Expanding Capacity to Serve Multilingual Learners: A University-School District Partnership

In a time of new teacher certification requirements in New York, school districts are grappling with how to meet the regulatory expectations imposed by Commissioner’s Regulations Part 154. One way that schools are solving staffing challenges is by forging new collaborations with university partners to expand their collective capacities to serve Multilingual learners (MLLs). In this article, we document a partnership between SUNY New Paltz’s Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program and the Pawling Central School District during the 2017-18 academic year. We describe the partners’ distinct roles in the university-district collaboration, and discuss the logistical considerations and challenges they faced, with respect to program design, hybrid instruction, meeting certification requirements, and working with established university systems. We conclude by identifying components that ultimately made the partnership a success

A Triple-Mode Flexible E-Skin Sensor Interface for Multi-Purpose Wearable Applications

This study presents a flexible wireless electronic skin (e-skin) sensor system that includes a multi-functional sensor device, a triple-mode reconfigurable readout integrated circuit (ROIC), and a mobile monitoring interface. The e-skin device's multi-functionality is achieved by an interlocked micro-dome array structure that uses a polyvinylidene fluoride and reduced graphene oxide (PVDF/RGO) composite material that is inspired by the structure and functions of the human fingertip. For multi-functional implementation, the proposed triple-mode ROIC is reconfigured to support piezoelectric, piezoresistance, and pyroelectric interfaces through single-type e-skin sensor devices. A flexible system prototype was developed and experimentally verified to provide various wireless wearable sensing functions-including pulse wave, voice, chewing/swallowing, breathing, knee movements, and temperature-while their real-time sensed data are displayed on a smartphone

Microfabricated Otto chip device for surface plasmon resonance based optical sensing

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based sensors are usually designed using the Kretschmann prism coupling configuration in which an input beam couples with a surface plasmon through a thin metal film. This is generally preferred by sensor developers for building planar devices instead of the Otto prism coupling configuration, which, for efficient coupling, requires the metal surface to be maintained at a distance on the order of the wavelength from the input prism surface. In this paper, we report on the microfabrication and characterization of an Otto chip device, which is suitable for applications of the SPR effect in gas sensing and biosensing

Voigt Profile Fitting to Quasar Absorption Lines: An Analytic Approximation to the Voigt-Hjerting Function

The Voigt-Hjerting function is fundamental in order to correctly model the profiles of absorption lines imprinted in the spectra of bright background sources by intervening absorbing systems. In this work we present a simple analytic approximation to this function in the context of absorption line profiles of intergalactic HI absorbers. Using basic calculus tools, we derive an analytic expression for the Voigt-Hjerting function that contains only fourth order polynomial and Gaussian functions. In connection with the absorption coefficient of intergalactic neutral hydrogen, this approximation is suitable for modeling Voigt profiles with an accuracy of $10^{-4}$ or better for an arbitrary wavelength baseline, for column densities up to $N_{HI} = 10^{22} cm^{-2}$, and for damping parameters $a \lesssim 10^{-4}$, i.e. the entire range of parameters characteristic to all Lyman transitions arising in a variety of HI absorbing systems such as Lyman Alpha Forest clouds, Lyman Limit systems and Damped Lyman Alpha systems. We hence present an approximation to the Voigt-Hjerting function that is both accurate and flexible to implement in various types of programming languages and machines, and with which Voigt profiles can be calculated in a reliable and very simple manner.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS after referee's revision and corresponding change

A Deep Probe of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Functions at z~1-3 with the GOODS NICMOS Survey

We use a sample of 8298 galaxies observed in the HST GOODS NICMOS Survey (GNS) to construct the galaxy stellar mass function as a function of both redshift and stellar mass up to z=3.5 and down to masses of Mstar=10^8.5 Msun at z~1. We discover that a significant fraction of all massive Mstar>10^11 Msun galaxies are in place up to the highest redshifts we probe, with a decreasing fraction of lower mass galaxies present at all redshifts. This is an example of `galaxy mass downsizing', and is the result of massive galaxies forming before lower mass ones, and not just simply ending their star formation earlier as in traditional downsizing scenarios. We find that the faint end slope is significantly steeper than what is found in previous investigations. We demonstrate that this steeper mass function better matches the stellar mass added due to star formation, thereby alleviating some of the mismatch between these two measures of the evolution of galaxy mass. We furthermore examine the stellar mass function divided into blue/red systems, as well as for star forming and non-star forming galaxies. We find a similar mass downsizing present for both blue/red and star-forming/non-star forming galaxies, and that the low mass galaxies are mostly all blue, and are therefore creating the steep mass functions. We furthermore show that, although there is a downsizing such that high mass galaxies are nearer their z=0 values at high redshift, this turns over at masses Mstar~10^10 Msun, such that the lowest mass galaxies are more common than galaxies at slight higher masses, creating a `dip' in the observed galaxy mass function. We argue that the galaxy assembly process may be driven by different mechanisms at low and high masses, and that the efficiency of the galaxy formation process is lowest at masses Mstar~10^10 Msun at 1<z<3. (Abridged)Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, MNRAS, accepte

