Oral History with David Vu

This oral history interview captures David Vu\u27s personal journey of being a child refugee and how it has shaped his life choices. For the purpose of the study, he will be categorized and identified within the 1.5 generation of Vietnamese Americans, a person born in Vietnam but emigrated as a child refugee or immigrant. The 7 minute clip of his interview focuses on his narrative arc and decision to sponsor Central American migrants within the LGBT community. It is a call to action for other Vietnamese Americans to engage in issues within their communities that are not just Vietnamese American issues. The full, uncut audio recording can be accessed upon request. Please send any requests or inquires to [email protected]

REALIZATION OF TEMPERATURE COMPENSATED ALUMINUM NITRIDE MICRORESONATOR FILTERS WITH BANDWIDTHS BEYOND kt2 LIMIT

There is currently a gap in the technologies available for realizing miniature, temperature compensated RF filters with fractional bandwidths of ~1%. This presentation will cover the development of miniature filters based on temperature compensated aluminum nitride microresonators that have fractional bandwidths exceeding the microresonator coupling coefficient, kt2, limit of 0.3%. A method is presented that offers the flexibility of using low Q reactive components to couple temperature compensated aluminum nitride microresonators with bandwidths ranging from extremely narrow (0.05%), as limited by the Q of the resonators, to fairly wide (~1.5%) depending on the coupling network topology. This method overcomes the limiting effect on filter bandwidth due to piezoelectric resonators kt2 material property and makes possible full, on-chip integration of an RF filter\u27s resonators, coupling networks, and matching networks. This coupling method maintains the benefits of series-cascaded resonator filters such as simplicity of design, out of band rejection, and single-ended port architecture. The filter synthesis method is demonstrated in a 3-pole, temperature compensated AlN microresonator filter that achieves a fractional bandwidth of 1.2% at a center frequency of approximately 500 MHz and an insertion loss of 5.4 dB. Based on the measured temperature coefficient of frequency of the resonators that comprise the filter, the center frequency of the filter will drift by 240 kHz from -55 to 125 \u25cbC, which is less than 0.05% of the filter 3 dB bandwidth. The narrow bandwidth and excellent temperature stability will lead to RF systems with improved sensitivity and that are more robust to out of band jammers.\u2

Oral History with Nicki Tung

This oral history interview consists of two different aspects of being a Vietnamese refugee. Escaping with her family as a child, Nicki Tung recalls the life-changing experience of becoming part of the boat people. Although she was young when she became a refugee, Tung was able to remember, in great detail, her journey on the boat, at refugee camps, and finally in America. For the purpose of this study, Tung has self-identified as a first generation Vietnamese American. Her skills and passion led to 20 years of work with the International Rescue Committee in San Diego. Understanding the real struggles of being a refugee, Tung dedicated most of her professional career helping families resettle and reunite with one another in America. Unpacking the harsh details of her journey, Tung feels fortunate to be able to share her story. For the full, uncut audio recording, please send requests or inquires to [email protected]

The framing and fashioning of therapeutic citizenship among people living with HIV taking Antiretroviral Therapy in Uganda

In this article, we examine how people living with HIV (PLWH) were able to reconceptualize or “reframe” their understanding of HIV and enhance their capacity to self-manage the condition. Two in-depth interviews were held with 38 PLWH (20 women, 18 men) selected from three government and nongovernment antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivery sites in Wakiso District, and the narratives analyzed. ART providers played an important role in shaping participants’ HIV self-management processes. Health workers helped PLWH realize that they could control their condition, provided useful concepts and language for emotional coping, and gave advice about practical self-management tasks, although this could not always be put into practice. ART providers in this setting were spaces for the development of a collective identity and a particular form of therapeutic citizenship that encouraged self-management, including adherence to ART. Positive framing institutions are important for many PLWH in resource-limited settings and the success of ART programs

Recent Design Development in Molecular Imaging for Breast Cancer Detection Using Nanometer CMOS Based Sensors

As one of the key clinical imaging methods, the computed X-ray tomography can be further improved using new nanometer CMOS sensors. This will enhance the current technique's ability in terms of cancer detection size, position, and detection accuracy on the anatomical structures. The current paper reviewed designs of SOI-based CMOS sensors and their architectural design in mammography systems. Based on the existing experimental results, using the SOI technology can provide a low-noise (SNR around 87.8 db) and high-gain (30 v/v) CMOS imager. It is also expected that, together with the fast data acquisition designs, the new type of imagers may play important roles in the near-future high-dimensional images in additional to today's 2D imagers

The Contribution of Methionine to the Stability of the Escherichia Coli MetNIQ ABC Transporter-Substrate Binding Protein Complex

Despite the ubiquitous role of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) importers in nutrient uptake, only the Escherichia coli maltose and vitamin B12 ABC transporters have been structurally characterized in multiple conformations relevant to the alternating access transport mechanism. To complement our previous structure determination of the E. coli MetNI methionine importer in the inward facing conformation (Kadaba et al. (2008) Science 321, 250–253), we have explored conditions stabilizing the outward facing conformation. Using two variants, the Walker B E166Q mutation with ATP+EDTA to stabilize MetNI in the ATP-bound conformation and the N229A variant of the binding protein MetQ, shown in this work to disrupt methionine binding, a high affinity MetNIQ complex was formed with a dissociation constant measured to be 27 nm. Using wild type MetQ containing a co-purified methionine (for which the crystal structure is reported at 1.6 Å resolution), the dissociation constant for complex formation with MetNI is measured to be ∼40-fold weaker, indicating that complex formation lowers the affinity of MetQ for methionine by this amount. Preparation of a stable MetNIQ complex is an essential step towards the crystallographic analysis of the outward facing conformation, a key intermediate in the uptake of methionine by this transport system

