An outline of the development of Chinese and Japanese-style calligraphy in Japan from pre-Edo to modern times

This thesis focuses on the development, from pre-Edo to modern times, of Japan's two main traditions of calligraphy- namely wayo (Japanese style) and karayo (Chinese style). Emphasis has been placed on the Edo period, in which both the wayo and karayo traditions were practised by large numbers of calligraphers, but discussions of the calligraphy practised in pre-Edo times, and in the Meiji and Modern periods, have also been included so as to provide appropriate context. In each period examined, reasons behind the development of wayo and karayo calligraphy have been considered. This is carried out in two ways: firstly, through a general investigation of the calligraphy practised in Japan during each period, and secondly, through the translation and analysis of a number of excerpts from treatises on calligraphy written by Japanese calligraphers. Finally, in the conclusion, reasons for and influencing factors behind the popularity of both wayo and karayo calligraphy in the periods examined are discussed

From Student Access to Student Success: Exploring Presidential Views of the Evolving Community College Mission.

Community colleges are recognized as flexible, efficient institutions. A core trait of these colleges is accessibility. However, a growing emphasis on student outcomes accompanied by increasingly prescriptive accountability is pushing colleges to make choices that may limit access. This study examines community college presidents’ views on student access and success and how their beliefs are shaping the direction of their institutions. The underlying idea motivating this inquiry is that college leaders, due to shifting expectations toward increased completion, are being forced to make decisions that challenge fundamental aspects of the college mission. This qualitative study borrows from neo-institutional theory employing the concepts of competing institutional logics—namely student access and student success—and institutional entrepreneurship to explore shifting organizational expectations. The study involves interviews with nineteen of the twenty-three community college presidents in Ohio. Ohio is one of a handful of states that has garnered significant national attention for reform efforts in the two-year sector in recent years. Findings suggest presidents are deeply committed to aspects of the college mission indicative of the access logic—open door admissions, comprehensive offerings, and affordability. However, they cite several dilemmas to sustained accessibility and increased student success including growing percentages of underprepared students and continued demands for a broad array of quality offerings in an environment of constrained resources. Exploring the implications of the completion agenda the presidents embrace efforts to improve student outcomes, but also contest the classification of student success narrowly defined as credential attainment. Many presidents have taken an aggressive position in navigating the institutional shift from student access to success. Nearly all presidents indicate the need for more emphasis on partnerships with other education sectors. This study makes an important contribution to research in higher education. There is considerable literature that highlights the questionable outcomes of students attending community colleges; yet, these institutions continue to garner significant attention as affordable alternatives to promoting increased educational attainment. Scrutiny of student progression and success will lead to questions about the sustainability of the long-held belief that community colleges should provide open access for students regardless of their backgrounds and academic preparation.PHDHigher EducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98017/1/cabaldw_1.pd

Managing Roof Rats in Citrus Orchards: Initial Efforts toward Building an Integrated Pest Management Program

Roof rats cause extensive damage in orchards throughout the world. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems are the best option for managing rodents, yet few management systems have been developed and tested to control roof rats in agricultural settings. We initiated a study in 2020 to provide the foundation for an IPM program to manage roof rats in California citrus orchards. Our initial efforts centered on developing effective monitoring strategies for roof rats to determine when management actions are needed, assessing rat movement patterns to determine proper placement of management tools, and conducting initial tests of Goodnature A24 self-resetting traps and elevated bait stations containing 0.005% diphacinone-treated oats. We determined that the use of both tracking tunnels and remote-triggered cameras served as effective monitoring tools for roof rats in citrus orchards, and a smaller 3 × 3 grid placement of these monitoring tools was as effective as a 5 × 5 grid, indicating that substantial material and labor costs could be saved by using the smaller grid size. Placement of the monitoring tools on the ground or up in trees did not influence the effectiveness of this approach. We determined that roof rats exclusively used orchard habitats rather than surrounding fields, so control efforts should be focused in these areas. Roof rats moved substantial distances daily (~170-190 m), but results from bait station trials suggest that spacing of bait stations and traps should be closer together to increase roof rat encounter rates of these devices. Our trial with A24 traps elevated in orchard canopies suggest that there is an advantage to including a platform underneath the trap to increase trap activation. Collectively, this information provides a baseline for future research targeted at developing an effective IPM program for managing roof rats in citrus orchards

The human ankyrin 1 promoter insulator sustains gene expression in a β-globin lentiviral vector in hematopoietic stem cells.

