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"Briggs, Jason"
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Python for kids : a playful introduction to programming
\"Python for Kids brings Python to life and brings you (and your parents) into the world of programming. The ever-patient Jason R. Briggs will guide you through the basics as you experiment with unique (and often hilarious) example programs that feature ravenous monsters, secret agents, thieving ravens, and more.\"--Amazon.com.
Book
A genome-wide association scan of nonsynonymous SNPs identifies a susceptibility variant for Crohn disease in ATG16L1
We performed a genome-wide association study of 19,779 nonsynonymous SNPs in 735 individuals with Crohn disease and 368 controls. A total of 7,159 of these SNPs were informative. We followed up on all 72 SNPs with
P
≤ 0.01 with an allele-based disease association test in 380 independent Crohn disease trios, 498 Crohn disease singleton cases and 1,032 controls. Disease association of rs2241880 in the autophagy-related 16-like 1 gene (
ATG16L1
) was replicated in these samples (
P
= 4.0 × 10
−8
) and confirmed in a UK case-control sample (
P
= 0.0004). By haplotype and regression analysis, we found that marker rs2241880, a coding SNP (T300A), carries virtually all the disease risk exerted by the
ATG16L1
locus. The
ATG16L1
gene encodes a protein in the autophagosome pathway that processes intracellular bacteria. We found a statistically significant interaction with respect to Crohn disease risk between rs2241880 and the established
CARD15
susceptibility variants (
P
= 0.039). Together with the lack of association between rs2241880 and ulcerative colitis (
P
> 0.4), these data suggest that the underlying biological process may be specific to Crohn disease.
Journal Article
A quantitative study of the percentage of variance in student Terra Nova Assessment scores accounted for by the variance in school size and per pupil expenditure in Catholic elementary schools
The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effect, if any, that school size and per pupil expenditure have on student achievement in Catholic elementary schools within a particular diocese. As decisions are made regarding the future viability and sustainability of Catholic schools, it is prudent to examine the relationship between the size of student populations and the per pupil expenditure in Catholic schools and student achievement in these schools. The research question for this study was, \"What is the percentage of variance in student Terra Nova Assessment scores accounted for by the variance in school size and per pupil expenditure?\" This study examined the five year period from 2008-2012. Terra Nova Assessment score data from 36 elementary schools in the diocese under study was used as the measure of student achievement in this study. The student score data examined was from students in grades 2 through 7. This study utilized correlation analysis to test the strength of the linear relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable, and when a significant correlation was discovered for a particular case, regression analysis was then employed to further examine the relationship. The findings of this study support the assertion that the percentage of variance in student Terra Nova Assessment scores that is accounted for by school size and per pupil expenditure in the diocese under study is not at a level that makes the effect practical for decision making regarding the future of Catholic education in the diocese under study. School size and per pupil expenditure may be major factors when making decisions about the viability of Catholic schools in the diocese under study for other reasons aside from the level of student achievement, and the findings of this study suggest that such decisions that use school size and per pupil expenditure as factors can be made without major concern for the effect on student achievement.
Dissertation
Learning to listen: The collaboration and art of the SITI Company
This dissertation focuses on the SITI Company, and its place within American theatre history, using the company's mission---creating new work, training young theatre artists, and international collaboration---as a basis for exploring multiple historical contexts within which SITI can be situated. This dissertation looks at Artaud, Brecht, and Copeau as early 20th Century examples of theatre artists significantly influenced by Asian performance techniques. Artaud, Brecht, and Copeau helped establish the use of movement as a communicative device, de-emphasizing the written/spoken. The Wooster Group, Théâtre du Soleil, and Complicité are presented as late 20th Century examples of collaborative theatre companies which create new works. These three companies draw on the theories and practices of Artaud, Brecht, and/or Copeau, creating performances where the actors' movement assumes as important a place in performance as text. When addressing SITI's unique actor-training (the Viewpoints Training and the Suzuki Method) this dissertation not only offers an overview of the actor-training and their underlying philosophies, emphasizing those techniques that support their collaborative process, but also provides a context for physical actor-training by looking at Meyerhold, Decroux, and Grotowski. All three developed their own system for training actors that stresses physical training. This dissertation provides biographical background on the Company's founders, Bogart and Suzuki, looking at the key events that influenced their careers and development as artists. This dissertation also reviews the principle published writings by Bogart and Suzuki, identifying key ideas that shape SITI. Finally, this dissertation examines the SITI Company's creative process that eschews the hierarchies found in traditional theatre, by looking at four performances and how they were created (Bob, Room, Score, and Death and the Ploughman) and providing examples of how SITI's training lends itself towards developing choreographic movement. While there are other examples of theatre companies that take a collective approach to their work, SITI's process makes a unique contribution to the theatre world because SITI's work is grounded in its unique actor-training.
