The Pope John XXIII Lecture

Address given September 30, 1994 at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C

The Pope John XXIII Lecture

Address given September 30, 1994 at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C

2009 Commencement Address: Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr. \u2782 (D-Pennsylvania)

Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. ’82 (D-Pennsylvania) will receive an honorary degree from the College of the Holy Cross and address this year’s graduates during the College’s Commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 22 at 10:30 a.m. on the campus. Elected in 2006, Sen. Casey is the son of the late governor of Pennsylvania Robert Casey ’53, who received his honorary degree from Holy Cross in 1988. After graduating from Holy Cross, Sen. Casey taught fifth grade and coached eighth grade basketball in inner city Philadelphia for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. He received his law degree from Catholic University in 1988 and entered the practice of law in Scranton. Before his election to the Senate, he served for eight years as Pennsylvania Auditor General and two years as State Treasurer. As senator, his priorities include working to foster financial security for American families, protect children and invest in their futures and ensure safety at home and respect abroad. He was a strong advocate for legislation that has expanded the State Children’s Health Insurance program, authored the Prepare All Kids Act to expand access to early childhood education and he also played a key role in passing provisions vital for Pennsylvania agriculture, conservation and nutrition programs. Casey serves on numerous Senate committees including Foreign Relations; Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Joint Economic Committee. Additionally, he serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs. Casey and his wife, Terese ’82, live in Scranton with their four daughters Elyse, Caroline, Julia and Marena.https://crossworks.holycross.edu/commence_address/1007/thumbnail.jp

Fluid Flow Thermometry Using Thermographic Phosphors

Phosphor thermometry is a non-intrusive thermometry technique that allows for spatially and temporally resolved surface temperature measurements. The thermographic method has been employed in a number of applications that include combustion, sprays, and gas flows. In the current work, we investigate the implementation of thermographic phosphors in liquid flows, which is of interest in a wide range of applications in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and thermal systems. Zinc oxide doped with Zinc (ZnO:Zn) was the phosphor employed for experimentation due to its high emission intensity and insolubility. In order to explore this application, the phosphor powder was uniformly dispersed in water using a magnetic stirring rod. The phosphor was excited by the third harmonic 355 nm output of a Nd:YAG laser, and the luminescence was examined using a fiber-coupled spectrometer. Analysis of the spectral data showed a significant redshift as the temperature approached boiling point. Further characterization of effects of temperature and experimental parameters such as ZnO:Zn concentration on the luminescence signal was performed

A Machine Learning Classifier Trained on Cancer Transcriptomes Detects NF1 Inactivation Signal in Glioblastoma

We have identified molecules that exhibit synthetic lethality in cells with loss of the neurofibromin 1 (NF1) tumor suppressor gene. However, recognizing tumors that have inactivation of the NF1 tumor suppressor function is challenging because the loss may occur via mechanisms that do not involve mutation of the genomic locus. Degradation of the NF1 protein, independent of NF1 mutation status, phenocopies inactivating mutations to drive tumors in human glioma cell lines. NF1 inactivation may alter the transcriptional landscape of a tumor and allow a machine learning classifier to detect which tumors will benefit from synthetic lethal molecules. We developed a strategy to predict tumors with low NF1 activity and hence tumors that may respond to treatments that target cells lacking NF1. Using RNAseq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we trained an ensemble of 500 logistic regression classifiers that integrates mutation status with whole transcriptomes to predict NF1 inactivation in glioblastoma (GBM)

White Blood Cell Differentials Enrich Whole Blood Expression Data in the Context of Acute Cardiac Allograft Rejection

Acute cardiac allograft rejection is a serious complication of heart transplantation. Investigating molecular processes in whole blood via microarrays is a promising avenue of research in transplantation, particularly due to the non-invasive nature of blood sampling. However, whole blood is a complex tissue and the consequent heterogeneity in composition amongst samples is ignored in traditional microarray analysis. This complicates the biological interpretation of microarray data. Here we have applied a statistical deconvolution approach, cell-specific significance analysis of microarrays (csSAM), to whole blood samples from subjects either undergoing acute heart allograft rejection (AR) or not (NR). We identified eight differentially expressed probe-sets significantly correlated to monocytes (mapping to 6 genes, all down-regulated in ARs versus NRs) at a false discovery rate (FDR) ≤ 15%. None of the genes identified are present in a biomarker panel of acute heart rejection previously published by our group and discovered in the same data***

Empathic Accuracy Deficits in Patients with Neurodegenerative Disease: Association with Caregiver Depression.

OBJECTIVES:To investigate whether deficits in empathic accuracy (i.e., ability to recognize emotion in others) in patients with neurodegenerative disease are associated with greater depression in their caregivers. DESIGN:Two cross-sectional studies. SETTING:Academic medical center and research university. PARTICIPANTS:Two independent samples (N = 172, N = 63) of patients with a variety of neurodegenerative diseases and their caregivers; comparison group of healthy couples. MEASUREMENT:Patients' empathic accuracy was assessed in the laboratory using a novel dynamic tracking task (rating another person's changing emotions over time) and more traditional measures (recognizing the emotion expressed in photographs of facial expressions and by characters in films). Caregivers completed self-report inventories of depression. RESULTS:Lower empathic accuracy in patients was associated with greater depression in caregivers in both studies. In study 1, this association was found when empathic accuracy was measured using the dynamic tracking measure but not when measured using the more traditional photograph and film measures. In study 2, we found preliminary support for our theoretical model wherein lower empathic accuracy in patients is associated with increased caregiver stress (loneliness, strain, and burden), which in turn is associated with greater caregiver depression. CONCLUSIONS:Caring for a patient with deficits in empathic accuracy is associated with greater loneliness, strain, and burden for caregivers, and increased depression. Caregivers may benefit from interventions designed to compensate for the stress and interpersonal loss associated with patients' declining empathic accuracy

Destructive Single-Event Failures in Diodes

In this summary, we have shown that diodes are susceptible to destructive single-event effects, and that these failures occur along the guard ring. By determining the last passing voltages, a safe operating area can be derived. By derating off of those values, rather than by the rated voltage, like what is currently done with power MOSFETs, we can work to ensure the safety of future missions. However, there are still open questions about these failures. Are they limited to a single manufacturer, a small number, or all of them? Is there a threshold rated voltage that must be exceeded to see these failures? With future work, we hope to answer these questions. In the full paper, laser results will also be presented to verify that failures only occur along the guard ring