Digital Commons Network^™

Bad Girls And Biopolitics: Abortion, Popular Fiction, And Population Control, Karen Weingarten

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Re-Engaging/Engaging Part-Time Librarians, Wilma L. Jones

Publications and Research

In order to maintain high quality service and strengthen retention of part-time librarians, this article addresses ways of engaging new part-time librarians and re-engaging long-time part-time librarians. Part-time librarians are hired primarily to work hours outside the traditional work week or as temporary replacements for unanticipated vacancies, yet they end up providing a third of the service, solely, during evenings and weekends in most small to mid-sized academic institutions. Most are brought in with very little training or orientation to the institution and are expected to hit the ground running while maintaining quality service. This article provides managers with suggestions …

Undergraduate Neuroscience Education In The U.S.: An Analysis Using Data From The National Center For Education Statistics, Raddy L. Ramos, Georgia J. Fokas, Ankur Bhambri, Phoebe T. Smith, Brian H. Hallas, Joshua C. Brumberg

Publications and Research

Despite an apparent increase in undergraduate neuroscience programs offered by colleges and universities, there has been little effort to document this growth. In the present report we describe our analysis of the expansion of undergraduate neuroscience programs of study over more than 20 years and detail a number of institutional characteristics of colleges and universities that offer undergraduate neuroscience programs. These data reveal more than 100 institutions with undergraduate neuroscience programs as well as over 2000 college graduates that majored in neuroscience in 2008–2009. Understanding the current number as well as growth trends of undergraduate neuroscience programs found in U.S. …

Bmp-12 Treatment Of Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells In Vitro Augments Tendon-Like Tissue Formation And Defect Repair In Vivo, Jonathan Y. Lee, Zuping Zhou, Peter J. Taub, Melissa Ramcharan, Yonghui Li, Takintope Akinbiyi, Edward R. Maharam, Daniel J. Leong, Damien M. Laudier, Takuya Ruike, Phillip J. Torina, Mone Zaidi, Robert Majeska, Mitchell B. Schaffler, Evan L. Flatow, Hui B. Sun

Publications and Research

We characterized the differentiation of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) into tenocyte-like cells in response to bone morphogenetic protein-12 (BMP-12). BM-MSCs were prepared from Sprague-Dawley rats and cultured as monolayers. Recombinant BMP-12 treatment (10 ng/ml) of BM-MSCs for 12 hours in vitro markedly increased expression of the tenocyte lineage markers scleraxis (Scx) and tenomodulin (Tnmd) over 14 days. Treatment with BMP-12 for a further 12-hour period had no additional effect. Colony formation assays revealed that ∼80% of treated cells and their progeny were Scx- and Tnmd-positive. BM-MSCs seeded in collagen scaffolds and similarly treated with a single dose …

Screening For Otologic Functional Impairments In The Elderly: Whose Job Is It Anyway?, B.E. Weinstein

Publications and Research

Among the most prevalent of chronic conditions affecting older adults globally, hearing loss prevalence is increasing and its impact on society growing. Untreated hearing loss diminishes ones ability to communicate and its strong association with depression and cognitive decline adds further to the burden of hearing loss. Hearing health care is rarely included in the traditional medical exam for older adults, it is typically not considered a risk factor for cognitive decline or falls, and it is not a condition for which routine screening has been recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Yet in older adults, disability typically …

Trust, Privacy, And Frame Problems In Social And Business E-Networks, Part 1, Jeff Buechner

Publications and Research

Privacy issues in social and business e-networks are daunting in complexity— private information about oneself might be routed through countless artificial agents. For each such agent, in that context, two questions about trust are raised: Where an agent must access (or store) personal information, can one trust that artificial agent with that information and, where an agent does not need to either access or store personal information, can one trust that agent not to either access or store that information? It would be an infeasible task for any human being to explicitly determine, for each artificial agent, whether it can …

The Online "Supplemental" Workshop: Course Enrichment To Support Novice Teachers' Analysis Of Classroom Video, Laura H. Baecher, Shiao-Chuan Kung