Dissertation
The phase behavior of hydrated monoacylglycerols and the design of an x-ray compatible scanning calorimeter
The purpose of this research project was to identify relationships between the molecular structure of lipid molecules and the phase behavior of these hydrated materials. When dispersed in water, amphiphilic lipids often aggregate into liquid crystalline phases. Because of their well-ordered nature, the various mesophases can be identified and characterized structurally using x-ray diffraction. Temperature-composition phase diagrams were constructed for a series of structurally similar lipid molecules in the temperature range 0$\\sp\\circ$C to ca. 105$\\sp\\circ$C and the hydration range 0% to ca. 60% (w/w) water. The specific molecules investigated were monoacylglycerols of varying hydrocarbon chain length from 14 to 18 carbon atoms. A single cis double bond is located at the 9 or 10 position in the chain for the even and odd numbered chains, respectively. Several liquid crystalline phases were identified in these lipid/water systems at various temperatures and hydration values including lamellar, hexagonal, and cubic mesophases. Lengthening the hydrocarbon chain led to an increased stability of the non-lamellar (cubic and hexagonal) phases with respect to the lamellar phases. This was correlated with a quantifiable increase in the spontaneous monolayer curvature, an important energetic term associated with the stability of mesophases with having interfaces, and with a decrease in the diameter of the water channels that permeate the fully hydrated cubic phases. The ability to control pore size is of interest to researchers studying controlled release properties of various media or to those using lipid mesophase structures as templates for constructing molecular sieves and/or catalysts. Several other mesophase structure parameters were measured as a function of temperature, hydration and lipid structure. Also presented in this Thesis is a progress report on the design of a differential scanning calorimeter that is compatible with x-ray diffraction measurements. The goal was to build a device that has sufficient sensitivity to measure lipid phase transitions at the low temperature scan rates required when using conventional x-ray sources. The prototype has been successful in measuring certain lipid phase transitions both calorimetrically and with x-ray diffraction simultaneously on the same sample.
Dissertation
J2ME: The next major games platform?; Is J2ME feasible as a high-end games platform for mobile devices?
Actually, J2ME did not just suddenly appear; PersonalJava has been around for quite some time and is currently up to 1.2. However, J2ME represents a fairly strong commitment from Sun to the embedded/ mobile market, and it now seems that the market is finally taking notice, judging by the number of forthcoming products being developed to support Java in one form or another. Note that J2ME includes PersonalJava, EmbeddedJava, and the new Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP). So if not MIDP, what about PersonalJava? PersonalJava has been around much longer than MIDP and supports a larger subset of the standard JDK, which means that working with raw pixel data is quite simple. In addition, specifications have been accepted for development in the Java Community Process that more tightly integrate PersonalJava into the J2ME framework: the PDA Profile for J2ME and the Personal Profile Specification.
Magazine Article
Structures of virus-like capsids formed by the Drosophila neuronal Arc proteins
Arc, a neuronal gene that is critical for synaptic plasticity, originated through the domestication of retrotransposon Gag genes and mediates intercellular messenger RNA transfer. We report high-resolution structures of retrovirus-like capsids formed by Drosophila dArc1 and dArc2 that have surface spikes and putative internal RNA-binding domains. These data demonstrate that virus-like capsid-forming properties of Arc are evolutionarily conserved and provide a structural basis for understanding their function in intercellular communication.Arc, a master regulator of synaptic plasticity, can mediate intercellular RNA transfer. Arc evolved from retrotransposon genes. Erlendsson et al. present structures of retroviral-like Arc capsids as a basis to understand their function.
