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Predictive coding is an important candidate theory of self-supervised learning in the brain. Its central idea is that neural activity results from an integration and comparison of bottom-up inputs with contextual predictions, a process in which firing rates and synchronization may play distinct roles. Here, we quantified stimulus predictability for natural images based on self-supervised, generative neural networks. When the precise pixel structure of a stimulus falling into the V1 receptive field (RF) was predicted by the spatial context, V1 exhibited characteristic γ-synchronization (30-80Hz), despite no detectable modulation of firing rates. In contrast to γ, β-synchronization emerged exclusively for unpredictable stimuli. Natural images with high structural predictability were characterized by high compressibility and low dimensionality. Yet, perceptual similarity was mainly determined by higher-level features of natural stimuli, not by the precise pixel structure. When higher-level features of the stimulus in the receptive field were predicted by the context, neurons showed a strong reduction in firing rates and an increase in surround suppression that was dissociated from synchronization patterns. These findings reveal distinct roles of synchronization and firing rates in the predictive coding of natural images.

Out of nearly 30,000 teleosts dwelling in our planet’s water bodies, only hundreds of them are commercially exploited and prevail on the global food market. Yet, our estimates of the species actually underpinning global trade is severely hampered by inaccuracy and non-compliance in labelling and reporting. Here, we target ethnic food stores in two British cities (Liverpool and Manchester metropolitan areas), whose numbers are increasing throughout Europe, to examine accuracy of traceability information available to consumers. Despite the existence of thorough EU labelling regulations, we unveil a high level of non-compliance, with a diverse range of poorly-known fish species, often sold without any label, or with erroneous information, as demonstrated by DNA barcoding. Results indicate that about 41% of the samples were mislabelled, in stark contrast with a recent study that, in 2015, found less than 5% mislabelling in EU supermarkets and fishmongers. These results highlight that inspectors and governments might not be fully aware of the wide diversity of fish species traded, indicating the need for a stronger enforcement of the EU labelling legislations. Compliance with regulations is required not only to protect consumers, but also fish stocks, as for many of the species identified in this survey, population assessment is poor or lacking altogether.

Since launch, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on the Terra and Aqua spacecraft have operated successfully for more than 14 and 12 years, respectively. A key instrument for National Aeronautics and Space Administration Earth Observing System missions, MODIS was designed to make continuous observations for studies of Earth's land, ocean, and atmospheric properties and to extend existing data records from heritage Earth observing sensors. The 16 thermal emissive bands (TEBs) (3.75–14.24 $\mu\mbox{m} $ ) are calibrated on orbit using a temperature controlled blackbody (BB) . Both Terra and Aqua MODIS BBs have displayed minimal drift over the mission lifetime, and the seasonal variations of the BB temperature are extremely small in Aqua MODIS. The long-term gain and noise equivalent difference in temperature performance of the 160 TEB detectors on both MODIS instruments have been well behaved and generally very stable. Small but noticeable variations of Aqua MODIS bands 33–36 (13.34–14.24 $\mu\mbox{m} $ ) response in recent years are primarily due to loss of temperature control margin of its passive cryoradiative cooler. As a result, fixed calibration coefficients, previously used by bands when the BB temperature is above their saturation temperatures, are replaced by the focal-plane-temperature-dependent calibration coefficients. This paper presents an overview of the MODIS TEB calibration, the on-orbit performance, and the challenging issues likely to impact the instruments as they continue operating well past their designed lifetime of six years.

This paper presents a way to enhance student interest and learning when teaching economic inequality. The approach draws on a well-known survey conducted by Norton and Ariely (2011). The approach involves surveying students, asking them to estimate the current level of wealth inequality in the US, and asking them to state their ideal level of wealth inequality. As in Norton and Ariely’s survey of a representative sample of Americans, our students underestimated actual wealth inequality and preferred a distribution of wealth for the US that was more equal than any country’s distribution. We suggest ways the student survey results can be presented and discussed. We also provide Stata code and an Excel workbook to ease effective classroom presentation of the survey results. This approach to beginning the study of inequality piqued our students’ interest and helped them understand how inequality is measured.

Disease knowledge is an important component of medication self-management. We examined HIV knowledge and understanding among 166 HIV-infected 13- to 21-year-olds (53% female, 72.9% African American, 59.6% perinatally infected). Behaviorally infected youth outperformed perinatally infected youth on HIV transmission knowledge and were more likely to report provider discussions about getting condoms and how drugs impair sexual decision making. While youth accurately answered most (78%) true/false questions, many could not define resistance (71.0%), viral load (59.0%), or CD4 (43.4%). Only 29.5% reported knowing either their CD4 count or viral load. Provider discussions about biomarkers likely contribute to greater HIV knowledge and understanding, especially for youth with lower CD4 counts, perhaps because illness triggers extended provider discussions.

