1,070 research outputs found
An Interview with Cass R. Sunstein: Author of The World According to Star Wars
No full textThe guest editors of special issue 12, Jason W. Ellis and Sean Scanlan, interview Cass R. Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard, where he is founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy. He is the author of many books, including the bestseller Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler). His 2016 book The World According to Star Wars attempts to understand the Star Wars universe in ten chapters through the lenses of Sunstein’s academic interests, namely: culture, sociology, psychology, behavioral science, and political science. The book is both personal and theoretical, practical and academic. It takes accurate measure of the genesis of the movies, the movies themselves, and briefly, but trenchantly, it examines concepts such as reputational cascades and speculates on what Star Wars can teach viewers about constitutional disputes
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The crowd funding services handbook ::raising the money you need to finance your business, project, or invention /
No full text"In The Crowdsource Funding Services Handbook, author Jason R. Rich offers a step-by-step overview of the various crowdsource funding services available on the Web, as well as the necessary documentation required to launch a successful crowdfunding campaign."-
Neotectonic map of the Cascadia margin
No full textby Chris Goldfinger, Jeffrey Beeson, Chris Romsos and Jason R. Patton.This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Includes bibliographical references (pages 15-20).Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.Text in English
Letter from Jason Lee to Mr. Harry R. Oakley, Evacuee Property Supervisor, February 22, 1943
No full textResponse to previous letter, regarding property left by Japanese American farmers
Abstract PR04: p120 catenin loss drives pancreatic cancer EMT and metastasis through activation of calcium signaling
No full textAbstract
Purpose: We have generated a mouse model to delete the gene Ctnnd1, whose gene product p120 catenin (p120ctn) is necessary for E-CADHERIN stability, resulting in enhanced metastasis in the conventional KPC pancreatic tumor mouse model. An unbiased screen of tumor cells isolated from these mice identified misregulated calcium signaling as a previously unappreciated contributor to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis. Thus, our overarching hypothesis is that p120ctn loss in pancreatic cancer drives EMT and metastasis through functional upregulation of the calcium signaling component PTHLH.
Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a major health issue, with only 7% of patients surviving beyond 5 years, and increases in PDAC-associated deaths project this disease to be the second leading cause of cancer deaths by 2020. An unbiased approach to discover candidate cancer genes in PDAC identified the p120 catenin gene as one of the top 20 PDAC cancer genes, and further analysis revealed that p120ctn loss was associated with reduced PDAC patient survival. Recent work from our lab further demonstrated that conditional p120ctn/Ctnnd1 deletion in the esophagus was sufficient to drive invasive squamous cell carcinoma, establishing p120ctn/Ctnnd1 as a bona fide tumor-suppressor gene. Results presented herein determined the in vivo role of p120ctn loss in PDAC tumorigenesis and metastasis through genetic mouse models and unbiased RNA-seq analysis.
Methods: A PDAC mouse model was established to study the role of p120ctn in pancreatic carcinogenesis and metastasis. Specifically, LSL-KrasG12D/+; p53fl/+; Pdx1cre; Rosa26LSL-YFP; Ctnnd1fl/wt mice (herein KPCY-p120CKO) were generated to determine the effect of conditional p120ctn loss on pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, RNA-seq was performed on p120-intact or p120-null pancreatic tumor cells isolated from these mice to identify novel mechanisms of pancreatic tumorigenesis and metastasis.
