Feedback computability on Cantor space

We introduce the notion of feedback computable functions from $2^\omega$ to $2^\omega$, extending feedback Turing computation in analogy with the standard notion of computability for functions from $2^\omega$ to $2^\omega$. We then show that the feedback computable functions are precisely the effectively Borel functions. With this as motivation we define the notion of a feedback computable function on a structure, independent of any coding of the structure as a real. We show that this notion is absolute, and as an example characterize those functions that are computable from a Gandy ordinal with some finite subset distinguished

Unique transcriptomic landscapes identified in idiopathic spontaneous and infection related preterm births compared to normal term births.

Preterm birth (PTB) is leading contributor to infant death in the United States and globally, yet the underlying mechanistic causes are not well understood. Histopathological studies of preterm birth suggest advanced villous maturity may have a role in idiopathic spontaneous preterm birth (isPTB). To better understand pathological and molecular basis of isPTB, we compared placental villous transcriptomes from carefully phenotyped cohorts of PTB due to infection or isPTB between 28-36 weeks gestation and healthy term placentas. Transcriptomic analyses revealed a unique expression signature for isPTB distinct from the age-matched controls that were delivered prematurely due to infection. This signature included the upregulation of three IGF binding proteins (IGFBP1, IGFBP2, and IGFBP6), supporting a role for aberrant IGF signaling in isPTB. However, within the isPTB expression signature, we detected secondary signature of inflammatory markers including TNC, C3, CFH, and C1R, which have been associated with placental maturity. In contrast, the expression signature of the gestational age-matched infected samples included upregulation of proliferative genes along with cell cycling and mitosis pathways. Together, these data suggest an isPTB molecular signature of placental hypermaturity, likely contributing to the premature activation of inflammatory pathways associated with birth and providing a molecular basis for idiopathic spontaneous birth

Edge Partitions of Optimal 22-plane and 33-plane Graphs

A topological graph is a graph drawn in the plane. A topological graph is $k$-plane, $k>0$, if each edge is crossed at most $k$ times. We study the problem of partitioning the edges of a $k$-plane graph such that each partite set forms a graph with a simpler structure. While this problem has been studied for $k=1$, we focus on optimal $2$-plane and $3$-plane graphs, which are $2$-plane and $3$-plane graphs with maximum density. We prove the following results. (i) It is not possible to partition the edges of a simple optimal $2$-plane graph into a $1$-plane graph and a forest, while (ii) an edge partition formed by a $1$-plane graph and two plane forests always exists and can be computed in linear time. (iii) We describe efficient algorithms to partition the edges of a simple optimal $2$-plane graph into a $1$-plane graph and a plane graph with maximum vertex degree $12$, or with maximum vertex degree $8$ if the optimal $2$-plane graph is such that its crossing-free edges form a graph with no separating triangles. (iv) We exhibit an infinite family of simple optimal $2$-plane graphs such that in any edge partition composed of a $1$-plane graph and a plane graph, the plane graph has maximum vertex degree at least $6$ and the $1$-plane graph has maximum vertex degree at least $12$. (v) We show that every optimal $3$-plane graph whose crossing-free edges form a biconnected graph can be decomposed, in linear time, into a $2$-plane graph and two plane forests

TRMM-related research: Tropical rainfall and energy analysis experiment

The overall science objective of the participation in TRMM is the determination of daily rainfall and latent heating in the tropical atmosphere using TRMM and complementary spacecraft observations. The major focus these first three years has been to extend, in space and time, the TRMM satellite observations of rainfall. Observations from TRMM active and passive microwave radiometers will provide the fundamental observations for understanding the hydrological cycle of the tropics. Due to the orbit of the TRMM satellite and the extreme variability of convective rain systems, the TRMM observations provide rainfall estimates representative of a one month period. Monthly mean rainfall rates provide valuable information; however, this time scale limitation neglects the great value of the data towards a better understanding of the physics of tropical convection. Many tropical periodicities will not be characterized by these monthly averages, e.g. diurnal cycles, the 4-6 day easterly waves, and the 30 to 60 day cycle. In the spatial domain, due to its orbit, the TRMM satellite will over-fly many convective systems only once. Indeed, some precipitating systems will not be sampled at all. Observations from geostationary satellites can be used to extend the TRMM observations to smaller time and space scales. Although geostationary satellites cannot probe the interiors of precipitating systems, they do observe their life cycles. To acquire information on cloud water content and rain rate, it is proposed to combine geostationary and other satellite observations with the TRMM satellite measurements

