Inviting students to determine for themselves what it means to write across the disciplines

Situated in the literature on threshold concepts and transfer of prior knowledge in WAC/WID and composition studies, with particular emphasis on the scholarship of writing across difference, our article explores the possibility of re-envisioning the role of the composition classroom within the broader literacy ecology of colleges and universities largely comprised of students from socioeconomically and ethno- linguistically underrepresented communities. We recount the pilot of a composi- tion course prompting students to examine their own prior and other literacy values and practices, then transfer that growing meta-awareness to the critical acquisition of academic discourse. Our analysis of students’ self-assessment memos reveals that students apply certain threshold concepts to acquire critical agency as academic writ- ers, and in a manner consistent with Guerra’s concept of transcultural repositioning. We further consider the role collective rubric development plays as a critical incident facilitating transcultural repositioning

The Uses of Ambiguity : Representing the "People" and the Stability of States Unions

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Rigidity percolation on aperiodic lattices

We studied the rigidity percolation (RP) model for aperiodic (quasi-crystal) lattices. The RP thresholds (for bond dilution) were obtained for several aperiodic lattices via computer simulation using the "pebble game" algorithm. It was found that the (two rhombi) Penrose lattice is always floppy in view of the RP model. The same was found for the Ammann's octagonal tiling and the Socolar's dodecagonal tiling. In order to impose the percolation transition we used so c. "ferro" modification of these aperiodic tilings. We studied as well the "pinwheel" tiling which has "infinitely-fold" orientational symmetry. The obtained estimates for the modified Penrose, Ammann and Socolar lattices are respectively: $p_{cP} =0.836\pm 0.002$, $p_{cA} = 0.769\pm0.002$, $p_{cS} = 0.938\pm0.001$. The bond RP threshold of the pinwheel tiling was estimated to $p_c = 0.69\pm0.01$. It was found that these results are very close to the Maxwell (the mean-field like) approximation for them.Comment: 9 LaTeX pages, 3 PostScript figures included via epsf.st

Magnetization and EPR studies of the single molecule magnet Ni4_4 with integrated sensors

Integrated magnetic sensors that allow simultaneous EPR and magnetization measurements have been developed to study single molecule magnets. A high frequency microstrip resonator has been integrated with a micro-Hall effect magnetometer. EPR spectroscopy is used to determine the energy splitting between the low lying spin-states of a Ni$_4$ single crystal, with an S=4 ground state, as a function of applied fields, both longitudinal and transverse to the easy axis at 0.4 K. Concurrent magnetization measurements show changes in spin-population associated with microwave absorption. Such studies enable determination of the energy relaxation time of the spin system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication (Proceedings of the 10th Joint MMM/Intermag Conference, which will be published as special issues of the Journal of Applied Physics

Tree-based Coarsening and Partitioning of Complex Networks

Many applications produce massive complex networks whose analysis would benefit from parallel processing. Parallel algorithms, in turn, often require a suitable network partition. For solving optimization tasks such as graph partitioning on large networks, multilevel methods are preferred in practice. Yet, complex networks pose challenges to established multilevel algorithms, in particular to their coarsening phase. One way to specify a (recursive) coarsening of a graph is to rate its edges and then contract the edges as prioritized by the rating. In this paper we (i) define weights for the edges of a network that express the edges' importance for connectivity, (ii) compute a minimum weight spanning tree $T^m$ with respect to these weights, and (iii) rate the network edges based on the conductance values of $T^m$'s fundamental cuts. To this end, we also (iv) develop the first optimal linear-time algorithm to compute the conductance values of \emph{all} fundamental cuts of a given spanning tree. We integrate the new edge rating into a leading multilevel graph partitioner and equip the latter with a new greedy postprocessing for optimizing the maximum communication volume (MCV). Experiments on bipartitioning frequently used benchmark networks show that the postprocessing already reduces MCV by 11.3%. Our new edge rating further reduces MCV by 10.3% compared to the previously best rating with the postprocessing in place for both ratings. In total, with a modest increase in running time, our new approach reduces the MCV of complex network partitions by 20.4%

Between recalibration and continuity: the context of the birth of the MVI

España, a diferencia de otros países meridionales, recalibró desde los años 1980 su sistema de garantía de ingresos, conteniendo el nivel contributivo y creando un conjunto de programas asistenciales. A pesar de su significativo impacto, los límites e incoherencias de ese conjunto asistencial explican que, desde 2015, su reforma esté en la agenda política nacional. Aunque el conjunto existente tiene mayor impacto que sus equivalentes italiano o griego, su diseño está aún anclado en una concepción «fordista» que asocia empleo con seguridad económica. Este modelo se muestra insuficiente para hacer frente a las transformaciones de la estructura de los hogares, a las dificultades de acceso a la vivienda, pero sobre todo al crecimiento de formas precarias de participación en el empleo. El artículo analiza la trayectoria del conjunto de la garantía de ingresos en el que el nuevo Ingreso Mínimo Vital mejora apreciablemente la cobertura asistencial, pero deja sin resolver la adecuación del conjunto a las nuevas formas de empleo

Crisis económica y transformaciones de la política de garantía de ingresos mínimos para la población activa

En este artículo se revisa el desarrollo reciente de las políticas españolas de garantías de ingresos mínimos para la población activa, en concreto, las relacionadas con la protección asistencial del desempleo y con los programas de rentas mínimas de inserción. Se aporta así la información necesaria para valorar los cambios de naturaleza y función que han experimentado estas políticas desde la Gran Recesión. Ambas políticas dieron respuesta al crecimiento de las necesidades durante los primeros años, pero la prolongación de la crisis ha hecho visibles las limitaciones del sistema. Mientras que la protección asistencial al desempleo ha permanecido inalterada en sus fundamentos, las rentas mínimas, en los últimos años y de forma limitada y desigual, han incorporado instrumentos mejor adaptados a las nuevas condiciones de precariedad

Dual inhibition of histone deacetylases and phosphoinositide 3-kinase enhances therapeutic activity against B cell lymphoma

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and Myc are known to cooperate in promoting the survival and growth of a variety of B-cell lymphomas. While currently there are no small molecule inhibitors of Myc protein, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have been shown to reduce levels of Myc protein by suppressing its transcription. We assessed the efficacy of CUDC-907, a new rationally designed dual inhibitor of PI3K and HDACs, in a panel of lymphoma cell lines. CUDC-907 treatment resulted in a dose- and time-dependent growth inhibition and cell death of DLBCL cell lines, irrespective of the cell of origin. CUDC-907 treatment down-regulated the phosphorylation of PI3K downstream targets, including AKT, PRAS40, S6, and 4EBP1, increased histone 3 acetylation, and decreased Myc protein levels. SILAC-based quantitative mass spectrometry demonstrated that CUDC-907 treatment decreased the protein levels of several components of the B cell receptor (BCR) and Toll like receptor (TLR) pathways, including BTK, SYK, and MyD88 proteins. These cellular changes were associated with an inhibition of NF-kB activation. CUDC-907 demonstrated in vivo efficacy with no significant toxicity in a human DLBCL xenograft mouse model. Collectively, these data provide a mechanistic rationale for evaluating CUDC-907 for the treatment of patients with Myc and PI3K-dependent lymphomas