Change – Watch for the Right Time Structuring Collections Budgets to Meet Current and Future Needs

Over the years Northwestern University Libraries has implemented various methods of allocating to the collections budgets, moving from traditional methods to ones that are more flexible and responsive to the needs of the times. The libraries have endeavored to keep the benefits of any previous allocation methods when thinking of new ways to allocate so that the important points of meeting the needs of the current research and teaching programs are still being met

Manner of Death Impacts the Death Effect in Literary Evaluation

The existence of a death effect—that the value of a creative work tends to increase after the creator has died—in literary evaluation was demonstrated. To replicate and extend previous findings, (N = 408) university students were asked to imagine being an art collector potentially interested in purchasing a short story. The status of the author varied from still being alive to having died from a car accident, suicide, or heart attack. Consistent with earlier work, students, when informed that the author was dead, offered to pay more money (81% more, on average) to purchase the story relative to students informed that the author was alive. Unique to this investigation, students offered the most money when told that the author died from a car accident. Priming students about death and dying boosted valuations. Unlike earlier work, subjective impressions about the author and the story were not affected by these manipulations. Mortality awareness and the relatability of the manner of death enhanced the desire for a perceived-to-be scarce product, in this case a creative literary work from a dead author

Operational modules for space station construction

Identification of an effective space construction concept is a current objective of NASA studies. One concept, described in this memorandum, consists of repetitive use of operational modules, which minimizes on-orbit stay time for the shuttle. A space station constructed of operational modules may benefit from fabrication and system checkout in ground-based facilities, and since the modules are the primary structure of the space station, a minimum of additional structure, and trips and on-orbit stay time of the shuttle are required

The DNA-binding domain of the Chd1 chromatin-remodelling enzyme contains SANT and SLIDE domains

The ATP-dependent chromatin-remodelling enzyme Chd1 is a 168-kDa protein consisting of a double chromodomain, Snf2-related ATPase domain, and a C-terminal DNA-binding domain. Here, we show the DNA-binding domain is required for Saccharomyces cerevisiae Chd1 to bind and remodel nucleosomes. The crystal structure of this domain reveals the presence of structural homology to SANT and SLIDE domains previously identified in ISWI remodelling enzymes. The presence of these domains in ISWI and Chd1 chromatin-remodelling enzymes may provide a means of efficiently harnessing the action of the Snf2-related ATPase domain for the purpose of nucleosome spacing and provide an explanation for partial redundancy between these proteins. Site directed mutagenesis was used to identify residues important for DNA binding and generate a model describing the interaction of this domain with DNA. Through inclusion of Chd1 sequences in homology searches SLIDE domains were identified in CHD6–9 proteins. Point mutations to conserved amino acids within the human CHD7 SLIDE domain have been identified in patients with CHARGE syndrome

Pre-service science teachers’ epistemological beliefs and teaching reforms in Tanzania

In an effort to understand why recent initiatives to promote learner-centred pedagogy in science teaching made a little change in the actual teaching practices of science teachers, this study explored pre-service science teachers’ beliefs about science knowledge and their teaching practices. Six pre-service science teachers were interviewed to explore their beliefs. Moreover, lessons taught by pre-service teachers were observed to see how their beliefs manifest in their teaching practices. This was followed by post-observation interviews focusing on critical incidences observed. Findings showed that pre-service science teachers hold dualist views about science. They viewed science knowledge to be simple, rigid and derivative of specific bodies of knowledge handed down by authorities such as textbooks and experts. Consistent with their beliefs, pre-service teachers asked factual questions and sought pre-determined textbook-based answers from students. They adopted transmissive teaching strategies to propagate textbook-based science knowledge. It was concluded that the way science teachers uptake the aspired learner-centred teaching may be partly due to incompatible beliefs they hold

Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) - Enabling Missions Beyond Heritage Carbon Phenolic

This poster provides an overview of the requirements, design, development and testing of the 3D Woven TPS being developed under NASA's Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) project. Under this current program, NASA is working to develop a Thermal Protection System (TPS) capable of surviving entry into Venus or Saturn. A primary goal of the project is to build and test an Engineering Test Unit (ETU) to establish a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of 6 for this technology by 2017

Characterizing the heterogeneity of triple-negative breast cancers using microdissected normal ductal epithelium and RNA-sequencing

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are a heterogeneous set of tumors defined by an absence of actionable therapeutic targets (ER, PR, and HER-2). Microdissected normal ductal epithelium from healthy volunteers represents a novel comparator to reveal insights into TNBC heterogeneity and to inform drug development. Using RNA-sequencing data from our institution and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) we compared the transcriptomes of 94 TNBCs, 20 microdissected normal breast tissues from healthy volunteers from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank, and 10 histologically normal tissues adjacent to tumor. Pathway analysis comparing TNBCs to optimized normal controls of microdissected normal epithelium versus classic controls composed of adjacent normal tissue revealed distinct molecular signatures. Differential gene expression of TNBC compared with normal comparators demonstrated important findings for TNBC-specific clinical trials testing targeted agents; lack of over-expression for negative studies and over-expression in studies with drug activity. Next, by comparing each individual TNBC to the set of microdissected normals, we demonstrate that TNBC heterogeneity is attributable to transcriptional chaos, is associated with non-silent DNA mutational load, and explains transcriptional heterogeneity in addition to known molecular subtypes. Finally, chaos analysis identified 146 core genes dysregulated in >90 % of TNBCs revealing an over-expressed central network. In conclusion, use of microdissected normal ductal epithelium from healthy volunteers enables an optimized approach for studying TNBC and uncovers biological heterogeneity mediated by transcriptional chaos

Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) Enabling Missions Beyond Heritage Carbon Phenolic

This poster provides an overview of the requirements, design, development and testing of the 3D Woven TPS being developed under NASAs Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) project. Under this current program, NASA is working to develop a Thermal Protection System (TPS) capable of surviving entry into Venus or Saturn. A primary goal of the project is to build and test an Engineering Test Unit (ETU) to establish a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of 6 for this technology by 2017

Identification of N-acyl-l-homoserine lactones produced by non-pigmented Chromobacterium aquaticum CC-SEYA-1T and pigmented Chromobacterium subtsugae PRAA4-1T

Many members of the genus Chromobacterium produce violacein, a characteristic purple pigment which is induced by small diffusible N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHL) quorum-sensing molecules. In this study, the production of AHL of the non-pigmented C. aquaticum CC-SEYA-1T and the pigmented C. subtsugae PRAA4-1T were determined by using a CV026 biosensor assay. The profile of AHL was identified from the extracts of stationary phase cultures using gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) and thin layer chromatography (TLC). CV026 biosensor assay revealed that both the non-pigmented C. aquaticum CC-SEYA-1T and the pigmented C. subtsugae PRAA4-1T produced AHL molecules, which were identified, respectively, as N-octanoyl homoserine lactone (OHL) [also known as C-8 homoserine lactone (C8-HSL)] and N-hexanoyl homoserine lactone (HHL) [also known as C-6 homoserine lactone (C6-HSL)]. The pigment produced by C. subtsugae PRAA4-1T was similar to that of Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC12472T but no characteristic visible spectral peaks of the pigment were observed in the extracts of C. aquaticum CC-SEYA-1T. In addition, C. aquaticum CC-SEYA-1T and C. subtsugae PRAA4-1T showed hemolytic activities