Promising Practices and Unfinished Business: Fostering Equity and Excellence for Black and Latino Males

Boston Public Schools (BPS) commissioned companion studies as part of its efforts to address achievement gaps for Black and Latino males. The first study revealed the increasing diversity of Black and Latino males and stark opportunity gaps throughout the system that contribute in large part to wide attainment gaps for these students. We hypothesized that in schools doing comparatively better with Black or Latino males than their counterparts, educators would be strategically and comprehensively implementing evidence-based cultural, structural, and instructional practices tailored to meet their the needs and aspirations of these students. Through qualitative case studies of four schools, we identified several cross-cutting themes that provide the district and school leaders with some positive news about effective practices found in all good schools: strong school cultures, professional collaboration, differentiated instruction, and, in the elementary schools, family engagement. While we observed pockets of best practices specific to Black and Latino male education, we also brought to light unfinished business, in that none of the four case study schools had an intentional and comprehensive schoolwide approach to educating Black and Latino males. This lack of intentionality resulted in a paucity of evidence that the school administration and faculty as a whole: (a) know and value students' cultural and linguistic backgrounds; (b) adopt explicit and responsive approaches to race and gender; and (c) develop and implement a comprehensive approach to culturally responsive curriculum and instruction. We posit that lack of knowledge, intentionality, and coherence impedes further progress in educating Black and Latino males, and has implications for educators in schools, for staff members in community partner organizations, and for family members of BPS students

Low-thrust tour of the main belt asteroids

This work presents some initial results on a possible low-thrust tour of the main asteroid belt. The asteroids are visited through a series of fly-by’s to be completed within a given time-frame and limit on the mass of the spacecraft at launch. The asteroids to be visited are automatically selected out of a large database of possible candidates. The initial shortlist of targets is based on the Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) between the orbit of the asteroids in the database and the initial orbit of the spacecraft traversing the main belt. The final sequence is then obtained with an efficient deterministic branch and prune algorithm. The transfers between asteroids are designed using a low-thrust analytical model that provides a good estimation of the propellant consumption and transfer time. The mission analysis is completed with a study of the cost of the launch. In this paper two databases will be analysed: one containing only targets with a particular scientific relevance and one containing all available asteroids

Clumpy wind studies and the non-detection of cyclotron line in OAO 1657-415

Winds of massive stars are suspected to be inhomogeneous (or clumpy), which biases the measures of their mass loss rates. In High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs), the compact object can be used as an orbiting X-ray point source to probe the wind and constrain its clumpiness. We perform spectro-timing analysis of the HMXB OAO 1657-415 with non-simultaneous NuSTAR and NICER observations. We compute the hardness ratio from the energy-resolved light curves, and using an adaptive rebinning technique, we thus select appropriate time segments to search for rapid spectral variations on timescales of a few hundreds to thousands of seconds. Column density and intensity of Iron K$\alpha$ line were strongly correlated, and the recorded spectral variations were consistent with accretion from a clumpy wind. We also illustrate a novel framework to measure clump sizes, masses in HMXBs more accurately based on absorption measurements and orbital parameters of the source. We then discuss the limitations posed by current X-ray spacecrafts in such measurements and present prospects with future X-ray missions. We find that the source pulse profiles show a moderate dependence on energy. We identify a previously undetected dip in the pulse profile visible throughout the NuSTAR observation near spin phase 0.15 possibly caused by intrinsic changes in accretion geometry close to the neutron star. We do not find any evidence for the debated cyclotron line at $\sim$ 36\,keV in the time-averaged or the phase-resolved spectra with NuSTAR.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures in main text, 7 figures in Appendix, Accepted for publication in Ap

Containing the burden of infectious diseases is everyone’s responsibility.:A call for an integrated strategy for developing and promoting hygiene behaviour change in home and everyday life

Across the world, health agencies recognize the profound impact of infectious disease on health and prosperity. Equally, they recognize that prevention is central to fighting infection, and that hygiene in home and everyday life (HEDL) is a key part of this. A current driver is the part that hygienei plays in tackling antibiotic resistance, but it also reflects growing numbers of people at greater risk of infection being cared for in the community. Sustaining the quality of state-funded healthcare requires that the public take greater responsibility for their own health, including protecting themselves and their families against infection. Hygiene must be must be everyone’s responsibility. However, if we are to be successful in promoting hygiene as part of public health, there are barriers which need to be overcome. A key issue is the need to balance evidence of the health benefits of hygiene against possible risks, such as environmental impacts and toxicity issues. Another issue is the role of microbes in human health and whether we have become “too clean”. Lack of a unified voice advocating for hygiene means these issues have tended to take precedence. Another barrier to change is public confusion about the need for hygiene and the difference between hygiene and cleanliness. To address this, we must work together to provide the public with a clear, consistent restatement of the importance of hygiene, and to change public perceptions about hygiene and good hygiene practice. This paper is unique because it examines these issues in an integrated manner and focuses on making achievable, constructive recommendations for developing an effective and sustainable approach. The paper lays out a risk management strategy for hygiene in home and everyday life which gives hygiene appropriate priority within the context of environmental and other health concerns. This “targeted hygiene” approach needs to be placed at the heart of a multimodal prevention strategy, alongside vaccination and other interventions. Based on the findings of this paper, we issue a call to action to national and international policy makers, health agencies and health professionals to recognize the need for an integrated, family-centredii approach to hygiene, and provide effective leadership to achieve this. This paper shows that many of the components of a behaviour change strategy are already in place, but need to be integrated rather than developed independently. We also issue a call to scientists, health professionals, environmental and regulatory agencies, immunologists, microbiomists, the private sector (hygiene appliance and product manufacturers) and the media to work together, through innovative research and communication policies. A collaborative effort is vital if we are to overcome barriers to change and action integrated behaviour change programmes that really work. The report represents the consensus views of an international, interdisciplinary group of experts in the field of infection prevention and hygiene. We recognise that this paper leaves many questions unanswered and would welcome further dialogue with stakeholders on how to develop policy. The aim of this paper is to provide a sound basis for such dialogue. At the 2016 launch of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative, the EU commissioner for food safety said the followingiii which encapsulates the aim of this report. “We must collectively recognise that risk and uncertainty are part and parcel of every decision we take. We need to engage people in a serious and rational debate. But in this world of information overload – from old media and new – information, misinformation, opinions, prejudices, truths, half-truths and un-truths all compete for public attention. We need better communication of science so that people can be better informed about risk assessment and management decisions

