DEFENDING ALL-MALE EDUCATION: A NEW CULTURAL MOMENT FOR A RENEWED DEBATE

Although all-female schools still prosper and are defended by members of the academic elite, an all-male college has become a near-extinct species. Many people are surprised such a creature still exists. All-male colleges strike many as vestiges of male privilege. They evoke the traditional bastions of power that precluded women from advancing in public life. Single-sex education is not for everyone, but if our educational system is to be truly pluralistic, such an education should be an option. Single-sex education for both genders can be a constructive way to address problems plaguing not only education but the culture as a whole. Educators are now more willing to reevaluate all-male education. While research on single-sex education focuses on women, its conclusions often show significant gains for both genders. Indeed, those who experience an all-male education are usually eager to talk of its empowering effect. In our society, sex is used and exploited as the primary means of self-expression and ultimate fulfillment. It is possible that the single-sex atmosphere might help put such distorted claims into a better perspective. It is time for a new debate about all-male education

On Free-Electron Laser Growing Modes and their Bandwidth

Free-electron lasers play an increasing role in science, from generating unique femtosecond X- ray pulses for single short recording of the protein structures to amplifying feeble interactions in advanced cooling systems for high-energy hadron colliders. While modern Free-electron laser codes can describe their amplification mechanism, a deep analytical understanding of the mechanism is of extreme importance for a number of applications. Mode competition, their growth rates and amplification bandwidth are among the most important parameters of a free-electron laser. A dispersion relation, which defines these important characteristics, can be solved analytically only for a very few simple cases. In this letter we show that for a typical bell-shape energy distribution in electron beam there is no more that one growing mode. We also derive an analytical expression which determines the bandwidth of the free-electron laser.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to PR

The Canada-UK Deep Submillimetre Survey: The Survey of the 14-hour field

We have used SCUBA to survey an area of 50 square arcmin, detecting 19 sources down to a 3sigma sensitivity limit of 3.5 mJy at 850 microns. We have used Monte-Carlo simulations to assess the effect of source confusion and noise on the SCUBA fluxes and positions, finding that the fluxes of sources in the SCUBA surveys are significantly biased upwards and that the fraction of the 850 micron background that has been resolved by SCUBA has been overestimated. The radio/submillmetre flux ratios imply that the dust in these galaxies is being heated by young stars rather than AGN. We have used simple evolution models based on our parallel SCUBA survey of the local universe to address the major questions about the SCUBA sources: (1) what fraction of the star formation at high redshift is hidden by dust? (2) Does the submillimetre luminosity density reach a maximum at some redshift? (3) If the SCUBA sources are proto-ellipticals, when exactly did ellipticals form? However, we show that the observations are not yet good enough for definitive answers to these questions. There are, for example, acceptable models in which 10 times as much high-redshift star formation is hidden by dust as is seen at optical wavelengths, but also acceptable ones in which the amount of hidden star formation is less than that seen optically. There are acceptable models in which very little star formation occurred before a redshift of three (as might be expected in models of hierarchical galaxy formation), but also ones in which 30% of the stars have formed by this redshift. The key to answering these questions are measurements of the dust temperatures and redshifts of the SCUBA sources.Comment: 41 pages (latex), 17 postscript figures, to appear in the November issue of the Astronomical Journa

