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Introduction: There is a critical need to develop innovative educational strategies that engage youth in meaningful mathematics learning, particularly students from groups that have been historically marginalized in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In this study, we explore youths' participation in two collaborative projects from the Growing Mathletes curriculum which combines baseball contexts and mathematics. Our goal was to understand the potential of these projects to support youths' engagement with mathematical ideas and practices, and the extent to which youth leveraged a range of resources, including prior experiences and funds of knowledge, to inform their decisions and understanding. Methods: The Design a Stadium and Baseball Team Roster projects were implemented in two afterschool setting sites and two summer program sites with 102 youth of all genders in grades 3 to 8. Data sources included video recordings of youth participation in the project, project artifacts, and youth interviews. Results: We found the projects contained specific features that supported youths' engagement in three specific mathematical practices: (1) make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, (2) reason abstractly and quantitatively, and (3) construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. Additionally, there is evidence that while engaging in these projects youth drew on their own funds of knowledge to inform their decisions and understanding. Conclusion: Our findings point to key implications for researchers, educators, and curriculum developers in informal STEM learning spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We revisit the Next-to-Leading Order (two-loop) contributions to the Anomalous Dimensions of ∆F = 1 four-quark operators in QCD. We devise a test for anomalous dimensions, that we regard as of general interest, and by means of which we detect a problem in the results available in the literature. Deconstructing the steps leading to the available result, we identify the source of the problem, which is related to the operator known as Q11. We show how to fix the problem and provide the corrected anomalous dimensions. With the insight of our findings, we propose an alternative approach to the one used in the literature which does not suffer from the identified disease, and which confirms our corrected results. We assess the numerical impact of our corrections, which happens to be in the ballpark of 5% in certain entries of the evolution matrix. Our results are important for the correct resummation of Next-to-Leading Logarithms in analyses of physics beyond the Standard Model in ∆F = 1 processes, such as the decays of Kaons and B-mesons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, titled "Brooklyn Dodger," recounts the author's experience as a young Little Leaguer in Clymer, Pennsylvania, and his visit to Forbes Field to watch a Pirates-Dodgers game. The author vividly describes the anticipation and excitement of the trip, as well as the moment he encountered Andy Pafko, a real Brooklyn Dodger. The article highlights the impact of baseball on the author's life, emphasizing the importance of thinking ahead and planning. The author concludes by sharing a memorable interaction with Pafko, who greeted him with a friendly "Hi, kid." [Extracted from the article]

Although stadium giveaways are the most common type of promotion used in Major League Baseball to increase demand, most teams supply fewer giveaway items than there are tickets sold. This study argues that giveaway availability is a major component of teams' promotion strategies and has been largely overlooked in the literature. The authors document the choice of giveaway availability across all Major League Baseball teams over an 8-year period and demonstrate that attendance increases with giveaway availability up to the point where there are enough giveaway items to serve 40% of a stadium's capacity. Roughly two thirds of teams set giveaway availability in a fashion that is consistent with the standard price discrimination rationale for promotions found in the economic and marketing literatures. The remaining teams exhibit levels of high availability, indicating an additional investment into fan lifetime value, which is corroborated by these teams' unique fan relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method is proposed to quantitatively capture the unique characteristics of strong ground motions using idealized pulses. The pulse motions described here use limited parameters (PGA or PGV and duration of pulse) in contrast to the methodologies involving several parameters and assumptions. This simple method also provides an advantage to specify hazard in regions where a few recorded ground motions are available; ballpark values of pulse parameters can be used to arrive at the response spectra required in the seismic design. The physics of ground shaking is captured here mathematically using idealized pulses only, without any "random shaking." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Backyards to Ballparks: More Personal Baseball Stories from the Stand and Beyond" by Eric C. Gray is a collection of baseball anecdotes from people across the United States and around the world. The book categorizes the stories into chapters based on themes, such as family and baseball, and includes a variety of content, including personal memories, historical events, and poems. While the book is highly edited and lacks individual voices, it offers a diverse range of stories that highlight the impact of baseball on people's lives. It is recommended for baseball enthusiasts who are interested in connecting with others who share their passion for the sport. [Extracted from the article]

The article explores the interconnected dynamics between athletes and their audience, focusing on the shared concept of 'game' as an underlying substrate in languages like English and French. It delves into the linguistic nuances and the imaginative nature inherent in both sports and theatrical performances. It emphasizes the essential role of the audience in contributing to the playful virtuality of sports, drawing parallels between human and animal play.

Carnivorous pitcher plants are uniquely adapted to nitrogen limitation, using pitfall traps to acquire nutrients from insect prey. Pitcher plants in the genus Sarracenia may also use nitrogen fixed by bacteria inhabiting the aquatic microcosms of their pitchers. Here, we investigated whether species of a convergently evolved pitcher plant genus, Nepenthes, might also use bacterial nitrogen fixation as an alternative strategy for nitrogen capture. First, we constructed predicted metagenomes of pitcher organisms from three species of Singaporean Nepenthes using 16S rRNA sequence data and correlated predicted nifH abundances with metadata. Second, we used gene-specific primers to amplify and quantify the presence or absence of nifH directly from 102 environmental samples and identified potential diazotrophs with significant differential abundance in samples that also had positive nifH PCR tests. Third, we analyzed nifH in eight shotgun metagenomes from four additional Bornean Nepenthes species. Finally, we conducted an acetylene reduction assay using greenhouse-grown Nepenthes pitcher fluids to confirm nitrogen fixation is indeed possible within the pitcher habitat. Results show active acetylene reduction can occur in Nepenthes pitcher fluid. Variation in nifH from wild samples correlates with Nepenthes host species identity and pitcher fluid acidity. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are associated with more neutral fluid pH, while endogenous Nepenthes digestive enzymes are most active at low fluid pH. We hypothesize Nepenthes species experience a trade-off in nitrogen acquisition; when fluids are acidic, nitrogen is primarily acquired via plant enzymatic degradation of insects, but when fluids are neutral, Nepenthes plants take up more nitrogen via bacterial nitrogen fixation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Somewhere in This Town" is a baseball-themed poem written by Rick Burton. The poem reflects on memories of going to baseball games with the narrator's father and the nostalgia associated with those experiences. The narrator reminisces about specific players and moments from the past, highlighting the bond between the narrator and their father. The poem evokes a sense of sentimentality and appreciation for the game of baseball and its ability to create lasting memories. [Extracted from the article]