Secondary prevention programs are needed to help HIV-positive youth reduce risk behavior and improve adherence to HIV medications. This article provides an overview of Adolescent Impact, a secondary HIV prevention intervention, including its description, delivery, and receptivity among the two unique groups of participants. Adolescent Impact, a 12-session behavioral intervention incorporating individual and group components was designed to increase HIV knowledge, disease management and risk reduction skills, and motivate healthy lifestyles among HIV-infected adolescents. A standardized protocol was implemented at three sites in the northeastern United States. One hundred sixty-six HIV-positive youth, aged 13-21 (mean = 16.8 years), enrolled in the study were randomized to receive either the intervention (n = 83) or standard of care (n = 83). Participants were predominantly of minority race/ethnicity (94% African American or Hispanic); 53% were female and 59.6% were perinatally infected. Perinatally infected youth were significantly more likely to be young, had experienced HIV Class C-related symptoms and had CD4-positive T lymphocyte counts of fewer than 200 cells (all p values < .01). The mean number of sessions attended was 9.4, with most (83.3%) participants attending at least half (≥ 6) of the intervention sessions (86% perinatally infected, 78.6% behaviorally infected, p = .5). Participants' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics mirrored those of the larger HIV adolescent cohort in the United States Relatively high attendance rates suggest that youth were receptive to the program and its content. Through use of multiple intervention modalities, Adolescent Impact was able to accommodate a diverse group of clinic-attending HIV-positive youth and address the need for a compact intervention for use in the clinical setting.

This study examined the nature, type, and source of social support available to a diverse group of HIV-infected adolescents and the relationship between social support and depression. Data were obtained from the baseline assessment of Adolescent Impact, a behavioral intervention conducted in 2003-2006 involving 166 HIV-infected youth, ages 13-21, in care at four urban medical centers. Youth completed the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey, Beck Depression Inventory, and questions about HIV-specific social support including locus (family and friends) and type (structural, perceived, instrumental, and satisfaction). Linear regression modeling examined the relation between HIV-specific and general perceived social support, and between social support and depression. Participants were predominately minority (72% black and 20% Hispanic); perinatally infected (60% PIY), and female (53%). Most had someone to either remind them to attend (71%) or to bring them to clinic (60%), a majority family (53%) and fewer friends (4%). More youth reported being satisfied with family (64%) social support than that from friends (51%). Behaviorally infected youth (BIY) had significantly more friends who knew their serostatus than PIY (means = 4.5 and 1.7; p < 0.001), but received significantly less help from family in accessing care (p < 0.001). Satisfaction with family social support was the best predictor of general perceived social support with general perceived social support and behavioral mode of transmission the best predictors of depression. Regular screening of HIV-positive youth for social support needs, especially BIY, and identification of sources for social support should be a regular part of care.

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) hosted the Stewardship Science Academic Programs Symposium, which is designed to foster relationships among young scientists, sponsors and the National Nuclear Security Administration national laboratories. The event highlights much of the work done by prominent scientists and allows attendees to view the multiple on site facilities at LANL.

At the request of Katherine Richardson-McDaniel, Staff Member to U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), a high-level briefing was requested about MaRIE 1.0, the Matter-Radiation Interactions in Extremes effort at Los Alamos National Laboratory. What it would be, the mission need motivation, the scientific challenge, and the current favorable impact on both programs and people are shown in viewgraph form.

To meet new and emerging national security issues the Laboratory is stepping up to meet another grand challenge—transitioning from observing to controlling a material’s performance. This challenge requires the best of experiment, modeling, simulation, and computational tools. MaRIE is the Laboratory’s proposed flagship experimental facility intended to meet the challenge.

After the decision to end nuclear testing and the inception of the Stockpile Stewardship program, the condition of the stockpile was the primary mission driver. During the first two decades of stewardship, the primary program goal could be described as underwriting the Stockpile-to-Target Sequence (STS), the military requirements on the conditions the nuclear warheads needed to survive and still operate.

