3,500 research outputs found
Advancing Culturally Responsive Evaluations for Boys and Men of Color
The field of culturally responsive evaluations (CRE) and comprehensive efforts to improve outcomes for boys and men of color (BMOC) are in their infancy. Yet attention to the development of the knowledge base and expansion of practice is needed due to the groundswell of interest in both areas in recent years. For instance, in 2014, President Obama established the My Brother's Keeper (MBK) Task Force. MBK is a coordinated federal effort with private philanthropic organizations and communities to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by BMOC and to ensure that all young people can reach their full potential. While BMOCs are the targets of many social programs and interventions, a dearth of high-quality culturally responsive evaluations exist on the effectiveness of various gender- and population-specific approaches for BMOCs to achieve measurable results
Evaluation of the Community Leadership Project 2.0: Midpoint Report
The Community Leadership Project (CLP) is a collaborative effort between the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to build the capacity of small, community-based organizations (community grantees) serving lowincome people and communities of color in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Coast, and the San Joaquin Valley regions of California. Now in its second phase, CLP 2.0 is specifically investing in increasing the sustainability of nearly 60 community-based organizations by focusing on common outcomes in three areas: resilient leadership, adaptive capacity, and financial stability. CLP 2.0 is characterized by integrated and intensive support for community grantees in the form of multi-year general operating support, selfdirected capacity building, coaching and mentoring, and a structured menu of leadership development and technical assistance options. These supports and opportunities are provided through partnerships with five regranting intermediaries and five technical assistance (TA)/leadership intermediaries
Modulation of autocrine TNF-α-stimulated matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) expression by mitogenactivated protein kinases in THP-1 monocytic cells
Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is implicated in various physiological processes by its ability to degrade the extracellular matrix (ECM) and process multiple regulatory proteins. Normally, MMP-9 expression is tightly controlled in cells. Sustained or enhanced MMP-9 secretion, however, has been demonstrated to contribute to the pathophysiology of numerous diseases, including arthritis and tumor progression, rendering this enzyme a major target for clinical interventions. Here we show that constitutive MMP-9 secretion was abrogated in THP-1 monocytic leukemia cells by addition of neutralizing antibodies against tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) or TNF receptor type 1 (TNF-R1), as well as by inhibition of TNF-α converting enzyme (TACE). This indicates that MMP-9 production in these cells is maintained by autocrine stimulation, with TNF-α acting via TNF-R1. To investigate the intracellular signaling routes involved in MMP-9 gene transcription, cells were treated with different inhibitors of major mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. Interruption of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway 1/2 (ERK1/2) using PD98059 significantly downregulated constitutive MMP-9 release. In contrast, blockage of p38 kinase activity by addition of SB203580 or SB202190, as well as inhibition of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) using L-JNK-I1, clearly augmented MMP-9 expression and secretion by an upregulation of ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Moreover, exogenously added TNF-α augmented MMP-9 synthesis and secretion in THP-1 cells via enhancement of ERK1/2 activity. Taken together, our results indicate that ERK1/2 activity plays a pivotal role in TNF-α-induced MMP-9 production and demonstrate its negative modulation by p38 and JNK activity. These findings suggest ERK1/2 rather than p38 and JNK as a reasonable target to specifically block MMP-9 expression using MAPK inhibitors in therapeutic applications
Building Capacity Through a Regranting Strategy: Promising Approaches and Emerging Outcomes
This is an evaluation report on the Community Leadership Project (CLP) in which 27 well-established intermediary organizations--community foundations, grantmaking public charities, and funder affinity groups--regrant to smaller organizations to provide financial support and tailored organizational assistance and coaching to small to mid-size organizations; technical assistance; and leadership development.The evaluation is interested in understanding not only the impact of CLP on leaders, organizations, intermediaries, and foundation partners, but also the key lessons on: (1) reaching and providing capacity-building supports to organizations and leaders serving low-income communities and communities of color; (2) characteristics of effective, culturally relevant, and community-responsive capacity building; and (3) which kinds of capacity-building supports are most effective for small and mid-sized organizations serving low-income communities and communitiesof color
