Spin Flip Torsion Balance

The spin flip of the conduction electrons at the interface of a ferromagnetic and a nonmagnetic part of a metallic wire, suspended between two electrodes, is shown to tort the wire when a current is driven through it. In order to enhance the effect it is suggested to use an alternating current in resonance with the torsional oscillations. Thereby the magnetic polarization of the conduction electrons in the ferromagnet can be measured directly, and compared to the total magnetization. This may yield new information on the transport properties of the narrow band electrons in itinerant ferromagnets.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figur

Developing a Brief Behavior Rating Scale for Progress Monitoring of Depression in School Settings

Frequent formative assessment of students’ functioning, or progress monitoring, is a critical component of multi-tiered systems of support as data inform data-driven decisions about response to treatment. Progress monitoring tools for students’ academic and behavioral functioning are readily available and widely researched; however, despite the documented prevalence of depressive disorders among youth and that schools have been put forth as an ideal location for the delivery of mental health services, there are currently no progress monitoring tools to examine students’ response to interventions that target depression. To address this gap, this study sought to develop a progress monitoring assessment of students’ depressive symptoms using an empirically informed model for creating Brief Behavior Rating Scales (BBRS). Using this model, a four-item BBRS of depressive symptoms (BBRS-D) was created from the item pools of the Beck Depression Inventory for Youth (BDI-Y) and Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) administered during a treatment study of depression in female youth; the resulting short scale corresponds well to the full-length assessments (i.e., r = .65 and r = .59); however, the BBRS-D possessed lower than adequate internal consistency (α = .50

DEG/ENaC but Not TRP Channels Are the Major Mechanoelectrical Transduction Channels in a C. elegans Nociceptor

SummaryMany nociceptors detect mechanical cues, but the ion channels responsible for mechanotransduction in these sensory neurons remain obscure. Using in vivo recordings and genetic dissection, we identified the DEG/ENaC protein, DEG-1, as the major mechanotransduction channel in ASH, a polymodal nociceptor in Caenorhabditis elegans. But DEG-1 is not the only mechanotransduction channel in ASH: loss of deg-1 revealed a minor current whose properties differ from those expected of DEG/ENaC channels. This current was independent of two TRPV channels expressed in ASH. Although loss of these TRPV channels inhibits behavioral responses to noxious stimuli, we found that both mechanoreceptor currents and potentials were essentially wild-type in TRPV mutants. We propose that ASH nociceptors rely on two genetically distinct mechanotransduction channels and that TRPV channels contribute to encoding and transmitting information. Because mammalian and insect nociceptors also coexpress DEG/ENaCs and TRPVs, the cellular functions elaborated here for these ion channels may be conserved

Natural selection shaped the rise and fall of passenger pigeon genomic diversity.

The extinct passenger pigeon was once the most abundant bird in North America, and possibly the world. Although theory predicts that large populations will be more genetically diverse, passenger pigeon genetic diversity was surprisingly low. To investigate this disconnect, we analyzed 41 mitochondrial and 4 nuclear genomes from passenger pigeons and 2 genomes from band-tailed pigeons, which are passenger pigeons' closest living relatives. Passenger pigeons' large population size appears to have allowed for faster adaptive evolution and removal of harmful mutations, driving a huge loss in their neutral genetic diversity. These results demonstrate the effect that selection can have on a vertebrate genome and contradict results that suggested that population instability contributed to this species's surprisingly rapid extinction

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018.

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field

The Resilient School Library

Based on educational research, this book will help school librarians create an environment that supports resilience in their school library media center.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/teachinglearning_books/1013/thumbnail.jp

Piezoresistor design and applications

This book is a comprehensive guide to piezoresistive MEMS sensor design. Piezoresistors transduce mechanical loads into electrical signals via a resistance change, and comprise a substantial portion of the commercial MEMS sensors market. Applications of piezoresistors include strain gauges, accelerometers, pressure sensors, force sensors, chemical sensors and resonators. This book also: ·         Demonstrates how the latest piezoresistor models and optimization techniques can be integrated for high performance piezoresistor design ·         Covers in detail piezoresistor sensitivity and noise models, signal conditioning, fabrication processes, low-power design and numerical optimization techniques ·         Provides an up-to-date discussion of alternative piezoresistive materials and MEMS transduction techniques ·         Explores in detail the tradeoffs in size, performance and complexity between piezoresistive sensing and popular alternatives (capacitive, piezoelectric and optical transduction) Piezoresistor Design and Applications addresses all aspects of piezoresistor design, fabrication, modeling and optimization and is an ideal book for MEMS designers, process engineers and researchers