Pointing control for the SPIDER balloon-borne telescope

We present the technology and control methods developed for the pointing system of the SPIDER experiment. SPIDER is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to detect the imprint of primordial gravitational waves in the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. We describe the two main components of the telescope's azimuth drive: the reaction wheel and the motorized pivot. A 13 kHz PI control loop runs on a digital signal processor, with feedback from fibre optic rate gyroscopes. This system can control azimuthal speed with < 0.02 deg/s RMS error. To control elevation, SPIDER uses stepper-motor-driven linear actuators to rotate the cryostat, which houses the optical instruments, relative to the outer frame. With the velocity in each axis controlled in this way, higher-level control loops on the onboard flight computers can implement the pointing and scanning observation modes required for the experiment. We have accomplished the non-trivial task of scanning a 5000 lb payload sinusoidally in azimuth at a peak acceleration of 0.8 deg/s$^2$, and a peak speed of 6 deg/s. We can do so while reliably achieving sub-arcminute pointing control accuracy.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, Presented at SPIE Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V, June 23, 2014. To be published in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 914

Multi-disciplinary team directed analysis of whole genome sequencing reveals pathogenic non-coding variants in molecularly undiagnosed inherited retinal dystrophies

PURPOSE: To identify, using genome sequencing (GS), likely pathogenic non-coding variants in inherited retinal dystrophy (IRD) genes Methods: Patients with IRD were recruited to the study and underwent comprehensive ophthalmological evaluation and GS. The results of GS were investigated through virtual gene panel analysis and plausible pathogenic variants and clinical phenotype evaluated by multi-disciplinary team (MDT) discussion. For unsolved patients in whom a specific gene was suspected to harbour a missed pathogenic variant, targeted re-analysis of non-coding regions was performed on GS data. Candidate variants were functionally tested including by mRNA analysis, minigene and luciferase reporter assays. RESULTS: Previously unreported, likely pathogenic, non-coding variants, in 7 genes (PRPF31, NDP, IFT140, CRB1, USH2A, BBS10, and GUCY2D), were identified in 11 patients. These were shown to lead to mis-splicing (PRPF31, IFT140, CRB1, USH2A) or altered transcription levels (BBS10, GUCY2D). CONCLUSION: MDT-led, phenotype driven, non-coding variant re-analysis of GS is effective in identifying missing causative alleles

Observing the Evolution of the Universe

How did the universe evolve? The fine angular scale (l>1000) temperature and polarization anisotropies in the CMB are a Rosetta stone for understanding the evolution of the universe. Through detailed measurements one may address everything from the physics of the birth of the universe to the history of star formation and the process by which galaxies formed. One may in addition track the evolution of the dark energy and discover the net neutrino mass. We are at the dawn of a new era in which hundreds of square degrees of sky can be mapped with arcminute resolution and sensitivities measured in microKelvin. Acquiring these data requires the use of special purpose telescopes such as the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), located in Chile, and the South Pole Telescope (SPT). These new telescopes are outfitted with a new generation of custom mm-wave kilo-pixel arrays. Additional instruments are in the planning stages.Comment: Science White Paper submitted to the US Astro2010 Decadal Survey. Full list of 177 author available at http://cmbpol.uchicago.ed

Learning spaces:built, natural and digital considerations for learning and learners

Learning spaces: Built, natural and digital considerations for learning and learner

An organelle-specific protein landscape identifies novel diseases and molecular mechanisms

Contains fulltext : 158967.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Cellular organelles provide opportunities to relate biological mechanisms to disease. Here we use affinity proteomics, genetics and cell biology to interrogate cilia: poorly understood organelles, where defects cause genetic diseases. Two hundred and seventeen tagged human ciliary proteins create a final landscape of 1,319 proteins, 4,905 interactions and 52 complexes. Reverse tagging, repetition of purifications and statistical analyses, produce a high-resolution network that reveals organelle-specific interactions and complexes not apparent in larger studies, and links vesicle transport, the cytoskeleton, signalling and ubiquitination to ciliary signalling and proteostasis. We observe sub-complexes in exocyst and intraflagellar transport complexes, which we validate biochemically, and by probing structurally predicted, disruptive, genetic variants from ciliary disease patients. The landscape suggests other genetic diseases could be ciliary including 3M syndrome. We show that 3M genes are involved in ciliogenesis, and that patient fibroblasts lack cilia. Overall, this organelle-specific targeting strategy shows considerable promise for Systems Medicine

Evaluation of meat as a first complementary food for breastfed infants: impact on iron intake: Nutrition Reviews©, Vol. 66, No. S1

The rationale for promoting the availability of local, affordable, non-fortified food sources of bioavailable iron in developing countries is considered in this review. Intake of iron from the regular consumption of meat from the age of 6 months is evaluated with respect to physiological requirements. Two major randomized controlled trials evaluating meat as a first and regular complementary food are described in this article. These trials are presently in progress in poor communities in Guatemala, Pakistan, Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and China