Disciplined Improvisation:Characteristics of inquiry in mindfulness-based teaching

Evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is rapidly growing as interest in this field expands. By contrast, there are few empirical analyses of the pedagogy of MBSR and MBCT. Development of the evidence base concerning the teaching of MBCT or MBSR would support the integrity of the approach in the context of rapid expansion. This paper describes an applied conversation analysis (CA) of the characteristics of inquiry in the MBSR and MBCT teaching process. Audio-recordings of three 8-week MBCT and MBSR classes, with 24, 12, and 6 participants, were transcribed and systematically examined. The study focused on the teacher-led interactive inquiry which takes place in each session after a guided meditation practice. The study describes and analyzes three practices within the inquiry process that can be identified in sequences of talk: turn-taking talk involving questions and reformulations; the development of participant skills in a particular way of describing experience; and talk that constructs intersubjective connection and affiliation within the group. CA enables fine-grained analysis of the interactional work of mindfulness-based inquiry. Inquiry is a process of disciplined improvisation which is both highly specific to the conditions of the moment it took place in and uses repeated and recognizable patterns of interaction

Association of ultra-rare coding variants with genetic generalized epilepsy: a case-control whole exome sequencing study

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to identify genes associated with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) by combining large cohorts enriched with individuals with a positive family history. Secondarily, we set out to compare the association of genes independently with familial and sporadic GGE. METHODS: We performed a case-control whole exome sequencing study in unrelated individuals of European descent diagnosed with GGE (previously recruited and sequenced through multiple international collaborations) and ancestry-matched controls. The association of ultra-rare variants (URVs; in 18 834 protein-coding genes) with epilepsy was examined in 1928 individuals with GGE (vs. 8578 controls), then separately in 945 individuals with familial GGE (vs. 8626 controls), and finally in 1005 individuals with sporadic GGE (vs. 8621 controls). We additionally examined the association of URVs with familial and sporadic GGE in two gene sets important for inhibitory signaling (19 genes encoding γ-aminobutyric acid type A [GABA(A)] receptors, 113 genes representing the GABAergic pathway). RESULTS: GABRG2 was associated with GGE (p = 1.8 × 10(-5)), approaching study-wide significance in familial GGE (p = 3.0 × 10(-6)), whereas no gene approached a significant association with sporadic GGE. Deleterious URVs in the most intolerant subgenic regions in genes encoding GABA(A) receptors were associated with familial GGE (odds ratio [OR] = 3.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.9-7.8, false discovery rate [FDR]-adjusted p = .0024), whereas their association with sporadic GGE had marginally lower odds (OR = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.3-6.7, FDR-adjusted p = .022). URVs in GABAergic pathway genes were associated with familial GGE (OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.3-2.5, FDR-adjusted p = .0024) but not with sporadic GGE (OR = 1.3, 95% CI = .9-1.9, FDR-adjusted p = .19). SIGNIFICANCE: URVs in GABRG2 are likely an important risk factor for familial GGE. The association of gene sets of GABAergic signaling with familial GGE is more prominent than with sporadic GGE

Large Deviations for Random Trees

We consider large random trees under Gibbs distributions and prove a Large Deviation Principle (LDP) for the distribution of degrees of vertices of the tree. The LDP rate function is given explicitly. An immediate consequence is a Law of Large Numbers for the distribution of vertex degrees in a large random tree. Our motivation for this study comes from the analysis of RNA secondary structures.Comment: 10 page

Elemental and Isotopic Analysis of Uranium Oxide an NIST Glass Standards by FEMTOSECOND-LA-ICP-MIC-MS

The objective of this work was to test and demonstrate the analytical figures of merit of a femtosecond-laser ablation (fs-LA) system coupled with an inductively coupled plasma-multi-ion collector-mass spectrometer (ICP-MIC-MS). The mobile fs-LA sampling system was designed and assembled at Ames Laboratory and shipped to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where it was integrated with an ICP-MIC-MS. The test period of the integrated systems was February 2-6, 2009. Spatially-resolved analysis of particulate samples is accomplished by 100-shot laser ablation using a fs-pulsewidth laser and monitoring selected isotopes in the resulting ICP-MS transient signal. The capability of performing high sensitivity, spatially resolved, isotopic analyses with high accuracy and precision and with virtually no sample preparation makes fs-LA-ICP-MIC-MS valuable for the measurement of actinide isotopes at low concentrations in very small samples for nonproliferation purposes. Femtosecond-LA has been shown to generate particles from the sample that are more representative of the bulk composition, thereby minimizing weaknesses encountered in previous work using nanosecond-LA (ns-LA). The improvement of fs- over ns-LA sampling arises from the different mechanisms for transfer of energy into the sample in these two laser pulse-length regimes. The shorter duration fs-LA pulses induce less heating and cause less damage to the sample than the longer ns pulses. This results in better stoichiometric sampling (i.e., a closer correlation between the composition of the ablated particles and that of the original solid sample), which improves accuracy for both intra- and inter-elemental analysis. The primary samples analyzed in this work are (a) solid uranium oxide powdered samples having different {sup 235}U to {sup 238}U concentration ratios, and (b) glass reference materials (NIST 610, 612, 614, and 616). Solid uranium oxide samples containing {sup 235}U in depleted, natural, and enriched abundances were analyzed as particle aggregates immobilized in a collodion substrate. The uranium oxide samples were nuclear reference materials (CRMs U0002, U005-A, 129-A, U015, U030-A, and U050) obtained from New Brunswick Laboratory-USDOE