Journal Article
All-dielectric metasurface analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency
Metasurface analogues of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) have been a focus of the nanophotonics field in recent years, due to their ability to produce high-quality factor (Q-factor) resonances. Such resonances are expected to be useful for applications such as low-loss slow-light devices and highly sensitive optical sensors. However, ohmic losses limit the achievable Q-factors in conventional plasmonic EIT metasurfaces to values <~10, significantly hampering device performance. Here we experimentally demonstrate a classical analogue of EIT using all-dielectric silicon-based metasurfaces. Due to extremely low absorption loss and coherent interaction of neighbouring meta-atoms, a Q-factor of 483 is observed, leading to a refractive index sensor with a figure-of-merit of 103. Furthermore, we show that the dielectric metasurfaces can be engineered to confine the optical field in either the silicon resonator or the environment, allowing one to tailor light–matter interaction at the nanoscale.
Electromagnetically induced transparency—an effect in atomic physics caused by interference between transitions—has found analogues in other areas, like nanophotonics. Yang
et al
. exploit this effect in an all-dielectric metasurface to produce high-Q-factor resonances ideal for refractive index sensing.
Journal Article
Realization of an all-dielectric zero-index optical metamaterial
Metamaterials offer unprecedented flexibility for manipulating the optical properties of matter, including the ability to access negative index
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
, ultrahigh index
5
and chiral optical properties
6
,
7
,
8
. Recently, metamaterials with near-zero refractive index have attracted much attention
9
,
10
,
11
,
12
,
13
. Light inside such materials experiences no spatial phase change and extremely large phase velocity, properties that can be applied for realizing directional emission
14
,
15
,
16
, tunnelling waveguides
17
, large-area single-mode devices
18
and electromagnetic cloaks
19
. However, at optical frequencies, the previously demonstrated zero- or negative-refractive-index metamaterials have required the use of metallic inclusions, leading to large ohmic loss, a serious impediment to device applications
20
,
21
. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an impedance-matched zero-index metamaterial at optical frequencies based on purely dielectric constituents. Formed from stacked silicon-rod unit cells, the metamaterial has a nearly isotropic low-index response for transverse-magnetic polarized light, leading to angular selectivity of transmission and directive emission from quantum dots placed within the material.
Previously demonstrated zero- or negative-refractive-index metamaterials at optical frequencies suffer from large ohmic losses because of the need to use metals. Metamaterials formed by stacked silicon rod unit cells allow the realization of all-dielectric impedance-matched zero-index metamaterials operating at optical frequencies, potentially benefiting the development of angular-selective optical devices.
Journal Article
Quantitative and stoichiometric analysis of the microRNA content of exosomes
Exosomes have been proposed as vehicles for microRNA (miRNA) -based intercellular communication and a source of miRNA biomarkers in bodily fluids. Although exosome preparations contain miRNAs, a quantitative analysis of their abundance and stoichiometry is lacking. In the course of studying cancer-associated extracellular miRNAs in patient blood samples, we found that exosome fractions contained a small minority of the miRNA content of plasma. This low yield prompted us to perform a more quantitative assessment of the relationship between miRNAs and exosomes using a stoichiometric approach. We quantified both the number of exosomes and the number of miRNA molecules in replicate samples that were isolated from five diverse sources (i.e., plasma, seminal fluid, dendritic cells, mast cells, and ovarian cancer cells). Regardless of the source, on average, there was far less than one molecule of a given miRNA per exosome, even for the most abundant miRNAs in exosome preparations (mean ± SD across six exosome sources: 0.00825 ± 0.02 miRNA molecules/exosome). Thus, if miRNAs were distributed homogenously across the exosome population, on average, over 100 exosomes would need to be examined to observe one copy of a given abundant miRNA. This stoichiometry of miRNAs and exosomes suggests that most individual exosomes in standard preparations do not carry biologically significant numbers of miRNAs and are, therefore, individually unlikely to be functional as vehicles for miRNA-based communication. We propose revised models to reconcile the exosome-mediated, miRNA-based intercellular communication hypothesis with the observed stoichiometry of miRNAs associated with exosomes.
Journal Article