Additively Manufactured RCS for Small Satellites and Landers

After a fifty year absence, NASA’s return to the lunar surface under the Artemis Program – for long term human exploration and utilization – is driving commercial and academic opportunities for small satellite and small lander platforms (e.g., Commercial Lunar Payload Services program – CLPS). Bipropellant thrusters are a reliable, low risk, and flight proven method for the propulsion and attitude control that is required for complex maneuvers such entry, descent, and landing (EDL) or in-space proximity operations. However, due to the increasingly competitive commercial spaceflight market in the last decade, satellite subsystems must also be affordable to buy their way into the final mission design and engineering solution. Therefore starting in 2019, and based off prior satellite integration work, Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) undertook an advanced propulsion development effort to combine modern metal additive manufacturing (AM) techniques with thrust scalable hypergolic MON-25 propulsion technology to create a high performance and fully integrated (i.e., multiple thrusters integrated into a single package) reaction control system (RCS) at a fraction of the production cost when compared to the heritage designs that are assembled from individual thrusters. The point-of-departure for the RCS design comes from a new line of additively manufactured thrusters that stably burn volatile MON-25 oxidizer with monomethylhydrazine (MMH) fuel at thrust levels of 5 lbf and 100 lbf. Cost at the subsystem level is lowered by the AM integration of parts and functions which reduces the build of materials, touch labor, and assembly time. In addition, AM allows the design to be adaptable to changing requirements such as the number of thrusters, orientation, and thrust level. Cost at the satellite level is reduced by leveraging MON-25’s lower freezing point of -55 °C (compared to traditional dinitrogen tetroxide oxidizer) to minimize mass, thermal, and power requirements while operating in deep-space environments. In addition, thruster operation at the equal volume mixture ratio for MMH/MON-25 allows for a modular approach to tank design and a predictable center of gravity during maneuvering. This paper provides an overview of the ISE-5 and the ISE-100 MON-25 thruster technology that powers the integrated designs as well as the development progress of the AM RCS concept itself. This includes reduction to practice activities such as proof-of-concept AM material test demonstrators and water flow test units

Thyroid hormone receptor regulates most genes independently of fibroblast growth factor 21 in liver

Thyroid hormone (TH) acts through specific receptors (TRs), which are conditional transcription factors, to induce fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), a peptide hormone that is usually induced by fasting and that influences lipid and carbohydrate metabolism via local hepatic and systemic endocrine effects. While TH and FGF21 display overlapping actions when administered, including reductions in serum lipids, according to the current models these hormones act independently in vivo. In this study, we examined mechanisms of regulation of FGF21 expression by TH and tested the possibility that FGF21 is required for induction of hepatic TH-responsive genes. We confirm that active TH (triiodothyronine (T3)) and the TRβ-selective thyromimetic GC1 increase FGF21 transcript and peptide levels inmouse liver and that this effect requires TRβ. T3 also induces FGF21 in cultured hepatocytes and this effect involves direct actions of TRβ1, which binds a TRE within intron 2 of FGF21. Gene expression profiles of WT and Fgf21-knockout mice are very similar, indicating that FGF21 is dispensable for the majority of hepatic T3 gene responses. A small subset of genes displays diminished T3 response in the absence of FGF21. However, most of these are not obviously directly involved in T3-dependent hepatic metabolic processes. Consistent with these results, T3-dependent effects on serum cholesterol are maintained in the Fgf21-/- background and we observe no effect of the Fgf21-knockout background on serum triglycerides and glucose. Our findings indicate that T3 regulates the genes involved in classical hepatic metabolic responses independently of FGF21

Spatial field correlation, the building block of mesoscopic fluctuations

The absence of self averaging in mesoscopic systems is a consequence of long-range intensity correlation. Microwave measurements suggest and diagrammatic calculations confirm that the correlation function of the normalized intensity with displacement of the source and detector, $\Delta R$ and $\Delta r$, respectively, can be expressed as the sum of three terms, with distinctive spatial dependences. Each term involves only the sum or the product of the square of the field correlation function, $F \equiv F_{E}^2$. The leading-order term is the product, the next term is proportional to the sum. The third term is proportional to $[F(\Delta R)F(\Delta r) + [F(\Delta R)+F(\Delta r)] + 1]$.Comment: Submitted to PR

Urotensin receptor in GtoPdb v.2023.1

The urotensin-II (U-II) receptor (UT, nomenclature as agreed by the NC-IUPHAR Subcommittee on the Urotensin receptor [26, 36, 94]) is activated by the endogenous dodecapeptide urotensin-II, originally isolated from the urophysis, the endocrine organ of the caudal neurosecretory system of teleost fish [7, 93]. Several structural forms of U-II exist in fish and amphibians [94]. The goby orthologue was used to identify U-II as the cognate ligand for the predicted receptor encoded by the rat gene gpr14 [2, 20, 63, 69, 72]. Human urotensin-II, an 11-amino-acid peptide [20], retains the cyclohexapeptide sequence of goby U-II that is thought to be important in ligand binding [61, 53, 10]. This sequence is also conserved in the deduced amino-acid sequence of rat urotensin-II (14 amino-acids) and mouse urotensin-II (14 amino-acids), although the N-terminal is more divergent from the human sequence [19]. A second endogenous ligand for the UT has been discovered in rat [86]. This is the urotensin II-related peptide, an octapeptide that is derived from a different gene, but shares the C-terminal sequence (CFWKYCV) common to U-II from other species. Identical sequences to rat urotensin II-related peptide are predicted for the mature mouse and human peptides [32]. UT exhibits relatively high sequence identity with somatostatin, opioid and galanin receptors [94]. The urotensinergic system displays an unprecedented repertoire of four or five ancient UT in some vertebrate lineages and five U-II family peptides in teleost fish [91]

