The Kodaira dimensions of M‾22\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{22} and M‾23\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{23}

We prove that the moduli spaces of curves of genus 22 and 23 are of general type. To do this, we calculate certain virtual divisor classes of small slope associated to linear series of rank 6 with quadric relations. We then develop new tropical methods for studying linear series and independence of quadrics and show that these virtual classes are represented by effective divisors.Comment: 94 pages, 27 figures; incorporates and supersedes arXiv:1804.01898 and arXiv:1808.0128

Separating the ex post effects of mergers: an analysis of structural changes on the Hungarian retail gasoline market

This paper develops an empirical method to identify the price effects of simultaneous mergers and to separate the different effects on the prices of the buyer and seller firms and on the prices of their respective competitors. Our difference-in-differences approach exploits variation in the presence of merging firms across local markets to form different treatment-control group pairs in order to estimate separate effects for each type of firms affected by the mergers. We apply this method to provide an ex post evaluation of two almost simultaneous mergers in the Hungarian retail gasoline market. We show that both mergers resulted in a significantly positive but economically negligible price effect, but while the first merger affected only the prices of buyer firm's stations, the second had an effect on the prices of seller's stations and of its competitors. We also demonstrate that the results are not sensitive to the assumed dates when the mergers effectively change the firms' pricing policy.ex post evaluation, mergers, difference-in-differences estimation, treatment effects, retail gasoline

Syzygies of torsion bundles and the geometry of the level l modular variety over M_g

We formulate, and in some cases prove, three statements concerning the purity or, more generally the naturality of the resolution of various rings one can attach to a generic curve of genus g and a torsion point of order l in its Jacobian. These statements can be viewed an analogues of Green's Conjecture and we verify them computationally for bounded genus. We then compute the cohomology class of the corresponding non-vanishing locus in the moduli space R_{g,l} of twisted level l curves of genus g and use this to derive results about the birational geometry of R_{g, l}. For instance, we prove that R_{g,3} is a variety of general type when g>11 and the Kodaira dimension of R_{11,3} is greater than or equal to 19. In the last section we explain probabilistically the unexpected failure of the Prym-Green conjecture in genus 8 and level 2.Comment: 35 pages, appeared in Invent Math. We correct an inaccuracy in the statement of Prop 2.

Effect of intra-ply voids on the homogenized behavior of a ply in multidirectional laminates

This work focuses on the effect of intra-ply voids on the homogenized nonlinear behavior of a ply in multidirectional composites. Voids were modeled explicitly on the fiber scale and linked to the ply-scale by the recently developed two-scale framework which couples Classical Laminate Theory on the macro-scale with Finite Element analysis on the micro-scale. Laminates [+/- 45](2s) and [+/- 67.5](2s) were used as validation cases. The computed homogenized behavior of plies with and without voids for each laminate were compared against existing experimental data on manufactured plates. The nonlinearity of the homogenized stress-strain curves of all models is in a good agreement with experiments up to 1% of applied deformation for a laminate [+/- 45](2s) and up to 0.4% for a laminate [+/- 67.5](2s). The effect of voids was assessed only virtually and it is shown that 4% of void content decreases the ply strength by 30%, transversal Young's and shear moduli by around 10% and 8% respectively, whereas longitudinal stiffness is only slightly affected by the presence of voids. This work is the first step towards automatization of the virtual identification of the complete set of damage-plasticity parameters for the LMT-Cachan damage model accounting for the presence of intra-ply voids

Multimodality imaging in vivo for preclinical assessment of tumor-targeted doxorubicin nanoparticles.

This study presents a new multimodal imaging approach that includes high-frequency ultrasound, fluorescence intensity, confocal, and spectral imaging to improve the preclinical evaluation of new therapeutics in vivo. Here we use this approach to assess in vivo the therapeutic efficacy of the novel chemotherapy construct, HerDox during and after treatment. HerDox is comprised of doxorubicin non-covalently assembled in a viral-like particle targeted to HER2+ tumor cells, causing tumor cell death at over 10-fold lower dose compared to the untargeted drug, while sparing the heart. Whereas our initial proof-of-principle studies on HerDox used tumor growth/shrinkage rates as a measure of therapeutic efficacy, here we show that multimodal imaging deployed during and after treatment can supplement traditional modes of tumor monitoring to further characterize the particle in tissues of treated mice. Specifically, we show here that tumor cell apoptosis elicited by HerDox can be monitored in vivo during treatment using high frequency ultrasound imaging, while in situ confocal imaging of excised tumors shows that HerDox indeed penetrated tumor tissue and can be detected at the subcellular level, including in the nucleus, via Dox fluorescence. In addition, ratiometric spectral imaging of the same tumor tissue enables quantitative discrimination of HerDox fluorescence from autofluorescence in situ. In contrast to standard approaches of preclinical assessment, this new method provides multiple/complementary information that may shorten the time required for initial evaluation of in vivo efficacy, thus potentially reducing the time and cost for translating new drug molecules into the clinic