THE CHOICE OF A SURVIVING SIBLING AS “SCAPEGOAT” IN SOME CASES OF MATERNAL BEREAVEMENT—A CASE REPORT

— This paper presents a description of a pathological variation of the mourning process in mothers who have suffered a narcissistically damaging psychological or actual loss of a child. A surviving sibling chosen as a displacement object for the mother's sense of guilt and self-hatred. The parent-child estrangement continues for years after the trauma with an extremity and severity that often necessitates court intervention. A case illustration is presented and a concluding suggestion that counseling by available professionals at the time of the bereavement would be both economical and effective in forestalling this variety of pathological family scapegoating.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73748/1/j.1469-7610.1975.tb00367.x.pd

Beyond Outerplanarity

We study straight-line drawings of graphs where the vertices are placed in convex position in the plane, i.e., convex drawings. We consider two families of graph classes with nice convex drawings: outer $k$-planar graphs, where each edge is crossed by at most $k$ other edges; and, outer $k$-quasi-planar graphs where no $k$ edges can mutually cross. We show that the outer $k$-planar graphs are $(\lfloor\sqrt{4k+1}\rfloor+1)$-degenerate, and consequently that every outer $k$-planar graph can be $(\lfloor\sqrt{4k+1}\rfloor+2)$-colored, and this bound is tight. We further show that every outer $k$-planar graph has a balanced separator of size $O(k)$. This implies that every outer $k$-planar graph has treewidth $O(k)$. For fixed $k$, these small balanced separators allow us to obtain a simple quasi-polynomial time algorithm to test whether a given graph is outer $k$-planar, i.e., none of these recognition problems are NP-complete unless ETH fails. For the outer $k$-quasi-planar graphs we prove that, unlike other beyond-planar graph classes, every edge-maximal $n$-vertex outer $k$-quasi planar graph has the same number of edges, namely $2(k-1)n - \binom{2k-1}{2}$. We also construct planar 3-trees that are not outer $3$-quasi-planar. Finally, we restrict outer $k$-planar and outer $k$-quasi-planar drawings to \emph{closed} drawings, where the vertex sequence on the boundary is a cycle in the graph. For each $k$, we express closed outer $k$-planarity and \emph{closed outer $k$-quasi-planarity} in extended monadic second-order logic. Thus, closed outer $k$-planarity is linear-time testable by Courcelle's Theorem.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017

Spectral Dependence of MODIS Cloud Droplet Effective Radius Retrievals for Marine Boundary Layer Clouds

Low-level warm marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds cover large regions of Earth's surface. They have a significant role in Earth's radiative energy balance and hydrological cycle. Despite the fundamental role of low-level warm water clouds in climate, our understanding of these clouds is still limited. In particular, connections between their properties (e.g. cloud fraction, cloud water path, and cloud droplet size) and environmental factors such as aerosol loading and meteorological conditions continue to be uncertain or unknown. Modeling these clouds in climate models remains a challenging problem. As a result, the influence of aerosols on these clouds in the past and future, and the potential impacts of these clouds on global warming remain open questions leading to substantial uncertainty in climate projections. To improve our understanding of these clouds, we need continuous observations of cloud properties on both a global scale and over a long enough timescale for climate studies. At present, satellite-based remote sensing is the only means of providing such observations