Urotensin receptor in GtoPdb v.2021.3

The urotensin-II (U-II) receptor (UT, nomenclature as agreed by the NC-IUPHAR Subcommittee on the Urotensin receptor [26, 36, 93]) is activated by the endogenous dodecapeptide urotensin-II, originally isolated from the urophysis, the endocrine organ of the caudal neurosecretory system of teleost fish [7, 92]. Several structural forms of U-II exist in fish and amphibians [93]. The goby orthologue was used to identify U-II as the cognate ligand for the predicted receptor encoded by the rat gene gpr14 [2, 20, 63, 69, 72]. Human urotensin-II, an 11-amino-acid peptide [20], retains the cyclohexapeptide sequence of goby U-II that is thought to be important in ligand binding [61, 53, 10]. This sequence is also conserved in the deduced amino-acid sequence of rat urotensin-II (14 amino-acids) and mouse urotensin-II (14 amino-acids), although the N-terminal is more divergent from the human sequence [19]. A second endogenous ligand for the UT has been discovered in rat [86]. This is the urotensin II-related peptide, an octapeptide that is derived from a different gene, but shares the C-terminal sequence (CFWKYCV) common to U-II from other species. Identical sequences to rat urotensin II-related peptide are predicted for the mature mouse and human peptides [32]. UT exhibits relatively high sequence identity with somatostatin, opioid and galanin receptors [93]

Urotensin receptor (version 2019.4) in the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology Database

The urotensin-II (U-II) receptor (UT, nomenclature as agreed by the NC-IUPHAR Subcommittee on the Urotensin receptor [26, 36, 89]) is activated by the endogenous dodecapeptide urotensin-II, originally isolated from the urophysis, the endocrine organ of the caudal neurosecretory system of teleost fish [7, 88]. Several structural forms of U-II exist in fish and amphibians. The goby orthologue was used to identify U-II as the cognate ligand for the predicted receptor encoded by the rat gene gpr14 [20, 62, 68, 70]. Human urotensin-II, an 11-amino-acid peptide [20], retains the cyclohexapeptide sequence of goby U-II that is thought to be important in ligand binding [53, 11]. This sequence is also conserved in the deduced amino-acid sequence of rat urotensin-II (14 amino-acids) and mouse urotensin-II (14 amino-acids), although the N-terminal is more divergent from the human sequence [19]. A second endogenous ligand for the UT has been discovered in rat [83]. This is the urotensin II-related peptide, an octapeptide that is derived from a different gene, but shares the C-terminal sequence (CFWKYCV) common to U-II from other species. Identical sequences to rat urotensin II-related peptide are predicted for the mature mouse and human peptides [32]. UT exhibits relatively high sequence identity with somatostatin, opioid and galanin receptors [89]

Growing Environmental Activists: Developing Environmental Agency and Engagement Through Children’s Fiction.

We explore how story has the potential to encourage environmental engagement and a sense of agency provided that critical discussion takes place. We illuminate this with reference to the philosophies of John Macmurray on personal agency and social relations; of John Dewey on the primacy of experience for philosophy; and of Paul Ricoeur on hermeneutics, dialogue, dialectics and narrative. We view the use of fiction for environmental understanding as hermeneutic, a form of conceptualising place which interprets experience and perception. The four writers for young people discussed are Ernest Thompson Seton, Kenneth Grahame, Michelle Paver and Philip Pullman. We develop the concept of critical dialogue, and link this to Crick's demand for active democratic citizenship. We illustrate the educational potential for environmental discussions based on literature leading to deeper understanding of place and environment, encouraging the belief in young people that they can be and become agents for change. We develop from Zimbardo the key concept of heroic resister to encourage young people to overcome peer pressure. We conclude with a call to develop a greater awareness of the potential of fiction for learning, and for writers to produce more focused stories engaging with environmental responsibility and activism