HateCheck: functional tests for hate speech detection models

Detecting online hate is a difficult task that even state-of-the-art models struggle with. Typically, hate speech detection models are evaluated by measuring their performance on held-out test data using metrics such as accuracy and F1 score. However, this approach makes it difficult to identify specific model weak points. It also risks overestimating generalisable model performance due to increasingly well-evidenced systematic gaps and biases in hate speech datasets. To enable more targeted diagnostic insights, we introduce HateCheck, a suite of functional tests for hate speech detection models. We specify 29 model functionalities motivated by a review of previous research and a series of interviews with civil society stakeholders. We craft test cases for each functionality and validate their quality through a structured annotation process. To illustrate HateCheck’s utility, we test near-state-of-the-art transformer models as well as two popular commercial models, revealing critical model weaknesses

Mucosal Melanomas of the Head and Neck: The Role of Postoperative Radiation Therapy

Objectives. Mucosal melanomas are rarer than their cutaneous counterparts and are associated with a poorer prognosis. We report the clinical outcomes of patients with mucosal melanomas of the head and neck region generally treated with definitive surgery followed by postoperative radiation therapy (RT). Methods. We reviewed the records of 17 patients treated at the University of Miami in 1990–2007. Patients generally received conventionally fractionated RT regimens to the postoperative bed. Elective nodal RT was not routinely delivered. Eight patients received adjuvant chemotherapy or immunotherapy. Results. Median followup was 35.2 months (range 5–225). As the first site of failure: 3 patients recurred locally, 2 regionally and 2 distantly. All 3 patients who recurred locally had not received RT. Of the 5 locoregional recurrences, 4 were salvaged successfully with multimodality therapy with no evidence of disease at last followup. Overall survival was 64.7% at 2 years and 51.5% at 5 years. Conclusions. Patients with mucosal melanoma of the head and neck are best treated with surgery to achieve negative margins, followed by postoperative RT to optimize local control. Elective nodal irradiation may not be indicated in all cases, as regional failures were not predominant. Distant metastases were fewer when compared to historical data, potentially due to advancements in adjuvant therapies as well as aggressive multi-modality salvage at time of failure

Differential display identifies overexpression of the USP36 gene, encoding a deubiquitinating enzyme, in ovarian cancer

Objectives. To find potential diagnostic markers or therapeutic targets, we used differential display technique to identify genes that are over or under expressed in human ovarian cancer. Methods. Genes were initially identified by differential display between two human ovarian surface epithelium cultures and two ovarian cancer cell lines, A2780 and Caov-3. Genes were validated by relative quantitative RT-PCR and RNA in situ hybridization. Results. Twenty-eight non-redundant sequences were expressed differentially in the normal ovarian epithelium and ovarian cancer cell lines. Seven of the 28 sequences showed differential expression between normal ovary and ovarian cancer tissue by RT-PCR. USP36 was over-expressed in ovarian cancer cell lines and tissues by RT-PCR and RNA in situ hybridization. Northern blot analysis and RT-PCR revealed two transcripts for USP36 in ovarian tissue. The major transcript was more specific for ovarian cancer and was detected by RT-PCR in 9/9 ovarian cancer tissues, 3/3 cancerous ascites, 5/14 (36%) sera from patients with ovarian cancer, and 0/7 sera from women without ovarian cancer. Conclusion. USP36 is overexpressed in ovarian cancer compared to normal ovary and its transcripts were identified in ascites and serum of ovarian cancer patients

The contribution of methionine to the stability of the Escherichia coli MetNIQ ABC transporter-substrate binding protein complex

Despite the ubiquitous role of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) importers in nutrient uptake, only the Escherichia coli maltose and vitamin B_(12) ABC transporters have been structurally characterized in multiple conformations relevant to the alternating access transport mechanism. To complement our previous structure determination of the E. coli MetNI methionine importer in the inward facing conformation (Kadaba et al. (2008) Science 321, 250-253), we have explored conditions stabilizing the outward facing conformation. Using two variants, the Walker B E166Q mutation with ATP+EDTA to stabilize MetNI in the ATPbound conformation and the N229A variant of the binding protein MetQ, shown in this work to disrupt methionine binding, a high affinity MetNIQ complex was formed with a dissociation constant measured to be 27 nm. Using wild type MetQ containing a co-purified methionine (for which the crystal structure is reported at 1.6 Å resolution), the dissociation constant for complex formation with MetNI is measured to be ~40-fold weaker, indicating that complex formation lowers the affinity of MetQ for methionine by this amount. Preparation of a stable MetNIQ complex is an essential step towards the crystallographic analysis of the outward facing conformation, a key intermediate in the uptake of methionine by this transport system