Whole genome sequencing-based mapping and candidate identification of mutations from fixed zebrafish tissue

As forward genetic screens in zebrafish become more common, the number of mutants that cannot be identified by gross morphology or through transgenic approaches, such as many nervous system defects, has also increased. Screening for these difficult-to-visualize phenotypes demands techniques such as whole-mount in situ hybridization (WISH) or antibody staining, which require tissue fixation. To date, fixed tissue has not been amenable for generating libraries for whole genome sequencing (WGS). Here, we describe a method for using genomic DNA from fixed tissue and a bioinformatics suite for WGS-based mapping of zebrafish mutants. We tested our protocol using two known zebrafish mutant alleles, gpr126st49 and egr2bfh227, both of which cause myelin defects. As further proof of concept we mapped a novel mutation, stl64, identified in a zebrafish WISH screen for myelination defects. We linked stl64 to chromosome 1 and identified a candidate nonsense mutation in the F-box and WD repeat domain containing 7 (fbxw7) gene. Importantly, stl64 mutants phenocopy previously described fbxw7vu56 mutants, and knockdown of fbxw7 in wild-type animals produced similar defects, demonstrating that stl64 disrupts fbxw7. Together, these data show that our mapping protocol can map and identify causative lesions in mutant screens that require tissue fixation for phenotypic analysis

Bounded-Angle Spanning Tree: Modeling Networks with Angular Constraints

We introduce a new structure for a set of points in the plane and an angle $\alpha$, which is similar in flavor to a bounded-degree MST. We name this structure $\alpha$-MST. Let $P$ be a set of points in the plane and let $0 < \alpha \le 2\pi$ be an angle. An $\alpha$-ST of $P$ is a spanning tree of the complete Euclidean graph induced by $P$, with the additional property that for each point $p \in P$, the smallest angle around $p$ containing all the edges adjacent to $p$ is at most $\alpha$. An $\alpha$-MST of $P$ is then an $\alpha$-ST of $P$ of minimum weight. For $\alpha < \pi/3$, an $\alpha$-ST does not always exist, and, for $\alpha \ge \pi/3$, it always exists. In this paper, we study the problem of computing an $\alpha$-MST for several common values of $\alpha$. Motivated by wireless networks, we formulate the problem in terms of directional antennas. With each point $p \in P$, we associate a wedge $W_p$ of angle $\alpha$ and apex $p$. The goal is to assign an orientation and a radius $r_p$ to each wedge $W_p$, such that the resulting graph is connected and its MST is an $\alpha$-MST. (We draw an edge between $p$ and $q$ if $p \in W_q$, $q \in W_p$, and $|pq| \le r_p, r_q$.) Unsurprisingly, the problem of computing an $\alpha$-MST is NP-hard, at least for $\alpha=\pi$ and $\alpha=2\pi/3$. We present constant-factor approximation algorithms for $\alpha = \pi/2, 2\pi/3, \pi$. One of our major results is a surprising theorem for $\alpha = 2\pi/3$, which, besides being interesting from a geometric point of view, has important applications. For example, the theorem guarantees that given any set $P$ of $3n$ points in the plane and any partitioning of the points into $n$ triplets, one can orient the wedges of each triplet {\em independently}, such that the graph induced by $P$ is connected. We apply the theorem to the {\em antenna conversion} problem

New sociotechnical insights in interaction design

New challenges are facing interaction design. On one hand because of advances in technology – pervasive, ubiquitous, multimodal and adaptive computing – are changing the nature of interaction. On the other, web 2.0, massive multiplayer games and collaboration software extends the boundaries of HCI to deal with interaction in settings of remote communication and collaboration. The aim of this workshop is to provide a forum for HCI practitioners and researchers interested in knowledge from the social sciences to discuss how sociotechnical insights can be used to inform interaction design, and more generally how social science methods and theories can help to enrich the conceptual framework of systems development and participatory design. Position papers submissions are invited to address key aspects of current research and practical case studies