Funding Journalism, Finding Innovation: Success Stories and Ideas for Creative, Sustainable Partnerships

Produced by Media Impact Funders in collaboration with Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, this case study report surfaces pioneering funding practices in journalism. It highlights five foundations and their grantees, and describes the innovative ways in which philanthropic support can revive quality journalism

Lemur: Integrating Large Language Models in Automated Program Verification

The demonstrated code-understanding capability of LLMs raises the question of whether they can be used for automated program verification, a task that often demands high-level abstract reasoning about program properties, which is challenging for verification tools. We propose a general methodology to combine the power of LLMs and automated reasoners for automated program verification. We formally describe this methodology as a set of derivation rules and prove its soundness. We instantiate the calculus as a sound automated verification procedure, which led to practical improvements on a set of synthetic and competition benchmarks.Comment: Under submissio

Economic Development For Whom? A Critical Case For More Equitable Economic Development In Kansas City, Missouri

This report is a critical case study of the current economic development policies implemented in Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO). Using parcel and census data, this analysis puts the current development practices of KCMO in conversation with the changing landscape of real estate. I argue that KCMO’s economic development policy is disrupting the tenure and increasing the risk of displacement upon longtime low-income residents of Kansas City. Through an examination of the development mechanisms contained within the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, this report identifies the ways redevelopment policy is encouraging gentrification in Kansas City and building upon existing inequities in the city. An analysis of anti-displacement policies in similar cities across the US was conducted to inform a set of policy recommendations to improve the equity of economic development in KCMO. These policies will encompass redirecting resources to increasing the availability of data and funding related to economic development and gentrification, incentivizing, and creating networks to achieve the provision of affordable housing and ensuring greater protections for tenants and homeowners. This report will contribute to the growing body of literature on the causes and effects of gentrification. Additionally, the case study of KCMO aims to equip Kansas City with the tools to understand and combat the harmful effects of gentrification on low-income renters.Master of City and Regional Plannin

Drosophila gurken (TGFα) mRNA Localizes as Particles that Move within the Oocyte in Two Dynein-Dependent Steps

AbstractIn Drosophila oocytes, gurken mRNA localization orientates the TGF-α signal to establish the anteroposterior and dorsoventral axes. We have elucidated the path and mechanism of gurken mRNA localization by time-lapse cinematography of injected fluorescent transcripts in living oocytes. gurken RNA assembles into particles that move in two distinct steps, both requiring microtubules and cytoplasmic Dynein. gurken particles first move toward the anterior and then turn and move dorsally toward the oocyte nucleus. We present evidence suggesting that the two steps of gurken RNA transport occur on distinct arrays of microtubules. Such distinct microtubule networks could provide a general mechanism for one motor to transport different cargos to distinct subcellular destinations

Waste Disposal at Whiting Farm: Recommendations for Current Waste Removal and Future Recycling Systems

The goal of this report is to provide Whiting Farm in Auburn, Maine with an analysis of options and resources that will help the farm to make informed decisions for the removal and disposal of both existing and future waste, with a specific focus on recycling. Whiting Farm has never had an on-site waste disposal system. As a result, they have accumulated large amounts of agricultural plastic, which is stored mostly outside in three forested areas around the farm. Dealing with this waste is key in implementing the farm’s goals of environmental and economic sustainability, as well as functioning as an educational model for youth and other farmers. In collaboration with Kim Finnerty, Whiting Farm’s Manager, we have created this resource to inform waste removal and the development of a recycling system in order to mitigate future waste buildup. We first compare different options, given commercial infrastructure, for both the removal and disposal of the existing waste. We considered factors such as cost, environmental effects, and feasibility. We conclude that working with Casella Waste Management will be instrumental towards achieving these goals given Casella’s convenience, dumpster rental and waste disposal rates, and recycling capacity. We also discuss options for generating income by selling the metal, large machinery, and cardboard, which have also accumulated on the farm. The information gathered in determining the best removal and disposal methods for existing waste informed our recommendations for a system to recycle future waste, both compostable and non-compostable. Given a lack of local commercial options and innovative technology in the field of agricultural recycling, recommendations for a future system were limited to suggestions regarding commercial partners, dumpster locations, and a list of Whiting Farm’s recyclable waste. Additionally, options are given for compostable waste recycling, keeping in mind the specific practices of Whiting Farm. Our report presents these practical recommendations in the main body, but much of this research was informed and influenced by additional information compiled in Appendices. Among topics considered are rationale for removal of existing waste, barriers to recycling agricultural waste, and case studies referring to other farms’ disposal practices. Additionally, contacts for waste removal and disposal, model farms, as well as academics in the field of agricultural recycling are provided for future reference. This report aims to provide helpful and succinct recommendations for the implementation of a waste disposal system that is in line with Whiting Farm’s practical needs, vision of environmental sustainability, and educational goals

