43 research outputs found
Why's Everybody Always Pickin' on me? A New Look at Police/Minority Contact
Presently there are two explanations for disproportionate minority/police contact: racism and a belief that minorities commit most crimes and there is a need to focus on those communities. This article examines a third possibility that focuses on policing as a social service and minority use of social services in our society. The research examines policing as a social service and compares minority use of other social services with their use of police services. The research also looks at pulling of police into neighborhoods by measuring calls-for-service in various communities; it examines police resource allocation which, as the research indicates, is significantly based on these calls-for-service; and compares minority use of police services with minority utilization of other social services. The research supports the premise that disproportionate minority contact by police is a social phenomenon that is similar to minority over-utilization of other social services
Rebranding the Classics: The University of Mississippi
This thesis seeks to analyze the current perceptions of the study of classics from an Integrated Marketing Communications perspective with the goal of realigning misconceptions with the contemporary ideology of those within the field. The field of classics is facing challenges stemming from misappropriation of the field itself, and there is a current debate about the decline in the number of classicists in the field and in the number of undergraduate students studying classics. Specifically, this thesis looks at the Department of Classics at the University of Mississippi as a model for other like departments across the field to use the findings in order to expand their own department’s reach. Combining both Classics and Integrated Marketing Communications, this thesis aims to answer the question about how the perception of the study of classics can change without losing the prestige and history behind it. Through both secondary and primary research, insights are gathered to form a conclusion and recommendations for the Department of Classics at the University of Mississippi to look into. Many aspects of the departments were analyzed to form these insights, including its current branding, its outreach programs, and the structure of the department’s degree requirements. It was discovered that engaging with potential students through social media, increasing interactions with other liberal arts programs, and preparing students for beyond graduation are key recommendations for the department to follow
Dealloying of Cobalt from CuCo Nanoparticles under Syngas Exposure
International audienceThe structure and composition of core−shell CuCo nanoparticles were found to change as a result of cleaning pretreatments and when exposed to syngas (CO + H 2) at atmospheric pressure. In situ X-ray absorption and photoelectron spectroscopies revealed the oxidation state of the particles as well as the presence of adsorbates under syngas. Transmission electron microscopy was used for ex situ analysis of the shape, elemental composition, and structure after reaction. The original core−shell structure was found to change to a hollow CuCo alloy after pretreatment by oxidation in pure O 2 and reduction in pure H 2. After 30 min of exposure to syngas, a significant fraction (5%) of the particles was strongly depleted in cobalt giving copper-rich nanoparticles. This fraction increased with duration of syngas exposure, a phenomenon that did not occur under pure CO or pure H 2. This study suggests that Co and Cu can each individually contribute to syngas conversion with CuCo catalysts
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFRICAN PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM DATABASE – (afriPFdb)
The detailed investigation of mantle structure from the dispersion of surface
waves is a young but vigorous field of study. Observations have been accumulating
rapidly in the past few years because of the wide-spread installation of
long-period instruments. Modern methods of data analysis used in conjunction
with high-speed digital computers have made it possible to determine dispersion
with greater precision and over a broader spectrum than has previously been
possible. Observations now extend out to the fundamental periods of free
oscillations of the whole earth. Interpretation has lagged behind observation
because of the difficulties inherent in the problem of dispersion over realistic
models of a spherical earth. This problem is now well in hand and dispersion
appropriate to the standard earth models suggested by earlier body waves
studies has been calculated. Even with digital computers, however, the computations
are so formidable that until recently only the most tentative efforts have
been made to modify the standard earth structures to give a more satisfactory
fit to the data. A review as recent as the one by Bolt in the preceding volume of
this series was, of necessity, limited to a discussion of the various standard earth
models with no attempt made to use the full power of surface waves as an independent
technique. Recent developments have made detailed surface wave
interpretations possible and new information, rather than generalized verification
of old information, should be rapidly forthcoming. Project Mohole and
the International Upper Mantle Project have focused the attention of many
earth scientists on the upper mantle. Because of this renewed emphasis present
information and speculation on the properties of the mantle based on a variety
of sources is summarized and re-examined in some detail. This provides the
guide-lines for potentially fruitful further research and points out the nature of
some of the discrepancies and limitations in our present knowledge that may be
resolved by the surface wave method
Curve fitting with confidence for preclinical dose-response data
Abstract. In the preclinical stage of pharmaceutical drug development, when investigating
the medicinal properties of a new compound, there are two important questions to address.
