185 research outputs found
Choosing Gender or Race: Portraits of Female, White Ally Higher Education Administrators Committed to Making Socially Just Spaces for BIPOC Women in their Institutions
Racism in the U.S. is systemic and has relied on centuries of deliberate practice to create a White male hegemonic (White supremacist) power structure. Being systemic, racism is reproduced in all of our defining institutions, including higher education. In addition, White women have consistently contributed to the reproduction of racism by choosing race and enduring sexism in all areas of society, including higher education. However, there are women in academe who choose to deliberately be antiracist and actively seek to create socially just spaces for women of color in their institutions. Filling a gap in the literature related to female White ally higher education administrators, this study inquires into the experiences of five female higher education administrators identified through Community Nomination (Foster, 1991; Ladson-Billings, 1989) as White allies by Black women. Through extensive interviewing and via Portraiture methodology (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) these women revealed the “goodness” of their work as they talked about themselves as 1) aspiring allies, 2) women in higher education, and 3) human beings in this world. Themes that emerged from the creation of the portraits mirror the extant literature on allyship, including 1) allyship is a continuous journey, 2) effective allyship requires humility and curiosity, and 3) being a White ally should be a moral obligation for anyone with White privilege. Filtered through the theoretical framework of Patricia Hill Collins’s Black Feminist Epistemology (2002), this study harnesses the power of storytelling and honors the thinking and scholarship of women of color. Keywords: racism, sexism, female White ally, higher education, Portraiture, Black Feminist Epistemology, Community Nomination.Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)Doctor of Education in Educational LeadershipSchool of Educatio
The tensor hypercontracted parametric reduced density matrix algorithm: coupled-cluster accuracy with O(r^4) scaling
Tensor hypercontraction is a method that allows the representation of a
high-rank tensor as a product of lower-rank tensors. In this paper, we show how
tensor hypercontraction can be applied to both the electron repulsion integral
(ERI) tensor and the two-particle excitation amplitudes used in the parametric
reduced density matrix (pRDM) algorithm. Because only O(r) auxiliary functions
are needed in both of these approximations, our overall algorithm can be shown
to scale as O(r4), where r is the number of single-particle basis functions. We
apply our algorithm to several small molecules, hydrogen chains, and alkanes to
demonstrate its low formal scaling and practical utility. Provided we use
enough auxiliary functions, we obtain accuracy similar to that of the
traditional pRDM algorithm, somewhere between that of CCSD and CCSD(T).Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Prediction of gestational age based on genome-wide differentially methylated regions
BACKGROUND: We explored the association between gestational age and cord blood DNA methylation at birth and whether DNA methylation could be effective in predicting gestational age due to limitations with the presently used methods. We used data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Birth Cohort study (MoBa) with Illumina HumanMethylation450 data measured for 1753 newborns in two batches: MoBa 1, n = 1068; and MoBa 2, n = 685. Gestational age was computed using both ultrasound and the last menstrual period. We evaluated associations between DNA methylation and gestational age and developed a statistical model for predicting gestational age using MoBa 1 for training and MoBa 2 for predictions. The prediction model was additionally used to compare ultrasound and last menstrual period-based gestational age predictions. Furthermore, both CpGs and associated genes detected in the training models were compared to those detected in a published prediction model for chronological age. RESULTS: There were 5474 CpGs associated with ultrasound gestational age after adjustment for a set of covariates, including estimated cell type proportions, and Bonferroni-correction for multiple testing. Our model predicted ultrasound gestational age more accurately than it predicted last menstrual period gestational age. CONCLUSIONS: DNA methylation at birth appears to be a good predictor of gestational age. Ultrasound gestational age is more strongly associated with methylation than last menstrual period gestational age. The CpGs linked with our gestational age prediction model, and their associated genes, differed substantially from the corresponding CpGs and genes associated with a chronological age prediction model. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-016-1063-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
Risk assessment of hyaluronic acid in food supplements
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a high-molecular-mass polysaccharide, that is endogenously produced and present in connective tissue, synovial fluid, intraoccular fluid, and skin. The basic unit of the HA polymer consists of D-glucuronic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has requested VKM to evaluate the risk of adverse effects related to daily intake of food supplements with 150 mg, 120 mg, 64 mg, and 48 mg HA. Exposure from other sources of HA (food, cosmetics, and different medical applications) is not estimated.Risk assessment of hyaluronic acid in food supplementspublishedVersio
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