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Two-phase noble liquid detectors, with large target masses and effective background reduction, are currently leading the dark matter direct detection for WIMP masses above a few GeV. Due to their sensitivity to single ionized electron signals, these detectors were shown to also have strong constraints for sub-GeV dark matter via their scattering on electrons. In fact, the most stringent direct detection constraints for sub-GeV dark matter down to as low as 5 MeV come from noble liquid detectors, namely XENON10, DarkSide-50, XENON100 and XENON1T, although these experiments still suffer from high background at single or a few electron level. LBECA is a planned 100-kg scale liquid xenon detector with significant reduction of the single and a few electron background. The experiment will improve the sensitivity to sub-GeV dark matter by three orders of magnitude compared to the current best constraints.

Investigation at a φ -factory can shed light on several debated issues in particle physics. We discuss: (i) recent theoretical development and experimental progress in kaon physics relevant for the Standard Model tests in the flavor sector, (ii) the sensitivity we can reach in probing CPT and Quantum Mechanics from time evolution of entangled-kaon states, (iii) the interest for improving on the present measurements of non-leptonic and radiative decays of kaons and η / η ′ mesons, (iv) the contribution to understand the nature of light scalar mesons, and (v) the opportunity to search for narrow di-lepton resonances suggested by recent models proposing a hidden dark-matter sector. We also report on the e + e − physics in the continuum with the measurements of (multi)hadronic cross sections and the study of γ γ processes.

The Dark Matter Daily Modulation experiment (DMSQUARE) seeks for dark matter interactions with a Skipper CCD. It is currently running at surface level in Bariloche, Argentina, and will be moved to a shallow underground site at Sierra Grande, Argentina in November 2021. The low threshold achieved by Skipper CCDs allows to search for electron recoil events with an ionization energy down to 1.2 eV. In order to extract a potential dark matter signal from noise at the single electron level, we propose to search for a diurnal modulation of events, resulting from the potential interaction of the dark matter wind with the particles in the Earth. Depending on the model, mass and cross-section, this modulation can be maximum at 40deg of latitude in the Southern Hemisphere, where DMSQUARE is operated. In this article we present the experiment, report preliminary results with a prototype Skipper CCD taking data at surface level and comment on future prospects.

Deficits in attention are common across a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. A multitude of brain regions, including the frontal cortex (FC) and locus coeruleus (LC), have been implicated in attention. Regulators of these brain regions at the molecular level are not well understood, but might elucidate underlying mechanisms of disorders with attentional deficits. To probe this, we used chemogenetic stimulation of neurons in the LC with axonal projections to the FC, and subsequent bulk RNA-sequencing from the mouse FC. We found that stimulation of this circuit caused an increase in transcription of the gene. To investigate cell type-specific expression of in the FC, we used a dual-virus approach to express either the excitatory DREADD receptor hM3Dq in LC neurons with projections to the FC, or a control virus, and found that increases in expression in the FC following depolarization of LC inputs is enriched in GABAergic neurons in a sex-dependent manner. The results of these experiments yield insights into how expression affects function in cortical microcircuits that are important for attention-guided behavior, and point to interneuron-specific expression of as a potential target for the amelioration of attention symptoms in disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is a protein that is important for lipid storage, transport, and metabolism. gene variants are associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), as well as attentional function in healthy humans. Previous research has shown that transcription is increased following stimulation of the pathway between the locus coeruleus (LC) and frontal cortex (FC) in mice. This result suggests that may affect attentional function by virtue of its expression in circuits that control attention. Does causally regulate attention, or is its expression simply a byproduct of neuronal activity in the LC and FC? To answer this question, we synthetically induced transcription in the FC of male and female mice, and subsequently tested their ability to learn a touchscreen-based rodent version of the continuous performance test of sustained attention (the rCPT). We found that increased transcription impaired performance when attentional demand was increased in male mice, while in female mice, increased transcription significantly accelerated rCPT learning. We further found that this increase in transcription affected subsequent anxiety-like behavior and cellular activity in the FC in a sex-dependent manner. The results of this study provide insight into how causally regulates translationally relevant behaviors in rodent models.