Meta‐analysis: oral anti‐viral agents in adults with decompensated hepatitis B virus cirrhosis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90203/1/apt4990.pd

Effects of Onion (Allium cepa L.) Extract Administration on Intestinal α-Glucosidases Activities and Spikes in Postprandial Blood Glucose Levels in SD Rats Model

Diets high in calories and sweetened foods with disaccharides frequently lead to exaggerated postprandial spikes in blood glucose. This state induces immediate oxidant stress and free radicals which trigger oxidative stress-linked diabetic complications. One of the therapeutic approaches for decreasing postprandial hyperglycemia is to retard absorption of glucose by the inhibition of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes, α-amylase and α-glucosidases, in the digestive organs. Therefore, the inhibitory activity of Korean onion (Allium cepa L.) extract against rat intestinal α-glucosidases, such as sucrase, maltase, and porcine pancreatic α-amylase were investigated in vitro and in vivo. The content of quercetin in ethyl alcohol extract of onion skin (EOS) was 6.04 g/100 g dried weight of onion skin. The in vitro half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of EOS and quercetin, a major phenolic in onion, on rat intestinal sucrase were 0.40 and 0.11 mg/mL, respectively. The postprandial blood glucose lowering effects of EOS and quercetin were compared to a known type 2 diabetes drug (Acarbose), a strong α-glucosidase inhibitor in the Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat model. In rats fed on sucrose, EOS significantly reduced the blood glucose spike after sucrose loading. The area under the blood glucose-time curve (AUClast) in EOS-treated SD rats (0.5 g-EOS/kg) was significantly lower than in untreated SD rats (259.6 ± 5.1 vs. 283.1 ± 19.2 h·mg/dL). The AUClast in quercetin-treated SD rats (0.5 g-quercetin/kg) was similar to in EOS-treated group (256.1 ± 3.2 vs. 259.6 ± 5.1 h·mg/dL). Results from this study indicates that although quercetin does have blood glucose lowering potential via α-glucosidase inhibition, there are other bioactive compounds present in onion skin. Furthermore, the effects of two weeks administration of EOS in a high carbohydrate-dietary mixture (Pico 5053) on sucrase and maltase activities in intestine were evaluated in SD rat model. Compared to the upper and middle parts of intestine, the activities of sucrase in the lower parts of intestine remained significantly higher after two weeks of EOS treatment. These results indicate that EOS may improve exaggerated postprandial spikes in blood glucose and glucose homeostasis since it inhibits intestinal sucrase and thus delays carbohydrate absorption, although clinical trials are needed

Identification of prostate-enriched proteins by in-depth proteomic analyses of expressed prostatic secretions in urine

Urinary expressed prostatic secretion or \u201cEPS-urine\u201d is proximal tissue fluid that is collected after a digital rectal exam (DRE). EPS-urine is a rich source of prostatederived proteins that can be used for biomarker discovery for prostate cancer (PCa) and other prostatic diseases. We previously conducted a comprehensive proteome analysis of direct expressed prostatic secretions (EPS). In the current study, we defined the proteome of EPS-urine employing Multidimensional Protein Identification Technology (MudPIT) and providing a comprehensive catalogue of this body fluid for future biomarker studies. We identified 1022 unique proteins in a heterogeneous cohort of 11 EPS-urines derived from biopsy negative noncancer diagnoses with some benign prostatic diseases (BPH) and lowgrade PCa, representative of secreted prostate and immune system-derived proteins in a urine background. We further applied MudPIT-based proteomics to generate and compare the differential proteome from a subset of pooled urines (pre-DRE) and EPS-urines (post- DRE) from noncancer and PCa patients. The direct proteomic comparison of these highly controlled patient sample pools enabled us to define a list of prostate-enriched proteins detectable in EPS-urine and distinguishable from a complex urine protein background. A combinatorial analysis of both proteomics data sets and systematic integration with publicly available proteomics data of related body fluids, human tissue transcriptomic data, and immunohistochemistry images from the Human Protein Atlas database allowed us to demarcate a robust panel of 49 prostate-derived proteins in EPS-urine. Finally, we validated the expression of seven of these proteins using Western blotting, supporting the likelihood that they originate from the prostate. The definition of these prostatic proteins in EPS-urine samples provides a reference for future investigations for prostatic-disease biomarker studies