387 research outputs found
Measuring Merit: The Shultz-Zedeck Research on Law School Admissions
No full textLaw schools profess a commitment to racial diversity both for the educational benefits diversity confers and for its contribution to the profession. But they admit students based on standards that, while not discriminatory in a legal sense, undeniably favor white applicants. Today the question of who belongs in any given law school, or law school at all, turns almost exclusively on an applicant’s score on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Law schools are not blind to the racial impact that accompanies this narrow measure of merit. But rather than taking a hard look at whether legal educators have adequately, or accurately, identified what qualities best qualify students for law school, the admissions process largely relies on affirmative action to ameliorate the current process\u27s negative effects. That approach is imperfect for a whole host of reasons, not least of which is that affirmative action’s legal use in higher education may be about to end. Should race-conscious admissions practices be banned, every law school that truly values diversity will have to explore race-neutral means of achieving it. The good news is that research conducted by Marjorie Shultz and Sheldon Zedeck suggests that this is possible - that qualities relevant to effective lawyering can be defined and predicted without recreating the LSAT\u27s disparate impact. This essay describes that research and the promise that it holds for improved, race-neutral, admissions processes
Measuring creativity employing the design build process within a PK12 fabrication laboratory
No full textCreative problem solving is addressed as playing a major role in education and employment now and in the future. The author examined the role of the Design Build Process and its ability to address creative problem-solving using Fabrication Laboratory equipment. The author seeks to give educators an educational development tool in which high school educators can utilize within their Technology Education program. The method utilizes a Quasi-Experimental design with treatment groups using the Design Build Process within a Fabrication Laboratory setting. The curriculum allows the instructors to implement projects that fit the goals and objectives of the course that they are teaching while enhancing creativity within their students. The null hypothesis was accepted in that no significant difference was found in creativity between the control and treatment groups. However, qualitative data suggested that several merits exist in teaching creativity within the Design Build Process
The Use of Biodegradable Poly(b-amino ester) and Poly(b-amino amide) Microspheres as an Experimental Therapeutic Delivery Vector for Selective Cancer Cell Targeting
No full textThe design, synthesis, and use of new biodegradable polymers for drug delivery applications is an area of ever increasing interest. Polymeric drug delivery systems have several advantages compared to conventional drug delivery methods such as liposomes and antibodies. Since liposomes are spherical vessels made of phosphorolipids, they are tiny particles which can be taken up by the macrophages. Antibodies, meanwhile, have the disadvantage that most receptor sites on tumor cells are also present on healthy cells. Several of these advantages include localized delivery, improved drug efficiency, and drug protection of certain medications which may degrade rapidly when inside the body.
Poly(b-amino esters) and Poly(b-amino amides) are ideal polymers for the encapsulation, delivery, and release of various therapeutic agents to cancer cells, which have an acidic extra cellular pH level, near 6.8. Poly(b-amino esters) and Poly(b-amino amides) are specifically designed to degrade by hydrolysis of the ester and amide bonds respectively, in the polymer backbone. Microspheres of Poly(b-amino ester) and Poly(b-amino amide) are formed via a double emulsion process using Rhodamine B-Isothiocyanate (RBITC) labeled Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as the encapsulate. The fluorescence intensity of the RBITC-BSA released from the polymer sphere was measured as a way of testing polymer backbone hydrolysis. The polymer microspheres were placed into different solutions of varying pH ranges. The pH range extended from pH 5.5 to pH 7.4. The hydrolyzed polymer byproducts were removed and the resulting supernatant tested for fluorescence intensity. The results showed polymer hydrolysis and release of labeled BSA at pH 6.8 and lower
Synthesis of a Conjugated Ladder Polymer for Application in Direct Writing.
No full textSince the discovery of electroluminescence in conjugated polymers in 1990, electro-optic devices such as light emitting diodes, flat panel all polymer displays, and lasers have received a great deal of attention. Greater conjugation in these pi-electron systems leads to enhanced fluorescence and smaller band gaps. Upon this basis we have proposed exploiting these facets via a ladder polymer. A ladder polymer is an organic polymer that consists of linear molecules in which two cyclic subunits are linked together in a regular sequence, yielding a very rigid structure. Owing to their rigid structures and enhanced conjugation these materials would find many applications in nanoelectronics and high temperature environments, as well as exhibiting high laser damage thresholds.