Lentiviral vectors designed for the treatment of the hemoglobinopathies require the inclusion of regulatory and strong enhancer elements to achieve sufficient expression of the β-globin transgene. Despite the inclusion of these elements, the efficacy of these vectors may be limited by transgene silencing due to the genomic environment surrounding the integration site. Barrier insulators can be used to give more consistent expression and resist silencing even with lower vector copies. Here, the barrier activity of an insulator element from the human ankyrin-1 gene was analyzed in a lentiviral vector carrying an antisickling human β-globin gene. Inclusion of a single copy of the Ankyrin insulator did not affect viral titer, and improved the consistency of expression from the vector in murine erythroleukemia cells. The presence of the Ankyrin insulator element did not change transgene expression in human hematopoietic cells in short-term erythroid culture or in vivo in primary murine transplants. However, analysis in secondary recipients showed that the lentiviral vector with the Ankyrin element preserved transgene expression, whereas expression from the vector lacking the Ankyrin insulator decreased in secondary recipients. These studies demonstrate that the Ankyrin insulator may improve long-term β-globin expression in hematopoietic stem cells for gene therapy of hemoglobinopathies

Requirement of the NF- B Subunit p65/RelA for K-Ras-Induced Lung Tumorigenesis

K-Ras-induced lung cancer is a very common disease, for which there are currently no effective therapies. Because therapy directly targeting the activity of oncogenic Ras has been unsuccessful, a different approach for novel therapy design is to identify critical Ras downstream oncogenic targets. Given that oncogenic Ras proteins activate the transcription factor NF-κB, and the importance of NF-κB in oncogenesis, we hypothesized that NF-κB would be an important K-Ras target in lung cancer. To address this hypothesis, we generated an NF-κB-EGFP reporter mouse model of K-Ras-induced lung cancer and determined that K-Ras activates NF-κB in lung tumors in situ. Furthermore, a mouse model was generated where activation of oncogenic K-Ras in lung cells was coupled with inactivation of the NF-κB subunit p65/RelA. In this model, deletion of p65/RelA reduces the number of K-Ras-induced lung tumors both in the presence and absence of the tumor suppressor p53. Lung tumors with loss of p65/RelA have higher numbers of apoptotic cells, reduced spread and lower grade. Using lung cell lines expressing oncogenic K-Ras, we show that NF-κB is activated in these cells in a K-Ras-dependent manner and that NF-κB activation by K-Ras requires IKKβ kinase activity. Taken together, these results demonstrate the importance of the NF-κB subunit p65/RelA in K-Ras induced lung transformation and identify IKKβ as a potential therapeutic target for K-Ras-induced lung cancer

Humanized Monoclonal Antibody against West Nile Virus Envelope Protein Administered after Neuronal Infection Protects against Lethal Encephalitis in Hamsters

Humans infected with West Nile virus (WNV) may clinically present with symptoms that are suggestive of neurological infection. Nearly all treatments of WNV disease have been effective in animal models only if administered before or soon after viral challenge. Here, we evaluated whether a potent neutralizing anti-WNV humanized monoclonal antibody (MAb), hE16, could improve the course of disease in a hamster model when administered after the virus had infected neurons in the brain. Five days after viral injection, WNV was detected in the brains of hamsters by cytopathic assay, quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemical staining of WNV envelope in neurons. Notably, 80%–90% of the hamsters treated 5 days after viral injection by intraperitoneal injection with hE16 survived the disease, compared with 37% of the placebo-treated hamsters (P \u3c= .001). The hamsters that received hE16 directly in the brain also exhibited markedly improved survival rates, compared with those in the placebo-treated hamsters. In prospective experiments, hamsters with high levels of infectious WNV in their cerebrospinal fluid were also protected by hE16 when administered 5 days after viral injection. These experiments suggest that humanized MAbs with potent neutralizing activity are a possible treatment for human patients after WNV has infected neurons in the central nervous system

