Research Evaluation of the City of Columbus Response to the 2020 Summer Protests

This report provides the results of an eight-month research study evaluating how the City of Columbus, Ohio, inclusive of elected officials and the Columbus Division of Police (CPD), managed the protests in Columbus from May 28 through July 19, 2020. The purpose of the research study was three-fold: document interactions between community members and law enforcement personnel as a part of the protests; evaluate the City of Columbus's preparation for and response to the protests; and generate research-informed recommendations about how to improve the performance of the City of Columbus in preparing for and responding to future protests.

Mixed and Hybrid Models of Public Service Delivery

This symposium presents research from different contexts to improve our collective understanding of a variety of aspects of mixed forms of service delivery, be they mixed contracting at the level of the market (which is more common in the U.S.), or mixed management and ownership at the level of the firm (which is more common in Europe). The articles included in this special symposium examine the factors that give rise to mixed forms of service delivery (e.g., economic and fiscal stress, regulatory flexibility, geography, management) and how these factors impact their design and operation. Articles also explore the performance of mixed forms of service delivery relative to more conventional arrangements like contracted or direct service delivery. The articles contribute to a better theoretical and conceptual understanding of mixed/hybrid forms of services delivery

Teaching with Digital 3D Models of Minerals and Rocks

The disruption to geoscience curricula due to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the difficulty of making mineral and rock samples accessible to students online rather than through traditional lab classes. In spring 2020, our community had to adapt rapidly to remote instruction; this transition amplified existing disparities in access to geoscience education but can be a catalyst to increase accessibility and flexibility in instruction permanently. Fortunately, a rich collection of 3D mineral and rock samples is being generated by a community of digital modelers (e.g., Perkins et al., 2019)

Managing the Risks of Contracting for Comples Contracts

Symposium Presentation (for Acquisition Research Program)Symposium PresentationNaval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research ProgramApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

A Bayesian non-linear method for feature selection in machine translation quality estimation

We perform a systematic analysis of the effectiveness of features for the problem of predicting the quality of machine translation (MT) at the sentence level. Starting from a comprehensive feature set, we apply a technique based on Gaussian processes, a Bayesian non-linear learning method, to automatically identify features leading to accurate model performance. We consider application to several datasets across different language pairs and text domains, with translations produced by various MT systems and scored for quality according to different evaluation criteria. We show that selecting features with this technique leads to significantly better performance in most datasets, as compared to using the complete feature sets or a state-of-the-art feature selection approach. In addition, we identify a small set of features which seem to perform well across most datasets

Myc Cooperates with Ras by Programming Inflammation and Immune Suppression.

The two oncogenes KRas and Myc cooperate to drive tumorigenesis, but the mechanism underlying this remains unclear. In a mouse lung model of KRasG12D-driven adenomas, we find that co-activation of Myc drives the immediate transition to highly proliferative and invasive adenocarcinomas marked by highly inflammatory, angiogenic, and immune-suppressed stroma. We identify epithelial-derived signaling molecules CCL9 and IL-23 as the principal instructing signals for stromal reprogramming. CCL9 mediates recruitment of macrophages, angiogenesis, and PD-L1-dependent expulsion of T and B cells. IL-23 orchestrates exclusion of adaptive T and B cells and innate immune NK cells. Co-blockade of both CCL9 and IL-23 abrogates Myc-induced tumor progression. Subsequent deactivation of Myc in established adenocarcinomas triggers immediate reversal of all stromal changes and tumor regression, which are independent of CD4+CD8+ T cells but substantially dependent on returning NK cells. We show that Myc extensively programs an immune suppressive stroma that is obligatory for tumor progression

Engineering bacteria to solve the Burnt Pancake Problem

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We investigated the possibility of executing DNA-based computation in living cells by engineering <it>Escherichia coli </it>to address a classic mathematical puzzle called the Burnt Pancake Problem (BPP). The BPP is solved by sorting a stack of distinct objects (pancakes) into proper order and orientation using the minimum number of manipulations. Each manipulation reverses the order and orientation of one or more adjacent objects in the stack. We have designed a system that uses site-specific DNA recombination to mediate inversions of genetic elements that represent pancakes within plasmid DNA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Inversions (or "flips") of the DNA fragment pancakes are driven by the <it>Salmonella typhimurium </it>Hin/<it>hix </it>DNA recombinase system that we reconstituted as a collection of modular genetic elements for use in <it>E. coli</it>. Our system sorts DNA segments by inversions to produce different permutations of a promoter and a tetracycline resistance coding region; <it>E. coli </it>cells become antibiotic resistant when the segments are properly sorted. Hin recombinase can mediate all possible inversion operations on adjacent flippable DNA fragments. Mathematical modeling predicts that the system reaches equilibrium after very few flips, where equal numbers of permutations are randomly sorted and unsorted. Semiquantitative PCR analysis of <it>in vivo </it>flipping suggests that inversion products accumulate on a time scale of hours or days rather than minutes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The Hin/<it>hix </it>system is a proof-of-concept demonstration of <it>in vivo </it>computation with the potential to be scaled up to accommodate larger and more challenging problems. Hin/<it>hix </it>may provide a flexible new tool for manipulating transgenic DNA <it>in vivo</it>.</p

Migratory shorebird adheres to Bergmann’s Rule by responding to environmental conditions through the annual lifecycle

The inverse relationship between body size and environmental temperature is a widespread ecogeographic pattern. However, the underlying forces that produce this pattern are unclear in many taxa. Expectations are particularly unclear for migratory species, as individuals may escape environmental extremes and reorient themselves along the environmental gradient. In addition, some aspects of body size are largely fixed while others are environmentally flexible and may vary seasonally. Here, we used a long-term dataset that tracked multiple populations of the migratory piping plover Charadrius melodus across their breeding and non-breeding ranges to investigate ecogeographic patterns of phenotypically flexible (body mass) and fixed (wing length) size traits in relation to latitude (Bergmann’s Rule), environmental temperature (heat conservation hypothesis), and migratory distance. We found that body mass was correlated with both latitude and temperature across the breeding and non-breeding ranges, which is consistent with predictions of Bergmann’s Rule and heat conservation. However, wing length was correlated with latitude and temperature only on the breeding range. This discrepancy resulted from low migratory connectivity across seasons and the tendency for individuals with longer wings to migrate farther than those with shorter wings. Ultimately, these results suggest that wing length may be driven more by conditions experienced during the breeding season or tradeoffs related to migration, whereas body mass is modified by environmental conditions experienced throughout the annual lifecycle