Vegetation of Slope Forests Along the Des Moines River

Vegetation of the slope forests along the Des Moines River in the area of the Saylorville Reservoir was surveyed with the objectives of determining composition of these forests and of providing data prior to flooding. The study consisted of two sections - transect study and a random-point study. The transect study provided data for which species-pair correlations were determined. The random-point study provided a more detailed description of the species composition. Average cover values for herbaceous species which are presented indicate great variability from stand to stand. The same conclusions were drawn from the importance values of canopy species. The continuum approach was used to order the data. Many herbaceous species show trends in relation to the continuum index, indicating variations in ecological amplitude of the component species. Parthenocissus quinquefolia decreases in stands with high continuum-index numbers, while Anemonella thalictroides shows the reverse tendency

On the epistemic view of quantum states

We investigate the strengths and limitations of the Spekkens toy model, which is a local hidden variable model that replicates many important properties of quantum dynamics. First, we present a set of five axioms that fully encapsulate Spekkens' toy model. We then test whether these axioms can be extended to capture more quantum phenomena, by allowing operations on epistemic as well as ontic states. We discover that the resulting group of operations is isomorphic to the projective extended Clifford Group for two qubits. This larger group of operations results in a physically unreasonable model; consequently, we claim that a relaxed definition of valid operations in Spekkens' toy model cannot produce an equivalence with the Clifford Group for two qubits. However, the new operations do serve as tests for correlation in a two toy bit model, analogous to the well known Horodecki criterion for the separability of quantum states.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure

The Entrepreneurial State Cannot Deliver Without an Entrepreneurial Society

In The Entrepreneurial State and Mission Economy, Mazzucato argues that the state should adopt a proactive and entrepreneurial approach, setting ambitious missions that inspire collective action nurtured by emotions of urgency. By defining clear goals, the state can mobilize resources and talent from both the public and private sectors. We do not challenge Mazzucato’s facts or discredit her analysis. We agree that states successfully have and perhaps should continue to play a role in mobilizing talent and other resources around urgent societal challenges. Healthcare, climate change, and inequality are not problems that “markets” will solve on their own, and relevant and competent government organizations are an essential tool in our toolbox to address them. We would even agree that the state would do well to formulate clear missions and approach them in an entrepreneurial fashion. That is, experiment with an open mind and be willing to fail and learn, rather than develop interventions on the drawing board and then stick to them because of bureaucratic or political lock-in. But all that effort will only pay off, often in many unexpected ways, if we do not succumb to the fallacy of hindsight. That is, a well-defined and entrepreneurially executed state-led mission can only succeed in also generating a stream of valuable but largely unanticipated spin-off innovations, if the conditions for acting on such opportunities are right.</p

Chandra Observations of ULIRGs: Extended Hot Gas Halos in Merging Galaxies

We study the properties of hot gaseous halos in 10 nearby ultraluminous IRAS galaxies observed with the ACIS instrument on board Chandra. For all sample galaxies, diffuse soft X-ray emissions are found within ~10 kpc of the central region; their spectra are well fitted by a MEKAL model plus emission lines from alpha-elements and other ions. The temperature of the hot gas is about 0.7 keV and metallicity is about 1 solar. Outside the central region, extended hot gaseous halos are found for nine out of the ten ULIRGs. Most spectra of these extended halos can be fitted with a MEKAL model with a temperature of about 0.6 keV and a low metallicity (~ 0.1 solar). We discuss the implications of our results on the origin of X-ray halos in elliptical galaxies and the feedback processes associated with starbursts.Comment: 31 pages, 6 figuers, ApJ in press, accepted versio

Virtual Assistant Device Arbitration by Time-of-Flight Based on Hotword

When multiple devices that support a virtual assistant activated by an activation hotword are present in a particular location, the virtual assistant can trigger on more than one device when a user utters the hotword. There is no existing mechanism for accurate device arbitration. This can cause a device other than the one the user intended (e.g., nearest to the user or most suited to the command) to respond to the user request, leading to user frustration. This disclosure describes techniques to determine the relative proximity of each device to a user using audio propagation time from the user’s utterance of a hotword. The respective proximity of each device to the user is sent to a device arbitration server, which determines with high accuracy and effectiveness the particular device that should respond to the user request

