Practice Report

The University of Massachusetts (UMass) STEM Education Institute and the UMass School of Education hosted a National Science Foundation funded conference entitled “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math—Alternative Certification for Teachers” (STEM-ACT) in Arlington, Virginia on May 5-7, 2006. This “practice” white paper summarizes issues presented at the conference that are of importance for providers of alternative certification (AC) for science teachers, highlights what we know so far about effective alternative certification programs, and discusses what we still need to know through future rigorous research on AC programs for science teachers. This paper also provides guidelines for assessment of alternative certification programs for science teachers. Two similar papers have been prepared for academic researchers and policy makers

Policy Report

The University of Massachusetts (UMass) STEM Education Institute and the UMass School of Education hosted a National Science Foundation funded conference entitled “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math—Alternative Certification for Teachers” (STEM-ACT) in Arlington, Virginia on May 5-7, 2006. This white paper summarizes issues presented at the conference that are of importance to policy makers on alternative certification (AC). It focuses on issues concerning science teachers, analyzing the nature and scope of the policy endeavor as a solution to current and projected teacher shortages, and discussing the implications of AC policies on teacher supply and demand and on teacher turnover. Two similar papers have been prepared for academic researchers and AC program provider

Simultaneously Transmitting and Reflecting Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces Empowered Cooperative Rate Splitting with User Relaying

In this work, we unveil the advantages of synergizing cooperative rate splitting (CRS) with user relaying and simultaneously transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surface (STAR RIS). Specifically, we propose a novel STAR RIS-assisted CRS transmission framework, featuring six unique transmission modes that leverage various combination of the relaying protocols (including full duplex-FD and half duplex-HD) and the STAR RIS configuration protocols (including energy splitting-ES, mode switching-MS, and time splitting-TS). With the objective of maximizing the minimum user rate, we then propose a unified successive convex approximation (SCA)-based alternative optimization (AO) algorithm to jointly optimize the transmit active beamforming, common rate allocation, STAR RIS passive beamforming, as well as time allocation (for HD or TS protocols) subject to the transmit power constraint at the base station (BS) and the law of energy conservation at the STAR RIS. To alleviate the computational burden, we further propose a low-complexity algorithm that incorporates a closed-form passive beamforming design. Numerical results show that our proposed framework significantly enhances user fairness compared with conventional CRS schemes without STAR RIS or other STAR RIS empowered multiple access schemes. Moreover, the proposed low-complexity algorithm dramatically reduces the computational complexity while achieving very close performance to the AO method

Executive Summary

A National Science Foundation funded conference entitled, “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – Alternative Certification for Teachers” (STEM-ACT) was held in May, 2006 in Arlington, VA. The conference was designed to facilitate a significant exchange of information, which was then synthesized to produce white papers on the three threads of the conference, i.e., policy, practice, and research. This summary presents the highlights of the three white papers

Clinical and Biological Implications of Mutational Spectrum in Acute Myeloid Leukemia of FAB Subtypes M0 and M1

Background/Aims: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) of French-American-British (FAB) subtypes M0 and M1 are both poorly differentiated AML, but their mutational spectrum and molecular characteristics remain unknown. This study aimed to explore the mutational spectrum and prognostic factors of AML-M0 and M1. Methods: Sixty-five AML patients derived from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were enrolled in this study. Whole-genome sequencing was performed to depict the mutational spectrum of each patient. Clinical characteristics at diagnosis, including peripheral blood (PB) white blood cell counts (WBC), blast percentages in PB and bone marrow (BM), FAB subtypes and the frequencies of known recurrent genetic mutations were described. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier methods and log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were constructed procedure. Results: Forty-six patients had more than five recurrent genetic mutations. FLT3 had the highest mutation frequency (n=20, 31%), followed by NPM1 (n=18, 28%), DNMT3A (n=16, 25%), IDH1 (n=14, 22%), IDH2 (n=12, 18%), RUNX1 (n=11, 17%) and TET2 (n=7, 11%). Univariate analysis showed that age >= 60 years and TP53 mutations had adverse effect on EFS (P=0.015, P=0.036, respectively) and OS (P=0.003, P=0.004, respectively), WBC count >= 50x10(9)/L and FLT3-ITD negatively affected EFS (P=0.003, P=0.034, respectively), whereas NPM1 mutations had favorable effect on OS (P=0.035) and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) on EFS and OS (all P= 50x10(9)/L was an independent risk factor for EFS (P=0.002) and TP53 mutations for OS (P=0.043). Conclusions: Our study provided new insights into the mutational spectrum and molecular signatures of AML-M0 and M1. We proposed that FLT3-ITD, NPM1 and TP53 be identified as markers for risk stratification of AML-M0 and M1. Patients with AML-M0 and M1 would likely benefit from allo-HSCT. (C) 2018 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Base

Technical note: assessing GPS sensor accuracy using real-time kinematic device for livestock tracking

The technical aspects of global positioning system (GPS) sensors have been improved substantially over the years, making them valuable and popular tools for livestock tracking. Using GPS sensors allows producers and researchers to locate grazing livestock, monitor their behavior and distribution, and gather referencing information about the health status of the animals and pastures. However, interpreting the behavior of grazing livestock, such as cattle, from GPS data can be difficult due to positioning inaccuracies. Without knowing the positioning accuracy range of GPS sensors, achieving high-level confidence in determining grazing densities and identifying abnormal livestock movement patterns is challenging. In this study, the positioning accuracy of 3 different types of commercial GPS sensors was assessed using a survey-grade realtime kinematics (RTK) device. We outlined the procedures and essential equations and compared the recorded locations from the GPS sensors with reference locations collected from the RTK device. The results demonstrated statistically significant differences (P \u3c 0.05) in positioning accuracy between different types of GPS sensors. The circular error probable (CEP) at 95% probability levels (CEP95) of the 3 sensors ranged from 2.46 to 11.06 m. This accuracy varied among individual sensors within the same brand and across different brands, which underscores the importance of evaluating the positioning accuracy of GPS sensors in livestock tracking. This study provides significant insights for animal scientists, ecologists, and livestock producers engaged in GPS sensor-related research and practices

Antitumor effect of a pyrazolone-based complex [Cu(PMPP-SAL)(EtOH)] against murine melanoma B16 cell in vitro and in vivo

Pyrazolone-based derivative metal complexes were reported to have cytotoxicity in some tumor cells. In this study, the antitumor effect of [Cu(PMPP-SAL)(EtOH)] (PMPP-SAL = N-(1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-propenylidene-5-pyrazolone)-salicylidene hydrazide anion) in murine melanoma B16 cells in vitro and in vivo was investigated. The result showed that [Cu(PMPP-SAL)(EtOH)] inhibited the survival of B16 cells in vitro, and the IC50 value was superior to cisplatin (DDP) (p < 0.001). B16 cell apoptosis was significantly higher in comparison to the control group (DMSO) (p < 0.01), and cell cycle arrest occurred at the G0/G1 phase. When challenged C57 BL/6J mice were treated with [Cu(PMPP-SAL)(EtOH)], a smaller volume of B16 solid tumors were reported than the control group (p < 0.01), with lower positive expression indices of CD 34, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) (p < 0.01). Moreover, the tumor growth was suppressed in mice due to the induction of apoptosis, as detected by the TUNEL assay (p < 0.001). In summary, [Cu(PMPP-SAL)(EtOH)] effectively inhibited the growth of B16 cells in vitro and in vivo due to the induction of apoptosis and the inhibition of intra-tumoral angiogenesis, demonstrating its therapeutic potential in melanoma treatment