Milo A. Rediger: A Narrative Study on Leadership and Collaboration as Academic Dean

Little research has explored academic leadership, more specifically the academic deanship. This narrative study examined the leadership of Dr. Milo A. Rediger as an academic dean and dean of students—unique positions to hold concurrently. Rediger leveraged his position to promote collaboration between student and academic affairs in an effort to produce seamless student learning. This study delved into Rediger’s personal characteristics that defined his leadership as described by participants who knew him personally, as well as sought to understand how Rediger utilized his position to influence cross-campus relationships, resulting in high-quality, holistic education for students. As a result, this research led to the development of a model for academic leadership in addition to implications for professionals in both academic and co-curricular leadership roles who value seamless (i.e., holistic) student learning

Sample size and statistical power considerations in high-dimensionality data settings: a comparative study of classification algorithms

Background: Data generated using ‘omics’ technologies are characterized by high dimensionality, where the number of features measured per subject vastly exceeds the number of subjects in the study. In this paper, we consider issues relevant in the design of biomedical studies in which the goal is the discovery of a subset of features and an associated algorithm that can predict a binary outcome, such as disease status. We compare the performance of four commonly used classifiers (K-Nearest Neighbors, Prediction Analysis for Microarrays, Random Forests and Support Vector Machines) in high-dimensionality data settings. We evaluate the effects of varying levels of signal-to-noise ratio in the dataset, imbalance in class distribution and choice of metric for quantifying performance of the classifier. To guide study design, we present a summary of the key characteristics of ‘omics’ data profiled in several human or animal model experiments utilizing high-content mass spectrometry and multiplexed immunoassay based techniques. Results: The analysis of data from seven ‘omics’ studies revealed that the average magnitude of effect size observed in human studies was markedly lower when compared to that in animal studies. The data measured in human studies were characterized by higher biological variation and the presence of outliers. The results from simulation studies indicated that the classifier Prediction Analysis for Microarrays (PAM) had the highest power when the class conditional feature distributions were Gaussian and outcome distributions were balanced. Random Forests was optimal when feature distributions were skewed and when class distributions were unbalanced. We provide a free open-source R statistical software library (MVpower) that implements the simulation strategy proposed in this paper. Conclusion: No single classifier had optimal performance under all settings. Simulation studies provide useful guidance for the design of biomedical studies involving high-dimensionality data

Synthesis and spectral studies of 5-[3-(1,2,4-triazolyl-azo]-2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde(TA)and its Schiff bases with 1,3-diaminopropane(TAAP)and 1,6-diaminohexane(TAAH).Their analytical application for spectrophotometric microdetermination of cobalt(II).

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The new azo compound 5-[3-(1,2,4-triazolyl-azo]-2,4-dihydroxy-benzaldehyde (TA) and its Schiff bases with 1,3-diaminopropane (TAAP) and 1,6-diaminohexane (TAAH) have been synthesized. The bands of diagnostic importance in the IR and the main signals in 1 H NMR spectra are assigned. The electronic absorption spectra in pure organic solvents of different polarity and in buffer solutions of varying pH are investigated. The quantitative description of the solvent effect on the electronic absorption spectra is studied and their acid ionization constants are determined. Also, a new simple and sensitive method for the spectrophotometric microdetermination of Co(II) using these compounds (TA, TAAP and TAAH) as new chromogenic reagents is established. The developed method is successfully used for the determination of trace amounts of cobalt in authentic samples and calculation of the distribution ratio of cobalt adsorbed on bentonite and kaolinite clay minerals. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Algebraic varieties with automorphism groups of maximal rank

We confirm, to some extent, the belief that a projective variety X has the largest number (relative to the dimension of X) of independent commuting automorphisms of positive entropy only when X is birational to a complex torus or a quotient of a torus. We also include an addendum to an early paper though it is not used in the present paper.Comment: Mathematische Annalen (to appear

4D microstructural and electrochemical characterization of dissimilar metal corrosion in naval structural Joints