Akt-dependent Activation of mTORC1 Complex Involves Phosphorylation of mTOR (Mammalian Target of Rapamycin) by IκB Kinase α (IKKα)

The serine/threonine protein kinase Akt promotes cell survival, growth, and proliferation through phosphorylation of different downstream substrates. A key effector of Akt is the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Akt is known to stimulate mTORC1 activity through phosphorylation of tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2) and PRAS40, both negative regulators of mTOR activity. We previously reported that IκB kinase α (IKKα), a component of the kinase complex that leads to NF-κB activation, plays an important role in promoting mTORC1 activity downstream of activated Akt. Here, we demonstrate IKKα-dependent regulation of mTORC1 using multiple PTEN null cancer cell lines and an animal model with deletion of IKKα. Importantly, IKKα is shown to phosphorylate mTOR at serine 1415 in a manner dependent on Akt to promote mTORC1 activity. These results demonstrate that IKKα is an effector of Akt in promoting mTORC1 activity

Thermodynamic network model for predicting effects of substrate addition and other perturbations on subsurface microbial communities

The overall goal of this project is to develop and test a thermodynamic network model for predicting the effects of substrate additions and environmental perturbations on microbial growth, community composition and system geochemistry. The hypothesis is that a thermodynamic analysis of the energy-yielding growth reactions performed by defined groups of microorganisms can be used to make quantitative and testable predictions of the change in microbial community composition that will occur when a substrate is added to the subsurface or when environmental conditions change

The Lick AGN Monitoring Project: Reverberation Mapping of Optical Hydrogen and Helium Recombination Lines

We have recently completed a 64-night spectroscopic monitoring campaign at the Lick Observatory 3-m Shane telescope with the aim of measuring the masses of the black holes in 12 nearby (z < 0.05) Seyfert 1 galaxies with expected masses in the range ~10^6-10^7M_sun and also the well-studied nearby active galactic nucleus (AGN) NGC 5548. Nine of the objects in the sample (including NGC 5548) showed optical variability of sufficient strength during the monitoring campaign to allow for a time lag to be measured between the continuum fluctuations and the response to these fluctuations in the broad Hbeta emission, which we have previously reported. We present here the light curves for the Halpha, Hgamma, HeII 4686, and HeI 5876 emission lines and the time lags for the emission-line responses relative to changes in the continuum flux. Combining each emission-line time lag with the measured width of the line in the variable part of the spectrum, we determine a virial mass of the central supermassive black hole from several independent emission lines. We find that the masses are generally consistent within the uncertainties. The time-lag response as a function of velocity across the Balmer line profiles is examined for six of the AGNs. Finally we compare several trends seen in the dataset against the predictions from photoionization calculations as presented by Korista & Goad. We confirm several of their predictions, including an increase in responsivity and a decrease in the mean time lag as the excitation and ionization level for the species increases. Further confirmation of photoionization predictions for broad-line gas behavior will require additional monitoring programs for these AGNs while they are in different luminosity states. [abridged]Comment: 37 pages, 18 figures and 15 tables, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Situating dissemination and implementation sciences within and across the translational research spectrum

The efficient and effective movement of research into practice is acknowledged as crucial to improving population health and assuring return on investment in healthcare research. The National Center for Advancing Translational Science which sponsors Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) recognizes that dissemination and implementation (D&I) sciences have matured over the last 15 years and are central to its goals to shift academic health institutions to better align with this reality. In 2016, the CTSA Collaboration and Engagement Domain Task Force chartered a D&I Science Workgroup to explore the role of D&I sciences across the translational research spectrum. This special communication discusses the conceptual distinctions and purposes of dissemination, implementation, and translational sciences. We propose an integrated framework and provide real-world examples for articulating the role of D&I sciences within and across all of the translational research spectrum. The framework\u27s major proposition is that it situates D&I sciences as targeted sub-sciences of translational science to be used by CTSAs, and others, to identify and investigate coherent strategies for more routinely and proactively accelerating research translation. The framework highlights the importance of D&I thought leaders in extending D&I principles to all research stages