Publications and Research

As online learning and video technology become more consistent components of teacher education, the opportunities to blend the affordances of both was piloted in a specially designed online workshop. This workshop was designed to help teacher candidates become more sophisticated in their ability to recognize and describe specific teaching behaviors in videoed lessons. Using QuickTime Pro, iMovie, and Blackboard, a self-paced, asynchronous workshop to introduce techniques for observing and analyzing teachers and classes on video was created. Through a series of video tutorials and activities, teacher candidates were guided through the process of viewing the same video clip through different …

Critical Collaborations: An Information Literacy Across The Curriculum Project, Sheila Beck, Devin Mckay

Publications and Research

The article focuses on a collaborative project aimed at investigating the effect of integrating four classroom assignments from different disciplines with critical thinking skills. Entitled "Collaboration and Information: Critical Thinking Skills Across Curriculum," the different goals of the project include having the students understand what information is, the type of information needed and its appropriateness, and the application of research skills using critical thinking. In this study, it has been demonstrated that the greater the breadth and depth of responses to the scenario, the greater the research process skills.

The History Of Evaluation Through Regulatory Impact Analysis: A Path From Accounting To Accountability, Daniele Capone, Dan Williams

Publications and Research

Evaluation of public policy is an important element of intervention by government in the economy and society. This paper analyzes the path of evaluation in the U.S. system through development in related scientific fields and through the use, by different administrations, of Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA). The history of evaluation shows that over time there has been a bipartisan acknowledgement of the importance of these tools and an interesting change in the approach and use of them. At the beginning, RIA and evaluation were conceived as control and accounting instruments with a strong use of economic analysis, but afterwards, they …

Reviving Democracy Through New And Traditional Media, Maria J. D'Agostino

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Coupled Folding And Specific Binding: Fishing For Amphiphilicity, Vikas P. Jain, Raymond S. Tu

Publications and Research

Proteins are uniquely capable of identifying targets with unparalleled selectivity, but, in addition to the precision of the binding phenomenon, nature has the ability to find its targets exceptionally quickly. Transcription factors for instance can bind to a specific sequence of nucleic acids from a soup of similar, but not identical DNA strands, on a timescale of seconds. This is only possible with the enhanced kinetics provided for by a natively disordered structure, where protein folding and binding are cooperative processes. The secondary structures of many proteins are disordered under physiological conditions. Subsequently, the disordered structures fold into ordered structures …

Micropropagation And Medium-Term Conservation Of Rosa Pulverulenta, Somayeh Kavand, Maryam Jafarkhani Kermani, Ali Haghnazari, Pegah Khosravi, Mohamad Reza Azimi

Publications and Research

In Iran, a large number of Rosa species have been exposed to extinction and therefore preservation techniques are necessary to safeguard their future. In the present investigation, the objectives were to optimize the micropropagation and medium-term conservation of one of these wild species, Rosa pulverulenta. At proliferation stage, the maximum number of new leaves (9.6) were produced on the medium containing 4 µM BAP + 0 µM GA₃, whereas the maximum number of axillary shoots (4.1) were observed in the medium containing 4 µM BAP + 3 µM GA₃. The results for rooting experiments suggested …

Linkage Disequilibrium Based Genotype Calling From Low-Coverage Shotgun Sequencing Reads, Jorge Duitama, Justin Kennedy, Sanjiv Dinakar, Yözen Hernández, Yufeng Wu, Ion I. Măndoiu

Publications and Research

Background Recent technology advances have enabled sequencing of individual genomes, promising to revolutionize biomedical research. However, deep sequencing remains more expensive than microarrays for performing whole-genome SNP genotyping. Results In this paper we introduce a new multi-locus statistical model and computationally efficient genotype calling algorithms that integrate shotgun sequencing data with linkage disequilibrium (LD) information extracted from reference population panels such as Hapmap or the 1000 genomes project. Experiments on publicly available 454, Illumina, and ABI SOLiD sequencing datasets suggest that integration of LD information results in genotype calling accuracy comparable to that of microarray platforms from sequencing data of …

Information Is Social: Information Literacy In Context, Jen Hoyer

Publications and Research

This paper aims to discuss traditional conceptions of information literacy as created within an academic context to address information needs within this context. It seeks to present alternative realities of information use outside the academic sector, and to suggest that information literacy instruction within academia does not go far enough in preparing students for the information society beyond university. The aim is then to follow this by discussion of appropriate information literacy models to prepare young people for information use in a variety of workplace environments.