Rendimiento Académico de Segundo Grado, Escuela Flor de Pino de la Comunidad de Alamikangban, 2011

La presente investigación se realizó en la comunidad indígena de Alamikangban del municipio de Prinzapolka en el segundo grado del centro Escolar Flor de Pino. El estudio es de tipo cualitativo de carácter descriptiva, porque describe la situación del rendimiento académico de los estudiantes del segundo grado A y B. Las técnicas utilizadas en la recopilación de la información son entrevistas a estudiantes, madres y padres de familia, docentes de segundo grado y la directora de la escuela, además se aplicó la observación directa en el aula de clases. Entre los hallazgos del estudio se encontró que el rendimiento académico al final del año escolar 2011correspondiente al segundo grado A y B fue de 71.4% y la aprobado y la diferencia de 28.6% es reprobado, el cual es un rendimiento aceptable. En relación a la matrícula final fue de 70 estudiantes en ambos sexos, pero 20 estudiantes reprobaron en las asignaturas de Miskitu y Español (L1 y L2). Donde 15 estudiantes de los reprobados son miskitus y 5 son mestizos y de éstos 7 son mujeres y 13 varones. Seguidamente las causas que influyeron en el rendimiento académico de las y los estudiantes durante el año escolar 2011 se encontraron la metodología aplicada por las docentes, la cual no fue la apropiada para la enseñanza de L1 y L2. La escasez de materiales didácticos y en especial los textos de los estudiantes, la motivación del estudiante que reciben de los padres y madres de familias, la falta de hábito de estudio por parte de los niños, ya que no hacen tareas, no practican la lectura y escritura. También la desintegración familiar, entre ellas las madres solteras que trabajan como domésticas y se van de la comunidad, la migración e inmigración por parte de padres y madres de familias que llegan a la comunidad e ingresan sus hijos a la escuela y no saben hablar miskitus y después de cierto tiempo retiran a sus niños de clases y por último el trabajo agrícola que realizan los padres de familias porque en época de siembra y cosecha se llevan los niños para otras comunidade

TALEN-mediated apc mutation in Xenopus tropicalis phenocopies familial adenomatous polyposis

Truncating mutations in the tumor suppressor gene adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) are the initiating step in the vast majority of sporadic colorectal cancers, and they underlie familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) syndromes. Modeling of APC- driven tumor formation in the mouse has contributed substantially to our mechanistic understanding of the associated disease, but additional models are needed to explore therapeutic opportunities and overcome current limitations of mouse models. We report on a novel and penetrant genetic cancer model in Xenopus tropicalis, an aquatic tetrapod vertebrate with external development, diploid genome and short life cycle. Tadpoles and froglets derived from embryos injected with TAL effector nucleases targeting the apc gene rapidly developed intestinal hyperplasia and other neoplasms observed in FAP patients, including desmoid tumors and medulloblastomas. Bi-allelic apc mutations causing frame shifts were detected in the tumors, which displayed activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and showed increased cellular proliferation. We further demonstrate that simultaneous double bi-allelic mutation of apc and a non-relevant gene is possible in the neoplasias, opening the door for identification and characterization of effector or modifier genes in tumors expressing truncated apc. Our results demonstrate the power of modeling human cancer in Xenopus tropicalis using mosaic TALEN-mediated bi-allelic gene disruption

Sexual consumption within sexual labour: producing and consuming erotic texts and sexual commodities

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Porn Studies on 7-9-2015, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2015.1051308This paper explores the various connections between two particularly feminized fields of sexual culture – erotic fiction and sex toys – through an examination of the accounts of five UK women who are both readers and writers (or producers) of erotic fiction. The qualitative data evidence, first, a network of production and consumption across the fields of erotica and sex toys, and, second, the formulation of erotica writing/producing as a form of implicit sex work in which sexual commodities are mobilized. Analysis is divided into three themes: ‘informing sexual knowledge’, in which the educative function of erotica is examined, particularly around sex-toy use; ‘mobilizing sexual experiences’, in which I argue that writing erotica involves mobilizing one's body and sexual experience to add value to the product; and ‘managing emotional risks’, in which the emotion, identity and boundary management strategies particular to this form of implicit sexual labour are examined