Exact O(g^2 alpha_s) top decay width from general massive two-loop integrals

We calculate the b-dependent self-energy of the top quark at O(g^2 \alpha_s) by using a general massive two-loop algorithm proposed in a previous article. From this we derive by unitarity the O(\alpha_s) radiative corrections to the decay width of the top quark, where all effects associated with the $b$ quark mass are included without resorting to a mass expansion. Our results agree with the analytical results available for the O(\alpha_s) correction to the top quark width

Cognitive Apprenticeship and the Supervision of Science and Engineering Research Assistants

We explore and critically reflect on the process of science and engineering research assistant skill development both within laboratory-based research teams and, when no team is present, within the faculty supervisor-research assistant interactions. Using a performance-based measure of research skill development, we identify research assistants who, over the course of an academic year of service as a researcher, markedly developed, modestly developed, or failed to develop their research skills. Interviews with these research assistants and their faculty supervisors, seen through the lens of cognitive apprenticeship, provide insight into this variation. We found that within the contours of supervisory relationships and research teams, research skill development is indelibly shaped, for better or worse, by supervisor influence and abundant trial-and-error

Finding a Fit: Biological Science Doctoral Students’ Selection of a Principal Investigator and Research Laboratory

In the laboratory-based disciplines, selection of a principal investigator (PI) and research laboratory (lab) indelibly shapes doctoral students’ experiences and educational outcomes. Framed by the theoretical concept of person–environment fit from within a socialization model, we use an inductive, qualitative approach to explore how a sample of 42 early-stage doctoral students enrolled in biological sciences programs made decisions about fitting with a PI and within a lab. Results illuminated a complex array of factors that students considered in selecting a PI, including PI relationship, mentoring style, and professional stability. Further, with regard to students’ lab selection, peers and research projects played an important role. Students actively conceptualized trade-offs among various dimensions of fit. Our findings also revealed cases in which students did not secure a position in their first (or second) choice labs and had to consider their potential fit with suboptimal placements (in terms of their initial assessments). Thus, these students weighted different factors of fit against the reality of needing to secure financial support to continue in their doctoral programs. We conclude by presenting and framing implications for students, PIs, and doctoral programs, and recommend providing transparency and candor around the PI and lab selection processes

Formulation and in-vitro evaluation of fast dissolving tablets containing a poorly soluble antipsychotic drug

The aim of the present study was to formulate olanzapine fast dissolving tablets (FDT). Olanzapine is a poorly water soluble drug that undergoes first pass metabolism in liver resulted in low oral bioavailability. The water solubility is enhanced by formation of co-amorphous dispersion by solvent evaporation under vacuum method using a polycarboxylic acid (ascorbic acid) as a coformer in two different molar ratios (1:1 and 1:2). The prepared systems were evaluated using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), Fourier Transform Infra-Red analysis (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and saturated solubility. The co-amorphous dispersion system in a molar ratio 1:2 is higher in solubility than 1:1, so it was selected for incorporation into FDT formulation. Compatability study between olanzapine and different tablet excipients including DSC and FTIR showed that the drug is compatible with the selected tablet excipients. Direct compression method was used in FDT formulations using different types and concentrations of superdisintegrants. FDTs were evaluated for weight variation, hardness, friability, wetting time, drug content uniformity, invitro disintegration time and invitro dissolution study. All the prepared FDTs were complied with the compendia standards. F3 and F8 showed lower disintegration time and higher percent of drug dissolved, so they were selected for stability study. After storage for 3 months at 30ºC at 65% relative humidity, both formulations were physically stable regarding color and integrity and had only minor increases in disintegration time, drug content and friability after three months’ storage. The results indicate that olanzapine FDT tablets may serve as a successful strategy for enhancing the bioavailability of olanzapine

Time-to-Credit Gender Inequities of First-Year PhD Students in the Biological Sciences

Equitable gender representation is an important aspect of scientific workforce development to secure a sufficient number of individuals and a diversity of perspectives. Biology is the most gender equitable of all scientific fields by the marker of degree attainment, with 52.5% of PhDs awarded to women. However, equitable rates of degree completion do not translate into equitable attainment of faculty or postdoctoral positions, suggesting continued existence of gender inequalities. In a national cohort of 336 first-year PhD students in the biological sciences (i.e., microbiology, cellular biology, molecular biology, develop-mental biology, and genetics) from 53 research institutions, female participants logged significantly more research hours than males and were significantly more likely than males to attribute their work hours to the demands of their assigned projects over the course of the academic year. Despite this, males were 15% more likely to be listed as authors on published journal articles, indicating inequality in the ratio of time to credit. Given the cumulative advantage that accrues for students who publish early in their graduate careers and the central role that scholarly productivity plays in academic hiring decisions, these findings collectively point to a major potential source of persisting underrepresentation of women on university faculties in these fields

Renal Autotransplant and Celiac Artery Bypass for Aneurysmal Degeneration Related to Neurofibromatosis Type 1

We present a case of an 18-year-old female with neurofibromatosis type 1 who presented with abdominal pain and weight loss secondary to chronic mesenteric ischemia due to celiac axis occlusion and was subsequently found to have multiple visceral artery aneurysms. Of clinical significance, 2 aneurysms of the right renal artery were noted at the hilum, with the larger one having a diameter of 2.4 cm. After initial endovascular treatment with stenting of a concurrent pancreaticoduodenal artery pseudoaneurysm, staged aorto-hepatic bypass and right nephrectomy with renal autotransplantation after back table resection of the aneurysmal segments were successfully completed

Perturbations of a Universe Filled with Dust and Radiation

A first-order perturbation approach to $k=0$ Friedmann cosmologies filled with dust and radiation is developed. Adopting the coordinate gauge comoving with the perturbed matter, and neglecting the vorticity of the radiation, a pair of coupled equations is obtained for the trace $h$ of the metric perturbations and for the velocity potential $v$. A power series solution with upwards cutoff exists such that the leading terms for large values of the dimensionless time $\xi$ agree with the relatively growing terms of the dust solution of Sachs and Wolfe.Comment: 9 pp, typeset in late