What Kind Of Right Is The Right To The City?, Kafui A. Attoh

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Assessing Syndromic Surveillance Of Cardiovascular Outcomes From Emergency Department Chief Complaint Data In New York City, Robert W. Mathes, Kazuhiko Ito, Thomas Matte

Publications and Research

Background Prospective syndromic surveillance of emergency department visits has been used for near-real time tracking of communicable diseases to detect outbreaks or other unexpected disease clusters. The utility of syndromic surveillance for tracking cardiovascular events, which may be influenced by environmental factors and influenza, has not been evaluated. We developed and evaluated a method for tracking cardiovascular events using emergency department free-text chief complaints. Methodology/Principal Findings There were three phases to our analysis. First we applied text processing algorithms based on sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value to chief complaint data reported by 11 New York City emergency departments for …

Polycationic Glycosides, Robert Engel, Ishrat Ghani, Diego Montenegro, Marie Thomas, Barbara Klaritch-Vrana, Alejandra Castaño, Laura Friedman, Jay Leb, Leah Rothman, Heidi Lee, Craig Capodiferro, Daniel Ambinder, Eve Cere, Christopher Awad, Faiza Sheikh, Jaimelee Rizzo, Lisa-Marie Nisbett, Erika Testani, Karin Melkonian

Publications and Research

Cationic lipids have long been known to serve as antibacterial and antifungal agents. Prior efforts with attachment of cationic lipids to carbohydrate-based surfaces have suggested the possibility that carbohydrate-attached cationic lipids might serve as antibacterial and antifungal pharmaceutical agents. Toward the understanding of this possibility, we have synthesized several series of cationic lipids attached to a variety of glycosides with the intent of generating antimicrobial agents that would meet the requirement for serving as a pharmaceutical agent, specifically that the agent be effective at a very low concentration as well as being biodegradable within the organism being treated. The initial …

Cognitive Control In Majority Search: A Computational Modeling Approach, Hongbin Wang, Xun Liu, Jin Fan

Publications and Research

Despite the importance of cognitive control in many cognitive tasks involving uncertainty, the computational mechanisms of cognitive control in response to uncertainty remain unclear. In this study, we develop biologically realistic neural network models to investigate the instantiation of cognitive control in a majority function task, where one determines the category to which the majority of items in a group belong. Two models are constructed, both of which include the same set of modules representing task-relevant brain functions and share the same model structure. However, with a critical change of a model parameter setting, the two models implement two different …

Rethinking Prison Education In The Era Of Mass Incarceration. President Travis' Speech On Rethinking Prison Education, At The Cuny Graduate Center On 2/4/11., Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Opportunity/Threat Spirals In The U.S. Women's Suffrage And German Anti-Immigration Movements, Roger Karapin

Publications and Research

Many have noted that protesters sometimes expand political opportunities for later protests, but there has been little analysis of how this occurs. The problem can be addressed by analyzing opportunity/threat spirals, which involve positive feedback among: actions by challengers (bold protests and the formation of alliances between challenger groups); opportunity-increasing actions by authorities and elites (elite divisions and support, procedural reforms, substantive concessions, and police inaction); and threat-increasing actions by authorities and elites (new grievance production and excessive repression). Interactions among these eight mechanisms are demonstrated in two cases of social movement growth, the U.S. women's suffrage movement of the …

Estimating The Effects Of Immigration Status On Mental Health Care Utilizations In The United States, Jie Chen, Arturo Vargas-Bustamante

Publications and Research

Immigration status is a likely deterrent of mental health care utilization in the United States. Using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and National Health Interview survey from 2002 to 2006, multivariable logistic regressions were used to estimate the effects of immigration status on mental health care utilization among patients with depression or anxiety disorders. Multivariate regressions showed that immigrants were significantly less likely to take any prescription drugs, but not significantly less likely to have any physician visits compared to US-born citizens. Results also showed that improving immigrants’ health care access and health insurance coverage could potentially reduce disparities between …

Two-Loop Leading Color Corrections To Heavy-Quark Pair Production In The Gluon Fusion Channel, R. Bonciani, Andrea Ferroglia, T. Gehrmann, A. Von Manteuffel, C. Studerus

Publications and Research

We evaluate the two-loop QCD diagrams contributing to the leading color coefficient of the heavy-quark pair production cross section in the gluon fusion channel. We obtain an analytic expression, which is valid for any value of the Mandelstam invariants s and t and of the heavy-quark mass m. Our findings agree with previous analytic results in the small-mass limit and with recent results for the coefficients of the IR poles.