Scalable Verification of GNN-based Job Schedulers

Recently, Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have been applied for scheduling jobs over clusters, achieving better performance than hand-crafted heuristics. Despite their impressive performance, concerns remain over whether these GNN-based job schedulers meet users' expectations about other important properties, such as strategy-proofness, sharing incentive, and stability. In this work, we consider formal verification of GNN-based job schedulers. We address several domain-specific challenges such as networks that are deeper and specifications that are richer than those encountered when verifying image and NLP classifiers. We develop vegas, the first general framework for verifying both single-step and multi-step properties of these schedulers based on carefully designed algorithms that combine abstractions, refinements, solvers, and proof transfer. Our experimental results show that vegas achieves significant speed-up when verifying important properties of a state-of-the-art GNN-based scheduler compared to previous methods.Comment: Condensed version published at OOPSLA'2

Poly[ethano­lbis(μ3-2-thio­xo-1,2-dihydro­pyridin-1-olato)dilithium(I)]

The title compound, [Li2(C5H4NOS)2(C2H6O)]n, having two formula units in the asymmetric unit, forms infinite chains of Li2O2 rhombi along b, consisting of four independent Li and O atoms. Metal binding to 2-thio­oxo-1,2-dihydro­pyridin-1-olate occurs in a bidentate fashion via O and S, and in a monodentate manner via the N-oxide O atom. π–π Inter­actions between polymeric chains are evident from centroid-to-centroid distances of pyridine­thione fragments of 3.461 (6)–3.607 (6) Å. The N—O and C—S bond lengths are distinctively different from those in hitherto investigated NiII, ZnII and (H3C)2TlIII complexes of 2-thio­oxo-1,2-dihydro­pyridin-1-olate, but correlate with those reported for 1-hydr­oxy- and 1-alkoxy­pyridine-2(1H)-thio­nes in the solid state

Long term survivors with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated with gemcitabine: a retrospective analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma has a short median overall survival (OS) of 5–6 months. However, a subgroup of patients survives more than 1 year. We analyzed the survival outcomes of this subgroup and evaluated clinical and pathological factors that might affect survival durations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We identified 20 patients with metastatic or recurrent pancreatic adenocarcinoma who received single-agent gemcitabine and had an OS longer than 1 year. Baseline data available after the diagnosis of metastatic or recurrent disease was categorized as: 1) <it>clinical/demographic data </it>(age, gender, ECOG PS, number and location of metastatic sites); 2) <it>Laboratory data </it>(Hematocrit, hemoglobin, glucose, LDH, renal and liver function and CA19-9); 3) <it>Pathologic data </it>(margins, nodal status and grade); 4) <it>Outcomes data </it>(OS, Time to Treatment Failure (TTF), and 2 year-OS). The lowest CA19-9 levels during treatment with gemcitabine were also recorded. We performed a univariate analysis with OS as the outcome variable.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Baseline logarithm of CA19-9 and total bilirubin had a significant impact on OS (HR = 1.32 and 1.31, respectively). Median OS and TTF on gemcitabine were 26.9 (95% CI = 18 to 32) and 11.5 (95% CI = 9.0 to 14.3) months, respectively. Two-year OS was 56.4%, with 7 patients alive at the time of analysis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A subgroup of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer has prolonged survival after treatment with gemcitabine. Only bilirubin and CA 19-9 levels were predictive of longer survival in this population. Further analysis of potential prognostic and predictive markers of response to treatment and survival are needed.</p