John Caldwell, president of Kio-Tek (KT), presents his company's business plan to a group of 30 venture capitalists at the November 2001 annual meeting of the Portland Venture Group. John's presentation is included in the case as an exhibit. The case begins with a brief overview of the meeting and John's presentation. The body of the case describes the question and answer period immediately following John's presentation.Included in the case is a set of exhibits that John has handed out to the audience as supplemental information. These exhibits provide additional information on marketing, management, and financial issues facing the company and John refers to them throughout the question and answer period. The VC's ask John a variety of questions in an effort to determine whether KT is an attractive investment opportunity

Background Most studies of political conflict rely on imported measures of mental health. We identified and tested a local definition of suffering in the occupied Palestinian territory that we labelled "Feeling Broken or Destroyed". Methods The construct was identified in group interviews completed in Arabic in 2010, with 68 residents as the total sample size from the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip aged 30–40 years. Survey items were then written and given to a representative sample of people (same age group in the same territories) in June 2011 (n=508; study 1), and November 2011 (n=1778; study 2). All data were collected with written consent by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, who purposively selected participants to represent key elements of diversity in Palestinian society. Findings Participants referred in Arabic to a type of suffering not included in standard instruments, which the participants typically associated with economic and political hardships. Descriptions from the participants included being or feeling: broken, crushed (muḥaṭṭima), destroyed, (mudammira), exhausted, and tired (ta'bāna). Aspects of the participants were described as the self or spirit (an-nafs), morale (al-ma'naūiyyat), and hopes or ambition for the future (amālak aū ṭamūḥatak ban-nisba lil-mustaqbil). The following survey items were then written in English, translated to Arabic, and back-translated. The survey was administered in Arabic, asking the respondents to rate how often during the past 2 weeks they "felt that your spirit or morale is broken or destroyed?" (Kam murra aḥsast ba'n nasfiyyatak wa ma'naūiyyatak muḥaṭṭima?); "felt that your ambitions and hopes for the future are destroyed?" (Kam murra aḥsast ba'n amālak aū ṭamūḥatak ban-nisba lil-mustaqbil muḥaṭṭima?); and "felt emotionally or psychologically exhausted?" (Kam murra aḥsast ba'nak murhaq ‘āṭafiyyan aū nafsiyyan?). Internal consistency of these items across subgroups in studies 1 and 2 ranged from 0·80 to 0·87. Discriminant validity was evident in that these items factored separately from standard mental health items in principal components analysis. The scale correlated moderately in both data sets with: feelings of depression (study 1: r =0·46; p r =0·55; p r =0·21; p r =0·21; p Interpretation Contextualised suffering can be discerned through careful interviewing, and can be efficiently and reliably measured, tested, and quantitatively distinguished from traditional mental health measures. Funding The Jacobs Foundation, Switzerland.

Purpose This mixed-methods exploratory study identified and then developed and validated a quantitative measure of a new construct of mental suffering in the occupied Palestinian territory: feeling broken or destroyed. Methods Group interviews were conducted in 2011 with 68 Palestinians, most aged 30–40, in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip to discern local definitions of functioning. Interview participants articulated of a type of suffering not captured in existing mental health instruments used in regions of political conflict. In contrast to the specific difficulties measured by depression and PTSD (sleep, appetite, energy, flashbacks, avoidance, etc.), participants elaborated a more existential form of mental suffering: feeling that one’s spirit, morale and/or future was broken or destroyed, and emotional and psychological exhaustion. Participants articulated these feelings when describing the rigors of the political and economic contexts in which they live. We wrote survey items to capture these sentiments and administered these items—along with standard survey measures of mental health—to a representative sample of 1,778 32–43 year olds in the occupied Palestinian territory. The same survey questions also were administered to a representative subsample (n = 508) six months earlier, providing repeated measures of the construct. Results Across samples and time, the feeling broken or destroyed scale: 1) comprised a separate factor in exploratory factor analyses, 2) had high inter-item consistency, 3) was reported by both genders and in all regions, 4) showed discriminate validity via moderate correlations with measures of feelings of depression and trauma-related stress, and 5) was more commonly experienced than either feelings of depression or trauma-related stress. Conclusions Feeling broken or destroyed can be reliably measured and distinguished from conventional measures of mental health. Such locally grounded and contextualized measures should be identified and included in assessments of the full impact of protracted political conflict on functioning.

Adolescent Impact, a developmentally targeted behavioral intervention aimed at decreasing risk behaviors and promoting health care adherence, was delivered to 83 HIV-infected youth, aged 13-21 years, receiving care in five urban HIV centers. Participants completed a patient satisfaction survey following the 12 part intervention consisting of seven groups and five individual sessions. A feedback questionnaire was also completed during each group session to gain more insight on participant experiences. Several indicators suggested high levels of satisfaction. First, overall attendance was relatively high. Second, participants rated their subjective experience and group content favorably. No differences in satisfaction ratings emerged between perinatally infected adolescents and those who acquired HIV through risk behaviors. However, differences emerged regarding perceived intervention utility and content-specific preferences. Findings suggest that Adolescent Impact participants were satisfied with the intervention and that a heterogeneous group of HIV-infected youth could be advantageously integrated into the same secondary prevention program.

