decision-making. Numerical guidance, both with and without verbal guidance, reduced award variability in severe injury cases in all three experiments. Scaling guidance did not improve the already strong gist-verbatim correspondence or award validity. Both grasping the gist of damages and mapping that gist onto numbers are important, but jurors appear to benefit from assistance with numerical mapping

Episodic memory does not add up: Verbatim-gist superposition predicts violations of the additive law of probability

a b s t r a c t Fuzzy-trace theory's assumptions about memory representation are cognitive examples of the familiar superposition property of physical quantum systems. When those assumptions are implemented in a formal quantum model (QEMc), they predict that episodic memory will violate the additive law of probability: If memory is tested for a partition of an item's possible episodic states, the individual probabilities of remembering the item as belonging to each state must sum to more than 1. We detected this phenomenon using two standard designs, item false memory and source false memory. The quantum implementation of fuzzy-trace theory also predicts that violations of the additive law will vary in strength as a function of reliance on gist memory. That prediction, too, was confirmed via a series of manipulations (e.g., semantic relatedness, testing delay) that are thought to increase gist reliance. Surprisingly, an analysis of the underlying structure of violations of the additive law revealed that as a general rule, increases in remembering correct episodic states do not produce commensurate reductions in remembering incorrect states

Experimental constraints on a dark matter origin for the DAMA annual modulation effect

A claim for evidence of dark matter interactions in the DAMA experiment has been recently reinforced. We employ a new type of germanium detector to conclusively rule out a standard isothermal galactic halo of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) as the explanation for the annual modulation effect leading to the claim. Bounds are similarly imposed on a suggestion that dark pseudoscalars mightlead to the effect. We describe the sensitivity to light dark matter particles achievable with our device, in particular to Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Model candidates.Comment: v4: introduces recent results from arXiv:0807.3279 and arXiv:0807.2926. Sensitivity to pseudoscalars is revised in light of the first. Discussion on the subject adde