Bottom-Up Approach to Moduli Dynamics in Heavy Gravitino Scenario : Superpotential, Soft Terms and Sparticle Mass Spectrum
The physics of moduli fields is examined in the scenario where the gravitino
is relatively heavy with mass of order 10 TeV, which is favored in view of the
severe gravitino problem. The form of the moduli superpotential is shown to be
determined, if one imposes a phenomenological requirement that no physical CP
phase arise in gaugino masses from conformal anomaly mediation. This bottom-up
approach allows only two types of superpotential, each of which can have its
origins in a fundamental underlying theory such as superstring. One
superpotential is the sum of an exponential and a constant, which is identical
to that obtained by Kachru et al (KKLT), and the other is the racetrack
superpotential with two exponentials. The general form of soft supersymmetry
breaking masses is derived, and the pattern of the superparticle mass spectrum
in the minimal supersymmetric standard model is discussed with the KKLT-type
superpotential. It is shown that the moduli mediation and the anomaly mediation
make comparable contributions to the soft masses. At the weak scale, the
gaugino masses are rather degenerate compared to the minimal supergravity,
which bring characteristic features on the superparticle masses. In particular,
the lightest neutralino, which often constitutes the lightest superparticle and
thus a dark matter candidate, is a considerable admixture of gauginos and
higgsinos. We also find a small mass hierarchy among the moduli, gravitino, and
superpartners of the standard-model fields. Cosmological implications of the
scenario are briefly described.Comment: 45 pages, 10 figures, typos correcte
Histological development of stapes footplate in human embryos.
Normal development of the human stapes footplate was investigated in serial sections by light microscopy. Materials were obtained from 35 Japanese embryos from the 6th to 32nd week of embryonal age. Eighteen embryos up to 16 weeks of age (3.5mm to 105mm in crown-rump length) were examined, focusing particularly on the lamina stapedialis of the otic capsule. The present study showed that primordial formation of the lamina stapedialis appeared in 16mm embryo and that the lamina was completely formed and fused to the base of the annular stapes in a 35mm embryo. In a 50mm embryo, the adult form of stapes was found with a rim and annular ligament. The results, therefore, seemed to essentially agree with the theory of dual origin and development of the footplate proposed by Cauldwell and Anson, and teratogenic agents might affect any stage of the process producing anomalies,</p
Polynomial Method for PLL Controller Optimization†
The Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) is a key component of modern electronic communication and control systems. PLL is designed to extract signals from transmission channels. It plays an important role in systems where it is required to estimate the phase of a received signal, such as carrier tracking from global positioning system satellites. In order to robustly provide centimeter-level accuracy, it is crucial for the PLL to estimate the instantaneous phase of an incoming signal which is usually buried in random noise or some type of interference. This paper presents an approach that utilizes the recent development in the semi-definite programming and sum-of-squares field. A Lyapunov function will be searched as the certificate of the pull-in range of the PLL system. Moreover, a polynomial design procedure is proposed to further refine the controller parameters for system response away from the equilibrium point. Several simulation results as well as an experiment result are provided to show the effectiveness of this approach
Marine Algae from Hirota Bay on the Pacific Coast of Northeastern Honshu, Japan(Applied Aquatic Bio-Sciences Marine Plant Ecology)
Monthly collection of marine algae from the intertidal to subtidal zones in Hirota Bay (38°56\u27 N, 141°42\u27 E) on the Pacific coast of northeastern Honshu, Japan, was carried out from August 2005 to July 2006. A total of 95 species were listed, 12 of which belong to Chlorophyta, 24 to Phaeophyta, 58 to Rhodophyta, and one to sea grass. In these algae, the 10 species, Urospora penicilliformis, Pachydictyon coriaceum, Chordaria flagelliformis, Myagropsis myagroides, Bangia gloiopeltidicola, Lithophyllum okamurae, Titanoderma tumidulum, Chondracanthus tenellus, Polysiphonia abscissa and P. sphaerocarpa, were newly recorded to the marine algae from the coasts adjacent to Hirota Bay. The floral index of I/H value in Hirota Bay was 1.1, suggesting that the marine algal flora in Hirota Bay belongs to the typical subarctic zone
- …