Promoting the diffusion of clean technology technology that helps to reduce polluting inputs and processes at the beginning of production, rather than at the end of the pipe is an important step towards more environmentally sustainable production practices. The use of clean technology coupled with reverse logistics practices is particularly effective at reducing environmental impact, and many industries are attempting to move in this direction. Reverse logistics is the process whereby a manufacturer accepts end products from consumers for possible remanufacturing, recycling, and reuse. However, the diffusion of clean technology and reverse logistics practices in the economy is not well understood, and there remains a need for case and industry analysis in order to derive theory and to provide possible lessons. This paper focuses on the core of heavy manufacturing, the steel industry. Steel producers, particularly the mini-mill sector, have a long history of relative success with various reverse logistics techniques, especially recycling. Utilizing a qualitative theoretical framework and drawing from extant case and industry data, we document and analyze the adoption and diffusion of clean technology and reverse logistics in the industry.

This study examines factors related to CEO cash compensation for a sample of publicly-held firms that are small, young, and growing. Our key finding is that founder CEOs accept lower cash compensation than non-founder CEOs. This evidence suggests that, for small, young, and growing firms, founder CEOs do not extract unusually large private benefits that harm outside shareholders. Weaker evidence suggests: firms with greater growth opportunities pay higher cash compensation to CEOs; firms with greater outsider representation on the board pay lower cash compensation to CEOs; and firms with greater inside director share ownership pay higher cash compensation to CEOs.

Objective To test whether “venue-based testing” could identify human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in US youth, 12 to 24 years of age, who were otherwise not aware of their infection. Racial and ethnic minority women and men who have sex with men (WSM and MSM) compose the majority of new HIV cases among adolescents and young adults. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Selected venues in communities surrounding the 15 Adolescent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) clinical sites over a 3-month period. Participants At each venue, ATN sites recruited 20 to 30 English- or Spanish-speaking at-risk youth (12 to 24 years of age), resulting in a total of 1217 study participants, including 611 MSM and 606 WSM. Intervention Venue-based HIV testing with 2 components: an anonymous audio computer-assisted self-administered interview and an anonymous HIV antibody assay. Main Outcome Measure The prevalence of HIV infection in MSM and WSM. Results The prevalence of HIV infection in MSM and WSM was 15.3% and 0.3%, respectively. Sixty percent of the MSM and 100% of the WSM claimed to not know of their infection. Conclusion Venue-based testing may be an important strategy to identify HIV-infected younger MSM; however, other strategies are needed for WSM.

This paper proposes a solution to the problem of an increasing rate of loss of research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) nontest and operational test capabilities. Presented is a strategic test center organizational and enterprise test capability plan designed to lead to increased capability levels in the presence of reduced resource availability. Included are an overview of the plan, the methods, approaches, and implementation means for realizing the plan’s improved future test center capability state. The ability of Air Force Test Centers to conduct leading-edge research to support a broad array of client needs has required a significant investment in expertise, facilities, plants, and electronic, communications, and computer hardware/software. These investments have typically been tactical – scoped, funded, and designed for specific instances of test capabilities without an enterprise-wide vision. The current approach has yielded an extremely complex and often single-mission facility with a facility-unique, “stove-pipe” infrastructure. Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) has embarked on a strategic test enterprise plan. All testing facilities’ computer, communication, control, data acquisition, data analysis systems, instrumentation, hardware and software, personal computing and communications components, as well as the typical business systems, have all been organized into one Directorate – Information Technology and System (IT&S). Treating all test-required electronic and computer-related components as IT has led to the development of a Strategic IT Plan for the test, business, and communications systems enterprise based on the following principles and objectives: enterprise-wide, reduced life cycle cost, more flexibility/agility, and a reduced number and variety of hardware and software. The plan is to transform individual test facilities with hundreds of unique, expensive to maintain, closed systems to enterprise test capabilities provided via shared functional blocks, interfaced with one another and with all required unique functionality. By moving toward shared functionality and hardware/software expertise, the plan is designed to lead to increased capability levels in the presence of reduced resource availability.