A Phenomenological Study to Examine the Motives of Tenth Grade Students Perpetrating Cyberbullying

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the underlying cyberbullying motives for 10th grade students at a suburban high school in Southern California. The theory guiding this study is Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory (1978) as it relates to the roles members of a community play in decision making. The study consisted of interviewing 14 sophomore students from a suburban high school in Southern California. At the conclusion of the interviews, six of these students were selected to participate in a focus group based on their identified actions as cyberbullies. Data was analyzed through Moustakas’ seven steps approach. The results of this study produced six themes pertaining to the motives behind the perpetration of cyberbullying: Jealousy, entertainment, joking, revenge, broken relationships, and group affiliation. The findings indicated a strong influence of group affiliation leading to increased motivation to cyberbully. Further research is recommended that informs effective school policy and prevention programs, parental involvement, and the emotional health of both cybervictims and cyberbullies

Fisheye transformation enhances deep-learning-based single-cell phenotyping by including cellular microenvironment

Incorporating information about the surroundings can have a significant impact on successfully determining the class of an object. This is of particular interest when determining the phenotypes of cells, for example, in the context of high-throughput screens. We hypothesized that an ideal approach would consider the fully featured view of the cell of interest, include its neighboring microenvironment, and give lesser weight to cells that are far from the cell of interest. To satisfy these criteria, we present an approach with a transformation similar to those characteristic of fisheye cameras. Using this transformation with proper settings, we could significantly increase the accuracy of single-cell phenotyping, both in the case of cell culture and tissue -based microscopy images, and we present improved results on a dataset containing images of wild animals.Peer reviewe

Investigating photoexcitation-induced mitochondrial damage by chemotherapeutic corroles using multimode optical imaging

We recently reported that a targeted, brightly fluorescent gallium corrole (HerGa) is highly effective for breast tumor detection and treatment. Unlike structurally similar porphryins, HerGa exhibits tumor-targeted toxicity without the need for photoexcitation. We have now examined whether photoexcitation further modulates HerGa toxicity, using multimode optical imaging of live cells, including two-photon excited fluorescence, differential interference contrast (DIC), spectral, and lifetime imaging. Using two-photon excited fluorescence imaging, we observed that light at specific wavelengths augments the HerGa-mediated mitochondrial membrane potential disruption of breast cancer cells in situ. In addition, DIC, spectral, and fluorescence lifetime imaging enabled us to both validate cell damage by HerGa photoexcitation and investigate HerGa internalization, thus allowing optimization of light dose and timing. Our demonstration of HerGa phototoxicity opens the way for development of new methods of cancer intervention using tumor-targeted corroles

Evaluation of Molecular Methods for the Detection and Quantification of Pathogen-Derived Nucleic Acids in Sediment

The accurate detection of pathogens in environmental matrices, such as sediment, is critical in understanding pathogen fate and behavior in the environment. In this study, we assessed the usefulness of methods for the detection and quantification of Vibrio spp. and norovirus (NoV) nucleic acids in sediment. For bacteria, a commonly used direct method using hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and phenol-chloroform-isoamyl alcohol (PCI) extraction was optimized, whereas for NoV, direct and indirect (virus elution—concentration) methods were evaluated. For quantification, commercially available quantitative PCR (qPCR) and reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR) kits were tested alongside a digital PCR (dPCR) approach. CTAB-based extraction combined with 16 h polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG6000) precipitation was found to be suitable for the direct extraction of high abundance bacterial and viral nucleic acids. For the indirect extraction of viral RNA, beef extract-based elution followed by PEG6000 precipitation and extraction using the NucliSENS® MiniMag® Nucleic Acid Purification System and the PowerViral® Environmental RNA/DNA Isolation Kit and qRT-PCR resulted in 83–112 and 63–69% recoveries of NoV, respectively. dPCR resulted in lower viral recoveries (47 and 9%) and ~4 orders of magnitude lower Vibrio concentrations (3.6–4.6 log(10) gc/100 g sediment) than was observed using qPCR. The use of internal controls during viral quantification revealed that the RT step was more affected by inhibitors than the amplification. The methods described here are suitable for the enumeration of viral and/or bacterial pathogens in sediment, however the use of internal controls to assess efficiency is recommended