A Virtual Reality Platform for Modeling Cognitive Development

We present a virtual reality platform for developing and evaluating embodied models of cognitive development. The platform facilitates structuring of the learning agent, of its visual environment, and of other virtual characters that interact with the learning agent. It allows us to systematically study the role of the visual and social environment for the development of particular cognitive skills in a controlled fashion. We describe how it is currently being used for constructing an embodied model of the emergence of gaze following in infant-caregiver interactions and discuss the relative benefits of virtual vs. robotic modeling approaches.(1

Simulation and Optimisation for the Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays

The SLAC T-576 beam test experiment showed the feasibility of the radar detection technique to probe high-energy particle cascades in dense media. Corresponding particle-level simulations indicate that the radar method has very promising sensitivity to probe the > PeV cosmic neutrino flux. As such, it is crucial to demonstrate the in-situ feasibility of the radar echo method, which is the main goal of the current RET-CR experiment. Although the final goal of the Radar Echo Telescope is to detect cosmic neutrinos, we seek a proof of principle using cosmic-ray air showers penetrating the (high-altitude) Antarctic ice sheet. When an UHECR particle cascade propagates into a high-elevation ice sheet, it produces a dense in-ice cascade of charged particles which can reflect incoming radio waves. Using a surface cosmic-ray detector, the energy and direction of the UHECR can be reconstructed, and as such this constitutes a nearly ideal in-situ test beam to provide the proof of principle for the radar echo technique. RET-CR will consist of a transmitter array, receiver antennas and a surface scintillator plate array. Here we present the simulation efforts for RET-CR performed to optimise the surface array layout and triggering system, which affords an estimate of the expected event rate

Investigating signal properties of UHE particles using in-ice radar for the RET experiment

The Radar Echo Telescope (RET) experiment plans to use the radar technique to detect Ultra-High Energy (UHE) cosmic rays and neutrinos in the polar ice sheets. Whenever an UHE particle collides with an ice molecule, it produces a shower of relativistic particles, which leaves behind an ionization trail. Radio waves can be reflected off this trail and be detected in antennas. It is critical to understand such a radar signal's key properties as that will allow us to do vertex, angular and energy reconstruction of the primary UHE particle. We will discuss various simulation methods, which will fundamentally rely on ray tracing, to recreate the radar signal and test our reconstruction methods

Toward High Energy Neutrino Detection with the Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays (RET-CR)

The Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays (RET-CR) is a pathfinder experiment for the Radar Echo Telescope for Neutrinos (RET-N), a next-generation in-ice detection experiment for ultra high energy neutrinos. RET-CR will serve as the testbed for the radar echo method to probe high-energy particle cascades in nature, whereby a transmitted radio signal is reflected from the ionization left in its wake. This method, recently validated at SLAC experiment T576, shows promising preliminary sensitivity to neutrino-induced cascades above the energy range of optical detectors like IceCube. RET-CR intends to use an in-nature test beam: the dense, in-ice cascade produced when the air shower of an ultra high energy cosmic ray impacts a high-elevation ice sheet. This in-ice cascade, orders of magnitude more dense than the in-air shower that preceded it, is similar in profile and density to the expected cascade from a neutrino-induced cascade deep in the ice. RET-CR will be triggered using surface scintillator technology and will be used to develop, test, and deploy the hardware, firmware, and software needed for the eventual RET-N. We present the strategy, status, and design sensitivity of RET-CR, and discuss its application to eventual neutrino detection

Autoimmune and infectious skin diseases that target desmogleins

Desmosomes are intercellular adhesive junctions of epithelial cells that contain two major transmembrane components, the desmogleins (Dsg) and desmocollins (Dsc), which are cadherin-type cell–cell adhesion molecules and are anchored to intermediate filaments of keratin through interactions with plakoglobin and desmoplakin. Desmosomes play an important role in maintaining the proper structure and barrier function of the epidermis and mucous epithelia. Four Dsg isoforms have been identified to date, Dsg1–Dsg4, and are involved in several skin and heart diseases. Dsg1 and Dsg3 are the two major Dsg isoforms in the skin and mucous membranes, and are targeted by IgG autoantibodies in pemphigus, an autoimmune disease of the skin and mucous membranes. Dsg1 is also targeted by exfoliative toxin (ET) released by Staphylococcus aureus in the infectious skin diseases bullous impetigo and staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS). ET is a unique serine protease that shows lock and key specificity to Dsg1. Dsg2 is expressed in all tissues possessing desmosomes, including simple epithelia and myocardia, and mutations in this gene are responsible for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia. Dsg4 plays an important adhesive role mainly in hair follicles, and Dsg4 mutations cause abnormal hair development. Recently, an active disease model for pemphigus was generated by a unique approach using autoantigen-deficient mice that do not acquire tolerance against the defective autoantigen. Adoptive transfer of Dsg3−/− lymphocytes into mice expressing Dsg3 induces stable anti-Dsg3 IgG production with development of the pemphigus phenotype. This mouse model is a valuable tool with which to investigate immunological mechanisms of harmful IgG autoantibody production in pemphigus. Further investigation of desmoglein molecules will continue to provide insight into the unsolved pathophysiological mechanisms of diseases and aid in the development of novel therapeutic strategies with minimal side effects

The Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays

The Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays (RET-CR) was deployed in May 2023. RET-CR aims to show the in-nature viability of the radar echo method to probe in-ice particle cascades induced by ultra high energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. The RET-CR surface system detects ultra-high-energy cosmic ray air showers impinging on the ice using conventional methods. The surface detector then triggers the in-ice component of RET-CR, that is subsequently used to search for a radar echo off of the in-ice continuation of an ultra high energy cosmic ray air shower. The two systems independently reconstruct the energy, arrival direction, and impact point of the particle cascade. Here we present RET-CR, its installation in Greenland, and the first operations and results of RET-CR