New York State Teacher Salary Report

Teachers are central to the success of any education system and the salaries paid to teachers are among the most important issues for both school districts and the unions that represent teachers. For school districts, teacher salaries are a major com- ponent of district budgets. Teacher salary levels are also a crucial factor in attracting and retaining quality educators. This report presents data on teacher salary levels based on teacher contracts throughout New York State. In addition to reporting overall statewide salary levels, it also documents the wide variation in teacher salary levels across New York State. This New York State Teacher Salary Report was prepared by the Bargaining for Better Schools (BBS) project, which is an initiative of the ILR School at Cornell University through the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution and the Worker Institute. The data provided in this report comes from an analysis of the teacher contracts from every school district in the State of New York. The database of information came from two sources, both of which are publicly available on websites: DigitalCommons at ILR and SeeThroughNY, each of which contain the full text of teacher contracts, i.e. collective bargaining agreements and asso- ciated memoranda of understanding. The most recent contract from either website was selected for inclusion in this data

Segregation of Anhydrite in Sintered Naturally Occurring Rock Salt

This study examines the sintering of naturally occurring rock salt in dependence of pressure and temperature as is desired for storage and other applications in saline environments where rock salt is thermodynamically stable and shows a mechanical behavior compatible to the surrounding host material. Rock salt consists mainly of sodium chloride with small impurities of less soluble compounds such as anhydrite, CaSO4 . A special interest in the sintering process of naturally occurring rock salt is the segregation of anhydrite to the grain boundaries between individual sodium chloride crystals. Our study has shown that sintering naturally occurring rock salt at different pressures will influence the segregation of anhydrite. Experiments support a greater segregation of anhydrite resulting from an increased pressure treatment. As the solubility of anhydrite is less than sodium chloride, the sintered samples of naturally occurring rock salt show greater stability towards dissolution than pure sodium chloride

ENIGMA-anxiety working group : Rationale for and organization of large-scale neuroimaging studies of anxiety disorders

Altres ajuts: Anxiety Disorders Research Network European College of Neuropsychopharmacology; Claude Leon Postdoctoral Fellowship; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation, 44541416-TRR58); EU7th Frame Work Marie Curie Actions International Staff Exchange Scheme grant 'European and South African Research Network in Anxiety Disorders' (EUSARNAD); Geestkracht programme of the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, 10-000-1002); Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) program within the National Institute of Mental Health under the Intramural Research Program (NIMH-IRP, MH002781); National Institute of Mental Health under the Intramural Research Program (NIMH-IRP, ZIA-MH-002782); SA Medical Research Council; U.S. National Institutes of Health grants (P01 AG026572, P01 AG055367, P41 EB015922, R01 AG060610, R56 AG058854, RF1 AG051710, U54 EB020403).Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and disabling but seem particularly tractable to investigation with translational neuroscience methodologies. Neuroimaging has informed our understanding of the neurobiology of anxiety disorders, but research has been limited by small sample sizes and low statistical power, as well as heterogenous imaging methodology. The ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group has brought together researchers from around the world, in a harmonized and coordinated effort to address these challenges and generate more robust and reproducible findings. This paper elaborates on the concepts and methods informing the work of the working group to date, and describes the initial approach of the four subgroups studying generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. At present, the ENIGMA-Anxiety database contains information about more than 100 unique samples, from 16 countries and 59 institutes. Future directions include examining additional imaging modalities, integrating imaging and genetic data, and collaborating with other ENIGMA working groups. The ENIGMA consortium creates synergy at the intersection of global mental health and clinical neuroscience, and the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group extends the promise of this approach to neuroimaging research on anxiety disorders

ITIH5 and ECRG4 DNA Methylation Biomarker Test (EI-BLA) for Urine-Based Non-Invasive Detection of Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer is one of the more common malignancies in humans and the most expensive tumor for treating in the Unites States (US) and Europe due to the need for lifelong surveillance. Non-invasive tests approved by the FDA have not been widely adopted in routine diagnosis so far. Therefore, we aimed to characterize the two putative tumor suppressor genes ECRG4 and ITIH5 as novel urinary DNA methylation biomarkers that are suitable for non-invasive detection of bladder cancer. While assessing the analytical performance, a spiking experiment was performed by determining the limit of RT112 tumor cell detection (range: 100-10,000 cells) in the urine of healthy donors in dependency of the processing protocols of the RWTH cBMB. Clinically, urine sediments of 474 patients were analyzed by using quantitative methylation-specific PCR (qMSP) and Methylation Sensitive Restriction Enzyme (MSRE) qPCR techniques. Overall, ECRG4-ITIH5 showed a sensitivity of 64% to 70% with a specificity ranging between 80% and 92%, i.e., discriminating healthy, benign lesions, and/or inflammatory diseases from bladder tumors. When comparing single biomarkers, ECRG4 achieved a sensitivity of 73%, which was increased by combination with the known biomarker candidate NID2 up to 76% at a specificity of 97%. Hence, ITIH5 and, in particular, ECRG4 might be promising candidates for further optimizing current bladder cancer biomarker panels and platforms