Home runs in baseball—fair balls hit out of the field of play—have risen since 1980, driving strategic shifts in gameplay. Myriad factors likely account for these trends, with some speculating that global warming has contributed via a reduction in ballpark air density. Here we use observations from 100,000 Major League Baseball games and 240,000 individual batted balls to show that higher temperatures substantially increase home runs. We isolate human-caused warming with climate models, finding that >500 home runs since 2010 are attributable to historical warming. Several hundred additional home runs per season are projected due to future warming. Adaptations such as building domes on stadiums or shifting day games to night games reduce temperature's effects on America's pastime. Our results highlight the myriad ways that a warmer planet will restructure our lives, livelihoods, and recreation, some quantifiable and easily adapted to, as shown here, many others, not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a mechanism for cogenesis of baryon and dark matter (DM) in the universe via the Affleck-Dine (AD) route. An AD field which breaks the lepton number symmetry, leads to the generation of lepton asymmetry by virtue of its cosmic evolution, which then gets transferred into lepton and dark sectors. While the lepton asymmetry gets converted into baryon asymmetry via sphalerons, the dark sector asymmetry leads to the final DM abundance with the symmetric part being annihilated away due to resonantly enhanced annihilation, which we choose to be provided by a gauged B − L portal. Stringent constraints from DM direct detection forces DM and B − L gauge boson masses to be light, in the few GeV ballpark. While a large portion of the model parameter space is already ruled out, the remaining parameter space is within sensitivity of laboratory as well as cosmology based experiments. The AD field also plays the role of inflaton with the required dynamics by virtue of its non-minimal coupling to gravity, consistent with observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bennu, the target of the OSIRIS‐REx mission, is an asteroid with compositions analogous to low petrologic type CI, CM, CR, and/or ungrouped carbonaceous chondrites. Asteroids like Bennu provide information about the building blocks of the early Solar System. Analysis of the mid‐infrared remote sensing data informs mineral quantification. We apply a phyllosilicate specific model, developed by Breitenfeld et al. (2021, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021je007035) that distinguishes between Mg and Fe serpentines, to Baseball Diamond 1 (BBD1), equatorial station 3 (EQ3), and touch‐and‐go OSIRIS‐REx thermal emission spectrometer data. The average total phyllosilicate predictions are 73 (BBD1) and 72 vol% (EQ3). We observe higher Fe‐cronstedtite and lower Mg‐rich serpentine content in the equatorial region of Bennu than average. Mid‐infrared spectral variability may be explained by sorting effects through mass movement. Plain Language Summary: Bennu is an asteroid made of primitive materials that provide information about the early Solar System. Using infrared emission spectra and machine learning modeling, we estimate the amount and composition of phyllosilicate minerals across the surface of Bennu. Our results suggest that Bennu is primarily composed of phyllosilicate minerals as expected from previous studies. Mg‐ and Fe‐rich serpentine abundances are mapped across the asteroid Bennu. Near the equator, our model predicts higher cronstedtite (Fe‐rich serpentine) and lower Mg‐rich serpentine compared to the average composition of the asteroid. The spectral and compositional variability on Bennu can be explained by aqueous processing and sorting effects. Key Points: We estimate Bennu's phyllosilicate content is primarily Mg‐rich serpentine with smaller amounts of cronstedtite and saponiteWe predict higher cronstedtite and lower Mg‐rich serpentine abundances in the equatorial region and vice versa for the middle latitudesWe observe thermal emission spectrometer spectral variability between the equatorial and middle latitude regions of Bennu that may be due to sorting effects [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood has traditionally been used to make sports equipment and playing surfaces. While its use is outdated in several sports, in many others, wood remains well-established or even the material of choice, e.g., to make basketball floors or table tennis rackets. This study aims at evaluating the main drivers of web-based communication of wooden sport equipment. Six Olympic sports in which wood is still used were identified: baseball, skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, surfboarding, and table tennis. For each sport, five websites of manufacturers were selected based on their page rank. Five evaluators assessed each website, rating the degree to which their discussion of wood intersected with four dimensions (and the related sub-dimensions): environment and ethics, design, wood technology, and communication. Significant differences (p < 0.05) are found among the dimensions, where communication and wood technology scored the higher ratings. Several differences are found among sub-dimensions, for instance in terms of attention given to environmental and social sustainability. Among the various findings, environmental and social sustainability, based on a proper commitment, is a relevant target for the web-based communication of manufacturers of wooden sport equipment. We argue that this is both for ethical reasons, and for market and image purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]