Ali Smith interviewed by Caroline Smith

Inverness-born Ali Smith’s first collection, Free Love and Other Stories (1995) was awarded Saltire Society Scottish First Book Of The Year Award. Her short stories and novels including the Man Booker Prize nominated Hotel World (2001) and 2005 winner of the Whitbread The Accidental (2004) are known for their visceral language play and dynamic shifts in view point and time scale delivered in a tightly constructed form. She often treats universal themes – love, death, guilt and illness – with a fleshy, fresh touch that surveys the commonplace and idiosyncratic alongside the monumental. She is currently working on a rewrite of a myth for Canongate’s myth series

Developing E-Business Information Without a Business School

Caltech Engineering and Science librarians describe their experiences exploring, learning and teaching business information research on a campus with minimal business resources and no business program. Caltech faculty, eager to educate sci-tech students in the business management of high technology startups, have created new curriculum with this goal in mind. Brainstorming on ways to meet the information needs of these budding entrepreneurs, two engineering librarians took the initiative to propose integrating business information resources into an innovative e-business class under development by an engineering professor. Our successful proposal challenged us to apply our information skills to a new subject area at Caltech - the fast paced arena of e-business. The result was a highly tailored class and Web site for e-business information resources. This experience, in turn, has provided a springboard for regular instructional sessions on business that address the broader needs of the Caltech community and have aided us in our awareness of other business development activities on campus. This paper also reports on how a team of non-business librarians were able to utilize skills and experience gained primarily in science and engineering and apply them to provide targeted business information resources to clients on a science and engineering campus. It also illustrates the inherent strengths of librarians in surveying, evaluating, organizing and teaching the information infrastructure of a new subject area. In one year, the Caltech Library System has not only acquired new information resources and added more business titles to its collection, it has increased its visibility to different constituencies on campus

Synergistic Interactions of Dynamic Ridesharing and Battery Electric Vehicles Land Use, Transit, and Auto Pricing Policies

It is widely recognized that new vehicle and fuel technology is necessary, but not sufficient, to meet deep greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions goals for both the U.S. and the state of California. Demand management strategies (such as land use, transit, and auto pricing) are also needed to reduce passenger vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and related GHG emissions. In this study, the authors explore how demand management strategies may be combined with new vehicle technology (battery electric vehicles or BEVs) and services (dynamic ridesharing) to enhance VMT and GHG reductions. Owning a BEV or using a dynamic ridesharing service may be more feasible when distances to destinations are made shorter and alternative modes of travel are provided by demand management strategies. To examine potential markets, we use the San Francisco Bay Area activity based travel demand model to simulate business-as-usual, transit oriented development, and auto pricing policies with and without high, medium, and low dynamic ridesharing participation rates and BEV daily driving distance ranges. The results of this study suggest that dynamic ridesharing has the potential to significantly reduce VMT and related GHG emissions, which may be greater than land use and transit policies typically included in Sustainable Community Strategies (under California Senate Bill 375), if travelers are willing pay with both time and money to use the dynamic ridesharing system. However, in general, large synergistic effects between ridesharing and transit oriented development or auto pricing policies were not found in this study. The results of the BEV simulations suggest that TODs may increase the market for BEVs by less than 1% in the Bay Area and that auto pricing policies may increase the market by as much as 7%. However, it is possible that larger changes are possible over time in faster growing regions where development is currently at low density levels (for example, the Central Valley in California). The VMT Fee scenarios show larger increases in the potential market for BEV (as much as 7%). Future research should explore the factors associated with higher dynamic ridesharing and BEV use including individual attributes, characteristics of tours and trips, and time and cost benefits. In addition, the travel effects of dynamic ridesharing systems should be simulated explicitly, including auto ownership, mode choice, destination, and extra VMT to pick up a passenger

The Role of Tapping in Improving Connected Speech Comprehension of a Non-Native Variety of English

No abstract available

Wilkinson Power Combiner Effective at 1-2GHz for Data Collection fromEM Resonant Cavities

From the Washington University Office of Undergraduate Research Digest (WUURD), Vol. 13, 05-01-2018. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; Lindsey Paunovich, Editor; Helen Human, Programs Manager and Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences Mentor(s): Jim Buckle

Effect of Processing on Microbiota Accessible Carbohydrates in Whole Grains

There is potential to increase microbiota accessible carbohydrates (MAC) in whole grains through food processing. Therefore, different processing conditions for boiling and extrusion of whole wheat flour were studied for their effect on MAC. Processing conditions had a minimal effect on fermentation response using 2 fecal samples of disparate composition. However, the processing method had an impact on the fermentation of non-digestible carbohydrates and subsequent short chain fatty acids production, but only for a microbiome with high diversity and a predominance of microbes associated with dietary fiber intake. Subsequently, five processing methods: boiling, extrusion, unleavened bread, yeast bread, and sourdough bread, were studied for their effects on in vitro fermentation of whole wheat flour using the fecal microbiota from 10 subjects. Different grain processing operations caused varying shifts in microbiota composition and activity. Notably, sourdough bread supported a diverse microbial community that produced more butyrate and propionate. Conversely, extrusion led to decreases in diversity and butyrate and propionate production, but enabled increase carbohydrate fermentation. These differences were attributed to changes in the microstructure of the grains. In order to better understand the effects of grain processing on host health, two microbiomes that ranged in diversity and were from subjects who habitually consumed high and low levels of dietary fiber and whole grains, were inoculated into germ free mice. These mice were then fed isocaloric western diets supplemented with cellulose (control), boiled whole wheat, extruded whole wheat, or extruded brown rice. The mice harboring the microbiome from the low dietary fiber consumer had increases in diversity due to whole grains and the whole grain source and processing had differential effects. The mice harboring the microbiome from the high dietary fiber consumer was more diverse and was minimally affected by treatment. These mice had reduced body fat and body weight gain with boiled whole wheat compared to extruded whole wheat while there was no difference between brown rice and whole wheat. Both microbiomes had reduced glucose tolerance with extruded grains. Thus, both the digestion and fermentation are important factors of the effect of whole grains and food processing on host health. Advisor: Devin J. Ros

THE DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NANOBODIES SPECIFIC TO PROTEIN TYROSINE PHOSPHATASE 4A3 (PTP4A3/PRL-3) TO DISSECT AND TARGET ITS ROLE IN CANCER.

Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 4A3 (PTP4A3 or PRL-3) is an oncogenic dual-specificity phosphatase that drives tumor metastasis, promotes cancer cell survival, and is correlated with poor patient prognosis in a variety of solid tumors and leukemias. The mechanisms that drive PRL-3’s oncogenic functions are not well understood, in part due to a lack of research tools available to study this protein. The development of such tools has proven difficult, as the PRL family is ~80% homologous and the PRL catalytic binding pocket is shallow and hydrophobic. Currently available small molecules do not exhibit binding specificity for PRL-3 over PRL family members, and the only new antibody specific for PRL-3, PRL-3-zumab, is inaccessible to the research community while in clinical trial. To address the lack of tools available to study PRL-3, I have developed alpaca-derived single-domain antibodies, or nanobodies, targeting PRL-3. Nanobodies have emerged as a valuable research tool and show promise as cancer therapeutics. Their advantages include their small size and lack of light chains, allowing them to reach cavities within active sites that conventional antibodies cannot access. Nanobodies also have high specificity and affinity for their antigens. I hypothesized that PRL-3 nanobodies may be able to differentiate between the PRL family and provide new insights into the role of PRL-3 in cancer progression. Following synthesis, sequencing, and purification, I identified seven unique nanobodies that bind to PRL-3 with little to no activity towards PRL-1 and PRL-2, making them one of the first tools to selectively target and bind directly to PRL-3 in its native conformation. The nanobodies can be used in immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence assays. Interestingly, I found that N-terminal tags on PRL-3, such as 3XFLAG or GFP, enhanced PRL-3 localization to the membrane, while untagged PRL-3 is widely distributed throughout the cell. These data may have important implications for previous PRL-3 functional studies that necessarily relied on tagged-PRL-3. The nanobody binding affinity for PRL-3 is within a KD of 30 - 300 nM, similar to that of commercially available antibodies. Hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry showed nanobodies bind near the PRL-3 active site and could reduce PRL-3 phosphatase activity against a generic substrate. The interaction between PRL-3 and the nanobody also showed overlap with the binding site of a known PRL-3 interacting partner, the magnesium transport protein CNNM3. A competition assay showed that the nanobody and CNNM3 can bind PRL-3 simultaneously, but the nanobody partially outcompetes the CNNM3 binding. The nanobodies can be used immediately as a PRL-3 specific research tool and can be further developed as an inhibitor. They also have a great deal of potential in additional applications. First, we are using these nanobodies to stabilize PRL-3 in X-ray crystallography to develop higher-resolution structures to establish exactly where the nanobodies bind PRL-3. Determining the location of these binding pockets would allow us to better contribute to substrate identification and drug design. Secondly, we are using a fluorescently labeled nanobody to examine the PRL-3:CNNM complex, PRL-3 trafficking and function during cancer processes, such as proliferation, invasion, and stress. Our ultimate goal is to provide new insight into how PRL-3 contributes to cancer progression with the use of this exciting tool

From study design to conference presentation in one semester: Introducing students to the research process in Laboratory Phonology

The purpose of this presentation is todiscuss my experience of taking a class through the entireprocess of a laboratory phonology research study in a single semester, in fact, in about threemonths

America’s New Industry?: How Guidebooks Motivated Sericulture in the 19th Century

In 1840, George C. Sibley, a Missouri resident best known for his time as an Indian agent and one of the founders of what is now Lindenwood University, received a letter from his cousin Origen Sibley the contents of which discussed family matters, politics, and lastly a peek into what Origen believed was a budding industry in America1. The industry in question, silk production. In the letter, Origen opens a hooking discussion about the requirements of silk production, primarily regarding the food supply of the silkworm and the profitability that he estimates will come from it. This is the kind of letter that catches the eye of an individual to engross their interest in a money-making scheme which would require not only the material (the silk) but also the places for which to sell it. This discussion would certainly pique the interest of George Sibley and his wife Mary Easton Sibley, as they would send a letter to Origen that inquired further about how they could also get involved in the silk production industry at their own home. However, the letter they received from Origen in 1841 as a response had a very different tone regarding silk production. “...I am truly glad that you wrote me before engaging in the silk culture, because, although its culture on a mall seale will afford you much gratification, I am free to say that I believe now it will yield but little profit, unless a __ be established in your neighborhood, to which you can dispose of your cocoons as soon as they are gathered.” The rest of letter details the loss of profitability that Origen faced in his venture with silk production under his own hand, listing countless difficulties and setbacks in detail which set his project to failure. Within the span of one year Origen Sibley had a complete 180 stance on him getting involved in sericulture. Essentially, what these two letters represent is the entire history of the silk production industry in the United States during the 19th century, i.e., it was a complete failure. However, there are essential things in these two letters regarding sericulture and the spread of information about it. Origen Sibley could hardly have been the only person who was swayed by information regarding creating silk production an industry in the United States. How did he come across this information regarding sericulture? How was the information spread? How was he and the rest of the Sibley’s motivated to take on this endeavor only for it to end in failure? These lines of questions after looking over these letters is what prompted a closer look at the motivations of those promoting sericulture and how they motivated others to get involved as well