Results: We demonstrate p120ctn loss as a catastrophic event for tumor epithelial cell identity in vivo, leading to enhanced EMT and metastasis. Specifically, we show that KPCY-p120CKO mice have an enhanced metastatic phenotype relative to KPCY controls. Our data therefore suggest that p120ctn is a critical factor in metastatic cell dissemination, and that p120ctn loss results in tumor cells being “locked” in a mesenchymal phenotype by failing to stabilize E-cadherin at the metastatic site. To determine the mechanism of enhanced EMT and metastasis, RNA-seq analysis of p120ctn-null tumor cells was performed, which surprisingly revealed aberrant activation of calcium signaling. Unexpectedly, two of the top five most upregulated genes in p120ctn-null cells were the secreted factor Pthlh and the kinase Camk2b, both of which are key signaling molecules involved in calcium signaling. We demonstrate that PTHLH binding to its cognate receptor leads to cytosolic calcium ion (Ca2+) release, resulting in phosphorylation and activation of CaMKII. We further establish that genetic deletion or pharmacologic inhibition of Pthlh results in proliferation and migration defects. Moreover, orthotopic implantation of KPC-PthlhNULL tumor cell lines reduced tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. Finally, we show that PDAC patients with high expression of Pthlh have significantly decreased survival, suggesting that calcium signaling may be a potent oncogenic pathway in pancreatic cancer and that blocking this pathway may be of therapeutic benefit.
Conclusions: This work has demonstrated the importance of the previously unappreciated role of calcium signaling in pancreatic cancer progression and metastasis, and future studies will look to determine the efficacy of calcium-modulating therapeutics in preclinical models of pancreatic cancer.
This abstract is also being presented as Poster A42.
Citation Format: Jason R. Pitarresi, Maximilian Reichert, Basil Bakir, Leticia Moreira, Lauren Simon, Anil K. Rustgi. p120 catenin loss drives pancreatic cancer EMT and metastasis through activation of calcium signaling [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Modeling Cancer in Mice: Technology, Biology, and Beyond; 2017 Sep 24-27; Orlando, Florida. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(10 Suppl):Abstract nr PR04.</jats:p
Social facilitation: salience and mediated, anticipatory, and residual presence
No full textSocial facilitation is the oldest experimental concept in social psychology. Throughout decades of social facilitation research, social presence has typically been viewed as a dichotomous variable which affects individuals while performing a task. However, this dissertation attempts to investigate whether social presence may be viewed as continuous variable, differing on the salience of presence. In addition, it seeks to determine whether changes in performance can be elicited by prior social presence (residual presence) and the expectation of future social presence (anticipatory presence). Study 1 compared the effects of 6 different levels of presence (absence, artificial presence, passive presence, implied presence, embodied presence, and active presence) on simple and complex task performance. It provides evidence that the various levels of social presence did have a differential impact on participants. From the questionnaire responses, social presence was able to be classified into three distinct categories: low (absence, artificial and passive presence), intermediate (implied presence), and high salience (embodied and active presence). Study 1 also provides some support for the expectation that presence results in simple task facilitation. However, instead of an expected linear relationship between salience of presence and simple task enhancement, a quadratic inverted U-shaped curve was observed. Implied presence, a type of presence of intermediate salience, produced the strongest effects. Study 2 showed that social presence can enhance simple task performance even after the stimulus has been removed (residual presence). Study 2 also provided some indication that anticipating a supervisor could cause social facilitation effects even before the supervisor’s arrival. Questionnaire responses showed that participants expecting the presence of a supervisor, like those exposed to residual presence, were more affected on perceived distraction, immediacy, impact, and stress compared to control participants. Implications of the present results provide the rationale for a modified conceptualization of social facilitation.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Jason Matthew Glushako
Randomized controlled trial of a diversion program for individuals with a history of repeat felony property crime and substance use
No full textMichael R. McCart, Ph.D., Jason E. Chapman, Ph.D., Zoe Alley, Ph.D., & Ashli J. Sheidow, Ph.D.Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 5, 2022)."This summary reports findings from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a front-end diversion program for non-violent, repeat felony property offenders who have a substance use problem and motivation to change their behavior. Oregon's Senate Bill 416 (SB416) program was developed by state leaders seeking an alternative to prison for individuals who were committing property crimes, at least in part, to support their use of illicit substances"--Page 5.This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Includes bibliographical references (pages 35-36).Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.Text in English
Study of simplified models of aircraft structures subjected to generalized explosive loading
No full textThis dissertation develops a simple methodology for estimating the maximum elastic-plastic deformation of thin, rectangular plates due to an exponentially decaying pressure pulse. Initially, only small plates, representative of aircraft skin panels, and uniformly distributed pressures are examined. The deflections predicted by this procedure are compared with those attained from finite element analysis for various plate dimensions and blast intensities. Material properties and boundary conditions are also varied. It is found that the current, clamped single-degree-of-freedom model is generally a much better predictor of deflection than its simply supported counterpart, although both show average errors of less than 15% compared to finite element results. The deviations between all of the models tend to decrease as surface area decreases, or as plate thickness and aspect ratio increase. A means of approximating permanent plate deflection is also suggested, which favorably compares with previously published experimental results for square, aluminum plates.
