The FCC’s Minority Tax Certificate Program: A Proposal for Life After Death

In 1995, Congress eliminated the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Minority Tax Certificate Program—a nonintrusive method of encouraging increased participation of minority entrepreneurs as owners in the broadcast and cable industries. Since that time, minorities have faced increased difficulties competing in all facets of the communications industry. These difficulties can be attributed to: (1) increased consolidation within the broadcast industry as a result of provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 relaxing certain broadcast ownership limitations; (2) recent court decisions adverse to minority-specific programs; and (3) continued obstacles faced by minorities in accessing sufficient capital to acquire licenses and compete in the communications industries. This Article examines the history and benefits of the FCC’s Minority Tax Certificate Program and Congress’s reasons for eliminating it. This Article also suggests ways in which a new tax certificate program could be created to address Congress’s concerns. Forum: New Approaches to Minority Media Ownership, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, Columbia University

Construction and functional analysis of hybrid interleukin-6 variants Characterization of the role of the C-terminus for species specificity

AbstractWe have constructed several hybrid human interleukin-6 (IL-6) variants in which the carboxyl-terminus, which includes a receptor binding site of IL-6 has been replaced with the C-terminus of various proteins homologous to human IL-6, IL-6 hybrids with the C-terminus of human growth hormone and human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor maintain part of the biological activity of human IL-6. Replacing the C-terminus of human IL-6 with the C-terminus of mouse and rat IL-6 resulted in a normal or increased activity on a mouse cell line; however, this gave a low (to 200-fold less) activity on a human cell line compared to wild-type human IL-6. We therefore conclude that the C-terminus of IL-6 plays in important role in the species specificity of IL-6

Spreading of a density front in the K\"untz-Lavall\'ee model of porous media

We analyze spreading of a density front in the K\"untz-Lavall\'ee model of porous media. In contrast to previous studies, where unusual properties of the front were attributed to anomalous diffusion, we find that the front evolution is controlled by normal diffusion and hydrodynamic flow, the latter being responsible for apparent enhancement of the front propagation speed. Our finding suggests that results of several recent experiments on porous media, where anomalous diffusion was reported based on the density front propagation analysis, should be reconsidered to verify the role of a fluid flow

Analysis of Gap Gene Regulation in a 3D Organism-Scale Model of the Drosophila melanogaster Embryo

The axial bodyplan of Drosophila melanogaster is determined during a process called morphogenesis. Shortly after fertilization, maternal bicoid mRNA is translated into Bicoid (Bcd). This protein establishes a spatially graded morphogen distribution along the anterior-posterior (AP) axis of the embryo. Bcd initiates AP axis determination by triggering expression of gap genes that subsequently regulate each other's expression to form a precisely controlled spatial distribution of gene products. Reaction-diffusion models of gap gene expression on a 1D domain have previously been used to infer complex genetic regulatory network (GRN) interactions by optimizing model parameters with respect to 1D gap gene expression data. Here we construct a finite element reaction-diffusion model with a realistic 3D geometry fit to full 3D gap gene expression data. Though gap gene products exhibit dorsal-ventral asymmetries, we discover that previously inferred gap GRNs yield qualitatively correct AP distributions on the 3D domain only when DV-symmetric initial conditions are employed. Model patterning loses qualitative agreement with experimental data when we incorporate a realistic DV-asymmetric distribution of Bcd. Further, we find that geometry alone is insufficient to account for DV-asymmetries in the final gap gene distribution. Additional GRN optimization confirms that the 3D model remains sensitive to GRN parameter perturbations. Finally, we find that incorporation of 3D data in simulation and optimization does not constrain the search space or improve optimization results

On landmark selection and sampling in high-dimensional data analysis

In recent years, the spectral analysis of appropriately defined kernel matrices has emerged as a principled way to extract the low-dimensional structure often prevalent in high-dimensional data. Here we provide an introduction to spectral methods for linear and nonlinear dimension reduction, emphasizing ways to overcome the computational limitations currently faced by practitioners with massive datasets. In particular, a data subsampling or landmark selection process is often employed to construct a kernel based on partial information, followed by an approximate spectral analysis termed the Nystrom extension. We provide a quantitative framework to analyse this procedure, and use it to demonstrate algorithmic performance bounds on a range of practical approaches designed to optimize the landmark selection process. We compare the practical implications of these bounds by way of real-world examples drawn from the field of computer vision, whereby low-dimensional manifold structure is shown to emerge from high-dimensional video data streams.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, submitted for publicatio