Dissimilar metal corrosion in aircraft and naval structures has proven to be a persistent challenge. Decades of research in the area have shown that such complex contact surfaces are subject to a combination of corrosive environments and mechanical loads. Hence, this multi-faceted problem must be understood from electrochemical, microstructural and mechanical standpoints to comprehensively understand corrosion damage in these systems. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Novel topological descriptors for analyzing biological networks

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Topological descriptors, other graph measures, and in a broader sense, graph-theoretical methods, have been proven as powerful tools to perform biological network analysis. However, the majority of the developed descriptors and graph-theoretical methods does not have the ability to take vertex- and edge-labels into account, e.g., atom- and bond-types when considering molecular graphs. Indeed, this feature is important to characterize biological networks more meaningfully instead of only considering pure topological information.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper, we put the emphasis on analyzing a special type of biological networks, namely bio-chemical structures. First, we derive entropic measures to calculate the information content of vertex- and edge-labeled graphs and investigate some useful properties thereof. Second, we apply the mentioned measures combined with other well-known descriptors to supervised machine learning methods for predicting Ames mutagenicity. Moreover, we investigate the influence of our topological descriptors - measures for only unlabeled vs. measures for labeled graphs - on the prediction performance of the underlying graph classification problem.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study demonstrates that the application of entropic measures to molecules representing graphs is useful to characterize such structures meaningfully. For instance, we have found that if one extends the measures for determining the structural information content of unlabeled graphs to labeled graphs, the uniqueness of the resulting indices is higher. Because measures to structurally characterize labeled graphs are clearly underrepresented so far, the further development of such methods might be valuable and fruitful for solving problems within biological network analysis.</p

PU(2) monopoles. II: Top-level Seiberg-Witten moduli spaces and Witten's conjecture in low degrees

In this article we complete the proof---for a broad class of four-manifolds---of Witten's conjecture that the Donaldson and Seiberg-Witten series coincide, at least through terms of degree less than or equal to c-2, where c is a linear combination of the Euler characteristic and signature of the four-manifold. This article is a revision of sections 4--7 of an earlier version, while a revision of sections 1--3 of that earlier version now appear in a separate companion article (math.DG/0007190). Here, we use our computations of Chern classes for the virtual normal bundles for the Seiberg-Witten strata from the companion article (math.DG/0007190), a comparison of all the orientations, and the PU(2) monopole cobordism to compute pairings with the links of level-zero Seiberg-Witten moduli subspaces of the moduli space of PU(2) monopoles. These calculations then allow us to compute low-degree Donaldson invariants in terms of Seiberg-Witten invariants and provide a partial verification of Witten's conjecture.Comment: Journal fur die Reine und Angewandte Mathematik, to appear; 65 pages. Revision of sections 4-7 of version v1 (December 1997

Prioritising prevention strategies for patients in antiretroviral treatment programmes in resource-limited settings

Expanded access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) offers opportunities to strengthen HIV prevention in resource-limited settings. We invited 27 ART programmes from urban settings in Africa, Asia and South America to participate in a survey, with the aim to examine what preventive services had been integrated in ART programmes. Twenty-two programmes participated; eight (36%) from South Africa, two from Brazil, two from Zambia and one each from Argentina, India, Thailand, Botswana, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Morocco, Uganda and Zimbabwe and one occupational programme of a brewery company included five countries (Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi). Twenty-one sites (96%) provided health education and social support, and 18 (82%) provided HIV testing and counselling. All sites encouraged disclosure of HIV infection to spouses and partners, but only 11 (50%) had a protocol for partner notification. Twenty-one sites (96%) supplied male condoms, seven (32%) female condoms and 20 (91%) provided prophylactic ART for the prevention of mother-to child transmission. Seven sites (33%) regularly screened for sexually transmitted infections (STI). Twelve sites (55%) were involved in activities aimed at women or adolescents, and 10 sites (46%) in activities aimed at serodiscordant couples. Stigma and discrimination, gender roles and funding constraints were perceived as the main obstacles to effective prevention in ART programmes. We conclude that preventive services in ART programmes in lower income countries focus on health education and the provision of social support and male condoms. Strategies that might be equally or more important in this setting, including partner notification, prompt diagnosis and treatment of STI and reduction of stigma in the community, have not been implemented widely