The aforementioned procedure is then extended for use with larger geometries, namely a wider fuselage section and a panel of an onboard luggage container, and nonuniform pressures. A generalized distribution function is developed to account for nonuniformities consistent with detonations at a small standoff distance. Moreover, two normalized criteria are proposed to determine when these nonuniformities can be ignored. In addition, large discrepancies are found in calculated deflections when incorporating the current structural model and the blast parameter data from two commonly used sources for both uniform and nonuniform loading cases. As a result, uncertainties in these data are thoroughly examined, which leads to confidence bounds being placed on all calculated deflections through a Monte Carlo scheme. This, in turn, allows for the generation of probability of failure curves.
Suggestions for improving the current loading and structural models are also discussed. Finally, the method of analysis for plates is preliminarily extended for the blast loading of thin, cylindrical shells. The various topics covered and simplified models proposed are useful to both the experimentalist and designer of blast resistant structures.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-147)
Swirling flow of viscoelastic fluids
No full textDeposited with permission of the author. © 1998 Jason R. Stokes.The ability to understand and predict the flow behaviour of non-Newtonian fluids in swirling flow is industrially important for the efficient design and performance of processes which utilise fluids with complex rheological properties. In particular, fluids with elastic properties are not well described by non-Newtonian constitutive models, such that predictions using such models must be carefully validated. A benchmark problem is proposed here which provides a well defined geometry to study the swirling flow of non-Newtonian fluids as a test case for the validation of constitutive models. The confined swirling flow utilised is a torsionally driven cavity where the test fluid is confined in a cylinder with a rotating bottom lid, and stationary side walls and top lid. The flow field is three-dimensional and consists of both a primary motion, which is directed azimuthally, and a secondary motion, which is located in the radial and axial plane of the cylinder and driven by inertial and/or elastic forces
2-Ruled Calibrated 4-folds in R^7 and R^8
No full textIn this paper we introduce the area of 2-ruled 4-folds in R^n (n=7 or 8), that is, submanifolds M of R^n that admit a fibration over some 2-fold Sigma such that each fibre is an affine 2-plane in R^n. This is motivated by the paper math.DG/0012060 by Joyce on ruled special Lagrangian 3-folds in C^3 and the work of the author in math.DG/0401123 on ruled associative 3-folds in R^7. We say that a 2-ruled 4-fold M is r-framed if we are given an oriented basis for each fibre in a smooth manner, and in such circumstances we may write M in terms of orthogonal smooth maps phi_1,phi_2:Sigma-->S^(n-1) and a smooth map psi:Sigma-->R^n. We focus on 2-ruled Cayley 4-folds since coassociative and special Lagrangian 4-folds can be considered as special cases. The main result is on non-planar, r-framed, 2-ruled Cayley 4-folds in R^8, which characterises the Cayley condition in terms of a coupled system of nonlinear, first-order, partial differential equations that phi_1 and phi_2 satisfy, and another such equation on psi which is linear in psi. We deduce that, for a fixed non-planar, r-framed, 2-ruled Cayley cone M_0, the space of r-framed 2-ruled Cayley 4-folds M which have asymptotic cone M_0 has the structure of a vector space. We give a means of constructing 2-ruled Cayley 4-folds M starting from a 2-ruled Cayley cone M_0, satisfying a certain condition, using holomorphic vector fields such that M_0 is the asymptotic cone of M. We use this to construct explicit examples of U(1)-invariant 2-ruled Cayley 4-folds asymptotic to a U(1)^3-invariant 2-ruled Cayley cone. Examples are also given based on ruled calibrated 3-folds in C^3 and R^7 and complex cones in C^4
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