In response to the increasing frequency of water quality impairment near tributary outlets, understanding the delivery of nutrients to the nearshore region of the Great Lakes is becoming increasingly important. This study assessed the transport of nutrients from tributaries to the nearshore region of lakes by evaluating the dynamics of tributaries and river plumes. Analysis focused on answering the following questions: (1) How do hydrologic characteristics of Lake Michigan tributaries vary historically and in comparison to each other; (2) How do nutrient concentrations vary episodically and chemostatically within Lake Michigan tributaries, and how does this impact nutrient loading; (3) How do Lake Michigan river plumes’ spatial characteristics and classification vary temporally, and what are the ecological implications? Hydrologic trends for eleven Lake Michigan tributaries were assessed using all available USGS streamflow data from 1920–2015. Rivers varied in quantity of available streamflow data. Particular parameters analyzed were day of year annual peak streamflow occurred, annual peak flow magnitude, annual median flow, annual Richards-Baker (R-B) Index, annual Gini coefficients, and annual storm count using three streamflow thresholds. One river, Manitowoc River (WI), experienced significant changes in peak flow timing with a positive shift indicating a peak flow occurring later within the year. Burns Ditch (IN) was the only tributary to show a statistically significant change in annual peak flow magnitude (a positive trend). Burns Ditch, Grand River (MI), Kalamazoo River (MI), Milwaukee River (WI), and St. Joseph River (MI) all experienced statistically significant increases in annual median flow and annual storm count, while the Menominee River (WI) and Indiana Harbor Canal (IN) experienced statistically significant decreases in annual median flow and annual storm count. Burns Ditch, Grand River, Kalamazoo River, Menominee River, Milwaukee River, and St. Joseph River experienced significant decreases in annual R-B Index while Muskegon River (MI) experienced a significant positive trend in annual R-B Index. Nutrient trends for eleven Lake Michigan tributaries were assessed using USGS water quality data from 2011–2015. Three methods were used to assess the chemostaticity of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, orthophosphate, and total suspended solids: (1) streamflow-concentration trend line slopes, (2) ratio of Gini coefficients, and (3) ratio of coefficients of variations. The results varied greatly between methods, although the majority of nutrients were found to behave chemostatically (constant concentration with changing streamflow) or accretively (increasing concentration with increasing streamflow). River plumes were assessed at the Grand River, St. Joseph River, Milwaukee River, and Trail Creek from 2011–2013. For these years, the study rivers outlet 49% of total streamflow during plumes that directly affected the nearshore region, 18% mixed into the offshore water, and 33% was delivered during negatively buoyant river plumes. Sampling was conducted at St. Joseph River, Grand River, and Trail Creek in order to capture the horizontal and vertical plume structure. The mean plume size for the St. Joseph River was 1.8–3.8 km2 with a standard deviation of 0.8–1.6 km2. For the Grand River, the mean plume size was 0.7–2.6 km2 with a standard deviation of 0.5–1.5 km2. The Trail Creek plumes never exited the river mouth on sampling days, and the river water was mixed completely with lake water upstream from the outlet. On all sampling days with vertical sampling, the St. Joseph River plume lifted off the river bottom before exiting the river mouth except for the May 1st, 2012 plume which was the largest streamflow plume captured. Higher nutrient concentrations found within river water coupled with increasing median streamflow and storm event occurrence indicate potential water quality concerns in the nearshore region of Lake Michigan. Because of the localized impact of Lake Michigan river plumes, contaminants and nutrients being introduced into the lake will most likely directly impact the nearshore ecosystem. For example, higher tributary nutrient loads entering the nearshore zone could cause increases in local productivity which could impact shoreline health.

A thematic analysis qualitative study was used to identify the unethical challenges encountered by Information Technology (IT) professionals working within the Nevada casino industry. Fourteen current and former IT leaders working or who worked in the Nevada casino industry were interviewed. Using thematic analysis, nine themes regarding ethical challenges and methods for preventing them emerged from the interviews. This study's findings indicated that IT professionals encounter ethical challenges due to their access to data and information, the purchasing aspect of the IT department, via non-gaming rules and regulations, and the expectations placed on IT from unethical end users and by executive management requests. Gaming rules and regulations do not affect IT professionals according to the participants. The research revealed that clear policies and procedures as well as training prevent unethical behavior. Simply providing these options may be an effective method of preventing unethical behavior according to the research. According to the participants, IT ethical challenges may be similar in other industries aside from the casino complimentary system and the existence of multiple industries within one building. The findings of the study suggest ethical challenges exist within Nevada's casino industry for IT professionals but they can be prevented. Casino and IT management can utilize the results of the research to adjust how they interact, lead, and utilize their technology professionals.

We present results from a 3.25 kg-day target exposure of two silicon charge-coupled devices (CCDs), each with 24 megapixels and skipper readout, deployed in the DAMIC setup at SNOLAB. With a reduction in pixel readout noise of a factor of 10 relative to the previous detector, we investigate the excess population of low-energy events in the CCD bulk previously observed above expected backgrounds. We address the dominant systematic uncertainty of the previous analysis through a depth fiducialization designed to reject surface backgrounds on the CCDs. The measured bulk ionization spectrum confirms the presence of an excess population of low-energy events in the CCD target with characteristic rate of \\({\\sim}7\\) events per kg-day and electron-equivalent energies of \\({\\sim}80~\\)eV, whose origin remains unknown.

Fully-depleted thick silicon Skipper-charge-coupled devices (Skipper-CCDs) are an important technology to probe neutrino and light-dark-matter interactions due to their sub-electron read-out noise. However, the successful search for rare neutrino or dark-matter events requires the signal and all backgrounds to be fully characterized. In particular, a measurement of the electron-hole pair creation energy below 150 eV and the Fano factor are necessary for characterizing the dark matter and neutrino signals. Moreover, photons from background radiation may Compton scatter in the silicon bulk, producing events that can mimic a dark matter or neutrino signal. We present a measurement of the Compton spectrum using a Skipper-CCD and a \\(^{241}\\)Am source. With these data, we estimate the electron-hole pair-creation energy to be \\(\\left(3.71 \\pm 0.08\\right)\\) eV at 130 K in the energy range between 99.3 eV and 150 eV. By measuring the widths of the steps at 99.3 eV and 150 eV in the Compton spectrum, we introduce a novel technique to measure the Fano factor, setting an upper limit of 0.31 at 90% C.L. These results prove the potential of Skipper-CCDs to characterize the Compton spectrum and to measure precisely the Fano factor and electron-hole pair creation energy below 150 eV.

Many low-threshold experiments observe sharply rising event rates of yet unknown origins below a few hundred eV, and larger than expected from known backgrounds. Due to the significant impact of this excess on the dark matter or neutrino sensitivity of these experiments, a collective effort has been started to share the knowledge about the individual observations. For this, the EXCESS Workshop was initiated. In its first iteration in June 2021, ten rare event search collaborations contributed to this initiative via talks and discussions. The contributing collaborations were CONNIE, CRESST, DAMIC, EDELWEISS, MINER, NEWS-G, NUCLEUS, RICOCHET, SENSEI and SuperCDMS. They presented data about their observed energy spectra and known backgrounds together with details about the respective measurements. In this paper, we summarize the presented information and give a comprehensive overview of the similarities and differences between the distinct measurements. The provided data is furthermore publicly available on the workshop's data repository together with a plotting tool for visualization.