Nonprofit Law: Ten Issues in Search of Resolution

The laws and regulations governing nonprofit organisations in different countries can usefully be assessed in terms of how they address ten basic issues, including everything from eligibility to key trends affecting the sector. The purpose of this paper is to examine these issues more closely, to identify what they are and to understand why they are important. The focus is placed upon the questions that must be addressed in laws related to nonprofit organisations

Microwave characterization of slotline on high resistivity silicon for antenna feed network

Conventional silicon wafers have low resistivity and consequently unacceptably high value of dielectric attenuation constant. Microwave circuits for phased array antenna systems fabricated on these wafers therefore have low efficiency. By choosing a silicon substrate with sufficiently high resistivity it is possible to make the dielectric attenuation constant of the interconnecting microwave transmission lines approach those of GaAs or InP. In order for this to be possible, the transmission lines must be characterized. In this presentation, the effective dielectric constant (epsilon sub eff) and attenuation constant (alpha) of a slotline on high resistivity (5000 to 10 000 ohm-cm) silicon wafer will be discussed. The epsilon sub eff and alpha are determined from the measured resonant frequencies and the corresponding insertion loss of a slotline ring resonator. The results for slotline will be compared with microstrip line and coplanar waveguide

Tumors d'hipòfisi : factors determinants per a l'èxit postquirúrgic

Abans de l'operació d'un tumor d'hipòfisi, hi ha tres factors que permeten identificar els pacients que tindran més probabilitats de curar-se després de la cirurgia: El tamany, el tipus de secreció del tumor i l'experiència dels neurocirurgians. Un grup de doctors de l'Hospital de Sant Pau ha arribat a aquesta conclusió després d'estudiar 289 pacients amb tumors hipofisiaris operats a aquest centre pels dos mateixos neurocirurgians desde 1982 fins al 2001.Antes de la operación de un tumor de hipófisis, existen tres factores que permiten identificar a los pacientes que tendrán más probabilidades de curarse después de la cirugía: El tamaño, el tipo de secreción del tumor y la experiencia de los neurocirujanos. Un grupo de doctores del Hospital de Sant Pau ha llegado a esta conclusión después de estudiar 289 pacientes con tumores de hipófisis operados en este centro por los dos mismos neurocirujanos desde 1982 hasta 2001

14C contamination testing in natural abundance laboratories: a new preparation method using wet chemical oxidation and some experiences

Substances enriched with radiocarbon can easily contaminate samples and laboratories used for natural abundance measurements. We have developed a new method using wet chemical oxidation for swabbing laboratories and equipment to test for 14C contamination. Here, we report the findings of 18 months’ work and more than 800 tests covering studies at multiple locations. Evidence of past and current use of enriched 14C was found at all but one location and a program of testing and communication was used to mitigate its effects. Remediation was attempted with mixed success and depended on the complexity and level of the contamination. We describe four cases from different situations

Hybrid mice reveal parent-of-origin and cis- and trans- regulatory effects in the retina

A fundamental challenge in genomics is to map DNA sequence variants onto changes in gene expression. Gene expression is regulated by cis-regulatory elements (CREs, i.e., enhancers, promoters, and silencers) and the trans factors (e.g., transcription factors) that act upon them. A powerful approach to dissecting cis and trans effects is to compare F1 hybrids with F0 homozygotes. Using this approach and taking advantage of the high frequency of polymorphisms in wild-derived inbred Cast/EiJ mice relative to the reference strain C57BL/6J, we conducted allele-specific mRNA-seq analysis in the adult mouse retina, a disease-relevant neural tissue. We found that cis effects account for the bulk of gene regulatory divergence in the retina. Many CREs contained functional (i.e., activating or silencing) cis-regulatory variants mapping onto altered expression of genes, including genes associated with retinal disease. By comparing our retinal data with previously published liver data, we found that most of the cis effects identified were tissue-specific. Lastly, by comparing reciprocal F1 hybrids, we identified evidence of imprinting in the retina for the first time. Our study provides a framework and resource for mapping cis-regulatory variants onto changes in gene expression, and underscores the importance of studying cis-regulatory variants in the context of retinal disease