Spiritualität@Digitalität. Spirituell-theologische Wahrnehmungen der digitalen Medien

Ähnlich wie die Erfindung des Buchdrucks wird die „digitale Revolution“, das deutet sich schon im Namen an, als umfassender Paradigmenwechsel für die Gesellschaft angesehen. Dabei umfasst Digitalisierung eine Vielzahl von Prozessen, die alle Lebensbereiche erfassen: Wirtschaft und Verkehr, Landwirtschaft und Ernährung, Gesundheit und Freizeit, Politik, Kunst und Kommunikation. Digitale Medien verändern Beziehungen, Formen der Vergemeinschaftung und das Selbstverständnis von Individuen – und mit diesen nicht zuletzt das Verständnis und die Praxis von Spiritualität. Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft Theologie der Spiritualität hat sich in ihrer Jahrestagung 2018 unter dem Titel „Spiritualität@Digitalität“ der Aufgabe gestellt, das spannungsreiche Feld zwischen Spiritualität und digitalen Medien zu beleuchten. Welche Möglichkeiten, Chancen und Inspirationen, aber auch welche Grenzen, Gefahren und Verführungen bedeuten digitale Medien für die Spiritualität? Inwiefern verändern sich in einer digitalisierten Welt geistliche Beziehungen, Prozesse und Methoden? Welche Auswirkungen hat die Bewegung im virtuellen Raum auf spirituelle Identitäten und Profile? Diese und andere Fragen wurden auf der Tagung aus den Perspektiven verschiedener theologischer Fächer verhandelt

Spiritualität@Digitalität. Spirituell-theologische Wahrnehmungen der digitalen Medien

Ähnlich wie die Erfindung des Buchdrucks wird die „digitale Revolution“, das deutet sich schon im Namen an, als umfassender Paradigmenwechsel für die Gesellschaft angesehen. Dabei umfasst Digitalisierung eine Vielzahl von Prozessen, die alle Lebensbereiche erfassen: Wirtschaft und Verkehr, Landwirtschaft und Ernährung, Gesundheit und Freizeit, Politik, Kunst und Kommunikation. Digitale Medien verändern Beziehungen, Formen der Vergemeinschaftung und das Selbstverständnis von Individuen – und mit diesen nicht zuletzt das Verständnis und die Praxis von Spiritualität. Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft Theologie der Spiritualität hat sich in ihrer Jahrestagung 2018 unter dem Titel „Spiritualität@Digitalität“ der Aufgabe gestellt, das spannungsreiche Feld zwischen Spiritualität und digitalen Medien zu beleuchten. Welche Möglichkeiten, Chancen und Inspirationen, aber auch welche Grenzen, Gefahren und Verführungen bedeuten digitale Medien für die Spiritualität? Inwiefern verändern sich in einer digitalisierten Welt geistliche Beziehungen, Prozesse und Methoden? Welche Auswirkungen hat die Bewegung im virtuellen Raum auf spirituelle Identitäten und Profile? Diese und andere Fragen wurden auf der Tagung aus den Perspektiven verschiedener theologischer Fächer verhandelt

From the exposome to mechanistic understanding of chemical-induced adverse effects

The exposome encompasses an individual's exposure to exogenous chemicals, as well as endogenous chemicals that are produced or altered in response to external stressors. While the exposome concept has been established for human health, its principles can be extended to include broader ecological issues. The assessment of exposure is tightly interlinked with hazard assessment. Here, we explore if mechanistic understanding of the causal links between exposure and adverse effects on human health and the environment can be improved by integrating the exposome approach with the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) concept that structures and organizes the sequence of biological events from an initial molecular interaction of a chemical with a biological target to an adverse outcome. Complementing exposome research with the AOP concept may facilitate a mechanistic understanding of stress-induced adverse effects, examine the relative contributions from various components of the exposome, determine the primary risk drivers in complex mixtures, and promote an integrative assessment of chemical risks for both human and environmental health