The first question is simply whether the compound has a significant beneficial effect compared
to vehicle (placebo) or reference treatments. The second question concerns the more nuanced
dose–response relationship of the compound of interest. One of the aims of this thesis is
to design an experiment appropriate for addressing both of these questions simultaneously.
Another goal is to make this design optimal, meaning that dose-levels and sample sizes are
arranged in a manner which maximises the amount of information gained from the experiment.
We implement a method for assessing efficacy (the first question) in a modelling environment
by basing inference on the confidence band of a regression curve. The verdicts of this method
are compared to those of one-way anova coupled with the multiple comparison procedure
Dunnett’s test. When applied to our empirical data sets, the two methods are in perfect
agreement regarding which dose-levels have an effect at the 5% significance level. Through
simulation, we find that our modelling approach tends to be more conservative than Dunnett’s
test in trials with few dose-levels, and vice versa in trials with many dose-levels. Furthermore,
we investigate the effect of optimally designing the simulated trials, and also the consequences
of misspecifying the underlying dose–response model during regression, in order to assess the
robustness of the implemented method
Statistical learning from high-dimensional data in biomedicine
This thesis encompasses three projects devoted to gaining biomedical insight from data gathered using high-throughput assays, such as next-generation sequencing, mass spectrometry (MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The analyses are based on high-dimensional statistics and graphical models, with an emphasis on robustness and interpretability. In two of the projects, biological validation experiments were performed in order to assess the causal nature of relevant predictions made by the models.
The first project aimed to estimate signal progression from gene expression data obtained in gene perturbation experiments as well as an unperturbed system sampled over time. To this end, we extended the framework of a nested-effects model to incorporate data from perturbation experiments with a non-interventional time series (Cardner, Meyer-Schaller et al., 2019). Jointly analysing the two types of experiment in this manner yields an estimate of how signals progress through a pathway in response to a receptor stimulus. The method's development was motivated by experiments performed by Meyer-Schaller et al. (2019), and it was applied to the corresponding sets of gene expression data. Parts of the inferred signalling pathway were validated in luciferase reporter assays.
The second project concerned the function and composition of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), as well as its role in coronary heart disease (CHD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Based on functional and compositional measurements of HDL in 51 healthy volunteers and 98 patients with CHD or T2DM, we aimed to understand how disease-relevant functions of HDL are determined by its composition, in terms of the hundreds of proteins and lipids which constitute HDL particles. To this end, we used a robust Gaussian graphical model to infer conditional dependence between HDL functions measured in bioassays and compositional features assayed using MS and NMR spectroscopy. We found several clinically relevant candidates, and experimentally validated novel causal links between certain HDL functions and compositional constituents (Cardner, Yalcinkaya et al., 2020).
The third and final project is devoted to liquid biopsies from cancer patients, which provide a non-invasive means of monitoring systemic tumour burden and assessing treatment response. Here we analysed data from shallow whole-genome sequencing of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in blood plasma samples taken from 118 cancer patients. By leveraging certain biochemical properties of cfDNA, we developed a method for predicting the proportion of tumour-derived cfDNA in a sample. This prediction is useful in its own right for quantifying the tumour content of a sample, for instance during relapse monitoring. In addition, we used our method to quantify copy-number aberrations across the genome, thereby identifying deletions, gains, and focal amplifications of genetic material in the circulating tumour DNA
A THEORETICAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF LAMINAR BOUNDARY-LAYER HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER IN NATURAL CONVECTION: I. SIMULTANEOUS HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER. II. MASS TRANSFER IN THE ABSENCE OF HEAT TRANSFER
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Yield Responses of Wheat to Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the Upper Gila Valley
Inferring signalling dynamics by integrating interventional with observational data
Motivation
In order to infer a cell signalling network, we generally need interventional data from perturbation experiments. If the perturbation experiments are time-resolved, then signal progression through the network can be inferred. However, such designs are infeasible for large signalling networks, where it is more common to have steady-state perturbation data on the one hand, and a non-interventional time series on the other. Such was the design in a recent experiment investigating the coordination of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in murine mammary gland cells. We aimed to infer the underlying signalling network of transcription factors and microRNAs coordinating EMT, as well as the signal progression during EMT.
Results
In the context of nested effects models, we developed a method for integrating perturbation data with a non-interventional time series. We applied the model to RNA sequencing data obtained from an EMT experiment. Part of the network inferred from RNA interference was validated experimentally using luciferase reporter assays. Our model extension is formulated as an integer linear programme, which can be solved efficiently using heuristic algorithms. This extension allowed us to infer the signal progression through the network during an EMT time course, and thereby assess when each regulator is necessary for EMT to advance.ISSN:1367-4803ISSN:1460-205