Training School Psychology Graduate Students to Address Regional Shortages: A Distance Learning Model

Addressing the shortages of school psychologists in underserved regions of the country is critical to the profession and the communities served by its members. This article describes a school psychology satellite training program using a hybrid approach combining distance learning technologies and face-to-face classroom meetings. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of sixteen graduate students in a rural, Appalachian region of Ohio as members of the first two cohorts enrolled in the school psychology satellite program

An Analysis of the Workforce Pipeline in School Psychology

A shortage of school psychologists in the USA jeopardizes the capacity of schools to meet the needs of struggling students. The aim of the study was to evaluate the progression of school psychologists through the professional preparation—to practice pipeline for attracting, preparing, and retaining school psychologists. Descriptive research methods were used to retrospectively track three annual cohorts of graduate students from eight school psychology programs as they progressed through key milestones in their preparation and early professional practice. The results indicate that a large percentage of students completed their graduate program and continued to work in the field 1-, 3-, and 5-year post-internship for a sample that was predominately White and female. The implications of the study reinforce previous calls for graduate programs to engage in targeted, personalized efforts for recruiting graduate students with minoritized cultural identities to better meet the needs of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Observational evidence of strengthening of the Brewer-Dobson circulation since 1980

The change of the Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC) over the period of 1980–2009 is examined through a combined analysis of satellite Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU/AMSU) lower stratospheric temperatures (TLS), ERA-Interim reanalysis data, and observed estimates of changes in ozone, water vapor, well-mixed greenhouse gases, and stratospheric aerosols. The MSU/AMSU-observed tropical TLS trend is first empirically separated into a dynamic component associated with the BDC changes and a radiative component due to the atmospheric composition changes. The derived change in the dynamic component suggests that the annual mean BDC has accelerated in the last 30 years (at the 90% confidence interval), with most of the change coming from the Southern Hemisphere. The annual mean Northern Hemisphere contribution to the acceleration is not statistically significant. The radiative component of tropical TLS trends is independently checked using observed changes in stratospheric composition. It is shown that the changes in ozone, stratospheric aerosols, well-mixed greenhouse gases, and water vapor make important contributions to the radiative component of tropical TLS trends. Despite large uncertainties in lower stratospheric cooling associated with uncertainties in observed ozone and water vapor changes, this derived radiative component agrees with the empirically inferred radiative component, both in terms of its average value and small seasonal dependence. By establishing a relationship between tropical residual vertical velocity at 70 hPa and TLS, we show that the relative strengthening of the annual mean BDC is about 2.1% per decade for 1980–2009, supporting the results from state-of-the-art chemistry-climate model simulations.United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grant NNX13AN49G)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNX14AB28G)United States. Department of Energy. Office of Science (grant DE-SC0010557)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant 1342810)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant 1461517

Phr1 is required for proper retinocollicular targeting of nasal-dorsal retinal ganglion cells

AbstractPrecise targeting of retinal projections is required for the normal development of topographic maps in the mammalian primary visual system. During development, retinal axons project to and occupy topographically appropriate positions in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) and superior colliculus (SC). Phr1 retinal mutant mice, which display mislocalization of the ipsilateral retinogeniculate projection independent of activity and ephrin-A signaling, were found to have a more global disruption of topographic specificity of retinofugal inputs. The retinocollicular projection lacks local refinement of terminal zones and multiple ectopic termination zones originate from the dorsal–nasal (DN) retinal quadrant. Similarly, in the dLGN, the inputs originating from the contralateral DN retina are poorly refined in the Phr1 mutant. These results show that Phr1 is an essential regulator of retinal ganglion cell projection during both dLGN and SC topographic map development.</jats:p