High Prevalence Of Obesity Among Inner-City Adolescent Boys In The Bronx, New York: Forgetting Our Boys, Carmen R. Isasi, Amy Whiffen, Yolanda Florez, Katherine Freeman, Judith Wylie-Rosett, Eleanor Campbell

Publications and Research

We examined sex differences in overweight and obesity in a sample of 1,619 inner-city adolescents. Participants were enrolled from 11 public schools in the Bronx, New York. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 21.7% and 22.5%, respectively; prevalence of obesity was significantly higher among adolescent boys than adolescent girls (24.9 vs 20.1%). Childhood obesity is a public health concern in the United States, and the higher prevalence of obesity in adolescent boys requires additional attention.

Cytomegalovirus Antibodies In Dried Blood Spots: A Minimally Invasive Method For Assessing Stress, Immune Function, And Aging, Jennifer B. Dowd, Allison E. Aiello, Laura Chyu, Yuan-Yen Huang, Thomas W. Mcdade

Publications and Research

Background Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a prevalent herpesvirus with links to both stress and aging. This paper describes and validates a minimally invasive method for assessing antibodies against CMV in finger stick whole blood spot samples for use as an indirect marker of an aspect of cell-mediated immunity. Results Analysis of CMV in dried blood spot samples (DBS) was based on modifications of a commercially available protocol for quantifying CMV antibodies in serum or plasma. The method was evaluated through analysis of precision, reliability, linearity, and correlation between matched serum and DBS samples collected from 75 volunteers. Correlation between DBS and …

Employing Cogenerative Dialogue To Share Classroom Authority, Edward Lehner

Publications and Research

In America’s high schools, particularly in large urban centers, racial and social class differences separating a teacher and students can create classroom management concerns that could seriously impede upon learning. These classroom management difficulties may branch from the misalignment between a teacher’s instructional methods and students’ learning approaches. This research reports data gathered from a New York City High School Suspension Center during a 9 month school year, including results from 56 focus group interviews and 300 hours of classroom observation. The data analysis reveals that classroom behavioral problems and authority concerns are prominent themes in this school. Informed by …

Connections Between Classical And Parametric Network Entropies, Matthias Dehmer, Abbe Mowshowitz, Frank Emmert-Streib

Publications and Research

This paper explores relationships between classical and parametric measures of graph (or network) complexity. Classical measures are based on vertex decompositions induced by equivalence relations. Parametric measures, on the other hand, are constructed by using information functions to assign probabilities to the vertices. The inequalities established in this paper relating classical and parametric measures lay a foundation for systematic classification of entropy-based measures of graph complexity.

Fanm Ayisyen Pap Kase: Respecting The Right To Health Of Haitian Women And Girls, Lisa Davis, Blaine Bookey

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Barack Obama And The Public Interest Law Movement: A Preliminary Assessment, Frank Deale, Rita Cant

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Very Preterm Birth Is Reduced In Women Receiving An Integrated Behavioral Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Ayman El-Mohandes, Michele Kiely, Marie G. Gantz, M. Nabil El-Khorazaty

Publications and Research

Background This study examines whether an integrated behavioral intervention with proven efficacy in reducing psycho-behavioral risks (smoking, environmental tobacco smoke exposure (ETSE), depression, and intimate partner violence (IPV)) in African-Americans is associated with improved pregnancy outcomes

Methods A randomized controlled trial targeting risks during pregnancy was conducted in the District of Columbia. African-American women were recruited if reporting at least one of the risks mentioned above. Randomization to intervention or usual care was site and risk specific. Sociodemographic, health risk and pregnancy outcome data were collected. Data on 819 women, and their singleton live born infants were analyzed using an …

Religion, Feminism And Abortion: The Regulation Of Assisted Reproduction In Two Catholic Countries, Richard Storrow

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.