Postnatal Loss of the Insulin Receptor in Osteoprogenitor Cells Does Not Impart a Metabolic Phenotype

The relationship between osteoblast-specific insulin signaling, osteocalcin activation and gluco-metabolic homeostasis has proven to be complex and potentially inconsistent across animal-model systems and in humans. Moreover, the impact of postnatally acquired, osteoblast-specific insulin deficiency on the pancreas-to-skeleton-to-pancreas circuit has not been studied. To explore this relationship, we created a model of postnatal elimination of insulin signaling in osteoprogenitors. Osteoprogenitor-selective ablation of the insulin receptor was induced after ~10 weeks of age in IRl°x/lox/Osx-Cre+/− genotypic male and female mice (designated postnatal-OIRKO). At ~21 weeks of age, mice were then phenotypically and metabolically characterized. Postnatal-OIRKO mice demonstrated a significant reduction in circulating concentrations of undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC), in both males and females compared with control littermates. However, no differences were observed between postnatal-OIRKO and control mice in: body composition (lean or fat mass); fasting serum insulin; HbA1c; glucose dynamics during glucose tolerance testing; or in pancreatic islet area or islet morphology, demonstrating that while ucOC is impacted by insulin signaling in osteoprogenitors, there appears to be little to no relationship between osteocalcin, or its derivative (ucOC), and glucose homeostasis in this model

Discrimination of sonographically detected breast masses using frequency shift color Doppler imaging in combination with age and gray scale criteria.

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135358/1/jum2001204343.pd

Property Taxation in Virginia

The Virginia Constitution mandates that all property within the state, except exempt property, must be taxed. In light of the constitution\u27s directive, this note examines the present Virginia property taxation structure in order to provide the practitioner with a guide to its application and operation

Measurement of Volumetric Flow

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135278/1/jum200625101305.pd

Preserving and Restoring Bone with Continuous Insulin Infusion Therapy in a Mouse Model of Type 1 Diabetes

Those with type 1 diabetes (T1D) are more likely to suffer a fracture than age- and sex-matched individuals without diabetes, despite daily insulin therapy. In rodent studies examining the effect of bone- or glucose-targeting therapies on preventing the T1D-related decrease in bone strength, insulin co-therapy is often not included, despite the known importance of insulin signaling to bone mass accrual. Therefore, working toward a relevant pre-clinical model of diabetic bone disease, we assessed the effect of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) therapy at escalating doses on preserving bone and the effect of delayed CSII on rescuing the T1D-related bone deterioration in an established murine model of T1D. Osmotic minipumps were implanted in male DBA/2 J mice 2 weeks (prevention study) and 6 weeks (rescue study) after the first injection of streptozotocin (STZ) to deliver insulin at 0, 0.0625, 0.125, or 0.25 IU/day (prevention study; n = 4–5 per dose) and 0 or 0.25 IU/day (rescue study; n = 10 per group). CSII lasted 4 weeks in both studies, which also included age-matched, non-diabetic DBA/2 J mice (n = 8–12 per study). As the insulin dose increased, blood glucose decreased, body weight increased, a serum maker of bone resorption decreased, and a serum marker of bone formation increased such that each end-point characteristic was linearly correlated with dose. There were insulin dose-dependent relationships (femur diaphysis) with cross-sectional area of cortical bone and cortical thickness (micro-computed tomography) as well as structural strength (peak force endured by the mid-shaft during three-point bending). Likewise, trabecular bone volume fraction (BV/TV), thickness, and number (distal femur metaphysis) increased as the insulin dose increased. Delayed CSII improved glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), but blood glucose levels remained relatively high (well above non-diabetic levels). Interestingly, it returned the resorption and formation markers to similar levels as those seen in non-T1D control mice. This apparent return after 4 weeks of CSII translated to a partial rescue of the structural strength of the femur mid-shaft. Delayed CSII also increased Tb.Th to levels seen in non-T1D controls but did not fully restore BV/TV. The use of exogenous insulin should be considered in pre-clinical studies investigating the effect of T1D on bone as insulin therapy maintains bone structure without necessarily lowering glucose below diabetic levels