Several synthetic routes are proposed and explored attempting to successfully synthesize an A-B or A-A type monomer. This monomer will undergo palladium catalyzed alpha-arylation to form a processible precursor polymer which then will be chemically converted to an all aromatic ladder polymer
Cooperation of cytokine signaling with chimeric transcription factors in leukemogenesis: PML-retinoic acid receptor alpha blocks growth factor-mediated differentiation
No full textCopyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.We utilized a mouse model of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) to investigate how aberrant activation of cytokine signaling pathways interacts with chimeric transcription factors to generate acute myeloid leukemia. Expression in mice of the APL-associated fusion, PML-RARA, initially has only modest effects on myelopoiesis. Whereas treatment of control animals with interleukin-3 (IL-3) resulted in expanded myelopoiesis without a block in differentiation, PML-RARA abrogated differentiation that normally characterizes the response to IL-3. Retroviral transduction of bone marrow with an IL-3-expressing retrovirus revealed that IL-3 and promyelocytic leukemia-retinoic acid receptor alpha (PML-RARα) combined to generate a lethal leukemia-like syndrome in [less than]21 days. We also observed that a constitutively activated mutant IL-3 receptor, ßcV449E, cooperated with PML-RARα in leukemogenesis, whereas a different activated mutant, ßcI374N, did not. Analysis of additional mutations introduced into ßcV449E showed that, although tyrosine phosphorylation of ßc is necessary for cooperation, the Src homology 2 domain-containing transforming protein binding site is dispensable. Our results indicate that chimeric transcription factors can block the differentiative effects of growth factors. This combination can be potently leukemogenic, but the particular manner in which these types of mutations interact determines the ability of such combinations to generate acute myeloid leukemia.Vernon T. Phan, David B. Shultz, Bao-Tran H. Truong, Timothy J. Blake, Anna L. Brown, Thomas J. Gonda, Michelle M. Le Beau, and Scott C. Koga
Evaluation of Progress in Annual Ryegrass (Lolium Multiflorum Lam.) Selected for Increased Winter Productivity
No full textForage availability in the southeastern USA is limited during winter and supplemental feeding increases management costs. Therefore, development of a suitable cultivar with increased winter productivity would be a valuable contribution to animal agriculture. A phenotypic recurrent-selection breeding program was initiated in 2005 to improve the winter productivity of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.). This study was conducted to evaluate the progress from the selection to determine the worth of a newly developed population before releasing it as a cultivar. In a grazing trial, Cycle 2 appears to have higher ADG than Gulf and Marshall during winter months, which may be associated with higher biomass yield during those months. In the correlated study, we found selection for increased winter productivity resulted in more erect plants with early heading date and homogenous ploidy. In the soluble carbohydrates study, the plants outside the greenhouse had higher level of TNC than plants inside the greenhouse but there was no difference in TNC among cultivars within locations. Further grazing evaluations considering early seeding and grazing will be helpful to determine the worth of cycle 2 under grazing during the low forage availability months (December – February)
Economics of controlling a spreading environmental weed
No full textWeeds can cause significant problems to natural ecosystems. Although there have been numerous studies on the economics of weed control, relatively few of these studies have focused on natural ecosystems. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by assessing the cost-effectiveness of a comprehensive range of control strategies for blackberry (Rubus anglocandicans) in natural environments in Australia. We developed a stochastic dynamic simulation model and a deterministic dynamic optimisation model. The stochastic model calculates the expected net present value (NPV) of a range of control strategies, including any combination of treatment options. The optimisation model identifies the treatment combination that maximises NPV. Both models represent the costs and efficacies of control options over 25 years. The results indicate that using rust (Phragmidium violaceum) as a biological control agent only marginally increases NPV and excluding rust does not affect the optimal choice of other control options. The results also show for a wide range of parameter values that a strategy which combines the herbicide grazon (Triclopyre and picloram) and mowing is optimal. If chemical efficacy decreases by 20 percent it becomes optimal to include grazing blackberry by goats in the control strategy.Environment, Economics, Weed, Stochastic, Optimisation, Management, Environmental Economics and Policy,
Sustaining the Science Impact of Summit Station, Greenland: A white paper produced from the Summit Station Science Summit
No full textLora Koenig, Bruce Vaughn, John F. Burkhart, Zoe Courville, Jack Dibb, Robert Hawley, Richard B. Alley, Abigail Vieregg, Steve Montzka, Ian M. Howat, David D. Turner, Richard Cullather, Ryan R. Neely III, Nimesh A. Patel, Vasilii Petrenko, Matthew Shupe, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Von P. Walden, Erich C. Osterberg, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Kelly Brunt, Tom Neumann, Lynn Montgomery, Matt Okraszewski, Christine Shultz, Sandy Starkweather, Brain Vasel, Christopher Shuman, Detlev HelmigThe lead authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation Arctic Science Section for
funding this workshop and report through NSF award #PLR 1738123.https://geo-summit.org/sites/default/files/docs/SummitSummitReport_FINAL.pd
Economics of controlling a spreading environmental weed
No full textWeeds can cause significant problems to natural ecosystems. Although there have been numerous studies on the economics of weed control, relatively few of these studies have focused on natural ecosystems. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by assessing the cost-effectiveness of a comprehensive range of control strategies for blackberry (Rubus anglocandicans) in natural environments in Australia. We developed a stochastic dynamic simulation model and a deterministic dynamic optimisation model. The stochastic model calculates the expected net present value (NPV) of a range of control strategies, including any combination of treatment options. The optimisation model identifies the treatment combination that maximises NPV. Both models represent the costs and efficacies of control options over 25 years. The results indicate that using rust (Phragmidium violaceum) as a biological control agent only marginally increases NPV and excluding rust does not affect the optimal choice of other control options. The results also show for a wide range of parameter values that a strategy which combines the herbicide grazon (Triclopyre and picloram) and mowing is optimal. If chemical efficacy decreases by 20 percent it becomes optimal to include grazing blackberry by goats in the control strategy.environment, economics, weed, stochastic, optimisation, management, Environmental Economics and Policy,
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