Secondary transmission remains a significant concern among HIV-infected youth. Little is known, however, about how partner-specific sexual risk behaviors for the secondary transmission of HIV may differ between the 2 largest subgroups of HIV-positive youth, women-who-have-sex-with-men (WSM) and men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), METHODS: During 2003-2004, a convenience sample of HIV-infected youth, 13 to 24 years of age, were recruited from 15 Adolescent Medicine Trials Network clinical sites. Approximately 10 to 15 youth were recruited at each site. Participants completed an ACASI survey including questions about sex partners in the past year. Cross-sectional data analyses, including bivariate and multivariable regressions, using generalized estimating equations, were conducted during 2008 to compare recent partner-specific sexual risk behaviors between WSM and MSM.Of 409 participants, 91% (371) were included in this analysis, including 176 WSM and 195 MSM. Ninety-two percent (163 WSM, 177 MSM) provided information on characteristics of their sexual partners. There were significant differences between the 2 groups in recent partner-specific sexual risk behaviors including: lower rates of condom use at last sex among WSM (61% WSM vs. 78% MSM; P = 0.0011); a larger proportion of the sex partners of MSM reported as concurrent (56% MSM vs. 36% WSM; P = 0.0001); and greater use of hard drugs at last sex by MSM and/or their partner (18% MSM vs. 4% WSM; P = 0.0008). When measuring risk as a composite measure of sexual risk behaviors known to be associated with HIV transmission, both groups had high rates of risky behaviors, 74.7% among young MSM compared to 68.1% of WSM.These data suggest that recent partner-specific sexual risk behaviors for HIV transmission are high among young infected MSM and WSM. These findings suggest the need to offer interventions to reduce the secondary transmission of HIV to all HIV-positive youth in care. However, differences in risk behaviors between young MSM and WSM supports population-specific interventions.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is one of the key instruments for the NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS). It was developed based on the desire of the science community for frequent global observations of the Earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere at a moderated spatial resolution with carefully selected spectral bands at wavelengths ranging from the visible (VIS) through the long-wave infrared (LWIR). The MODIS is a major advance over its heritage sensors in terms of its spectral, spatial, and temporal resolutions and its broad range of science applications. A detailed description of the MODIS development history, science data products, and data processing is provided in Volume I Chapter 2 “Introduction to MODIS and an Overview of Associated Activities”, and Table 2.1 (MODIS design parameters) provides an overview of key MODIS design parameters. Two nearly identical copies of the MODIS instrument, the Protoflight Model (PFM) and the Flight Model 1 (FM1), were built by the instrument contractor—Raytheon/Santa Barbara Remote Sensing (SBRS) previously known as Hughes/Santa Barbara Research Center (SBRC). The MODIS PFM was launched in December 1999 on-board the EOS Terra (EOS-AM) spacecraft and the FM1 in May 2002 on-board the EOS Aqua (EOS-PM) spacecraft.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have plug and play technology for your boilers just like on your home computer? Wouldn’t it be great if this technology could give you instant and measurable reductions of 5 percent or more in fuel consumption? Well, in the modern era, this technology has arrived. A small Romanian company has developed a technology that treats combustion air that significantly increases fuel efficiency and lowers emissions on furnaces and boilers by interacting with the fuel at the combustion stage. This technology has the potential to reduce emissions of CO2 by 2–20%, NOx by 5–30%, SOx by 20–60% and emissions that negatively affect human health like acid mists (SO3), dioxins, benzenes, and VOC by as much as 90%. With over a million hours of testing on over 100 boilers and furnaces this economical technology holds great promise. The best part of the technology is that there is limited capital investment or operational costs, and use of the specialty aerosol injection will reduce wear and corrosion in your combustion box regardless of the fuel burned. It reduces costs across the board. Avogadro Environmental Corporation in Easton, PA is working with our partners, Opris Engineering and Kubik in Romania to make this technology available in the United States. The technology has a long proven record of performance and has been fully tested in the U.S. for efficiency improvements and emissions reductions. The technology has received the support of USEPA and state agencies. We are looking for plant operators interested in reducing their emissions and at the same time saving 5–25% in operating and maintenance costs. We just completed two full scale tests of the technology here in the US. The first site was a 90-day test at a 450 MMBtu/hr waste coal-fired electric utility boiler in Pennsylvania. The second site was a 60-day test at a 1,500 MMBtu/hr coal-fired electric utility boiler in the Southeast US.

This article draws on path dependency literature and recent extensions to frame the evolution of high performance work systems (HPWS) in the U.S. and to reflect on the implications for firms and policy. The article briefly discusses institutional and social influences in the U.S. context that may be locking in managerial behavior that can prevent HPWS from diffusing or that renders HPWS vulnerable over time. In the face of this, in the short run firms may need to insulate the organization from institutional pressures and behavior that can erode new work systems. The article concludes by noting corporate governance models that elevate employee voice and security may be more compatible with HPWS for the long term.