Search

Voters often rely on informational shortcuts, such as the background traits of politicians, to decide which candidates to support at the ballot box. One such background trait is family composition, particularly parental status. Research, however, has mostly overlooked whether the value-laden choices that politicians make regarding their families—like what neighborhoods they live in, where they worship, and what schools they send their children to—affect how constituents view them. We conduct a survey experiment in the U.S. that presents respondents with hypothetical biographies of politicians that randomly vary one of the most important decisions that politicians make regarding their families: whether to send them to public or private school. We find that: (1) voters are more inclined to vote for politicians with children in public school; and (2) this preference may be due to voters perceiving these politicians as both warmer and more committed to public services.

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between ease of doing business score (EDBS) and cost of business start-up procedures (CBS), age dependency ratio (ADR), strength of legal rights index (SLRI), time required to get electricity (TRGE), domestic credit to private sector (DCPS), and start-up procedures to register a business (SPRB). Since 2004, the World Bank evaluates 190 economies based on business regulatory indicators ignoring other factors that may be related to business environment. This paper investigates new factors related to EDBS ignored by the World Bank since 2004. The results of correlation analysis show a negative and significant correlation between EDB and CBS, ADR, TRGE, and SPRB. Nevertheless, a positive and significant correlation was found between EDB and SLRI and DCPS. The linear regression model finds that SLRI and DGPS affected EDB positively and significantly. However, TRGE and SPRB affected negatively to EDB. Asian policymakers should reinforce SLRI and increase DCPS. However, they should also reduce TRGE and SPRB to improve EDB. Further research should be conducted on other regions and test also other factors.

The Diachronic Corpus of Political Speeches (DCPS) is a collection of 1,500 full-length political speeches in English. It includes speeches delivered in countries where English is an official language (the US, Britain, Canada, Ireland) by English-speaking politicians in various settings from 1800 up to the present time. Enriched with semi-automatic morphosyntactic annotations and with discourse-pragmatic manual annotations, the DCPS is designed to achieve maximum representativeness and balance for political English speeches from major national English varieties in time, preserve detailed metadata, and enable corpus-based studies of syntactic, semantic and discourse-pragmatic variation and change on political corpora. For speeches given from 1950 onwards, video-recordings of the original delivery are often retrievable online. This opens up avenues of research in multimodal linguistics, in which studies on the integration of speech and gesture in the construction of meaning can include analyses of recurrent gestures and of multimodal constructions. This article discusses the issues at stake in preparing the video-recorded component of the DCPS for linguistic multimodal analysis, namely the exploitability of recordings, the segmentation and alignment of transcriptions, the annotation of gesture forms and functions in the software ELAN and the quantity of available gesture data.

Ten years ago, many policy makers viewed the reform of teacher evaluation as a highly promising mechanism to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Recently, that enthusiasm has dimmed as the available evidence suggests the subsequent reforms had a mixed record of implementation and efficacy. Even in districts where there was evidence of efficacy, the early promise of teacher evaluation may not be sustainable as these systems mature and change. This study examines the evolving design of IMPACT, the teacher evaluation system in the District of Columbia Public Schools. We describe the recent changes to IMPACT, which include higher performance standards for lower-performing teachers and a reduced emphasis on value-added test scores. Descriptive evidence on the dynamics of teacher retention and performance under this redesigned system indicates that lower-performing teachers are particularly likely to either leave or improve. Corresponding causal evidence similarly indicates that imminent dismissal threats for persistently low-performing teachers increased both teacher attrition and the performance of returning teachers. These findings suggest that teacher evaluation can provide a sustained mechanism for improving the quality of teaching.

International audience; Purpose of review: Evidence for adverse respiratory effects of occupational exposure to disinfectants and cleaning products (DCPs) has grown in the last two decades. The relationship between DCPs and asthma is well-documented, but questions remain regarding specific causal agents. Beyond asthma, associations between DCPs and COPD or chronic rhinitis are plausible and have been examined recently. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent advances on the effect of occupational exposure to DCP and chronic airway diseases. Recent findings: Recent epidemiological studies have often focused on healthcare workers and are characterized by efforts to improve assessment of exposure to specific DCPs. Despite increasing knowledge on the effect of DCPs on asthma, the burden of work-related asthma caused by DCPs has not decreased in the past decade, emphasizing the need to strengthen prevention efforts. Novel data suggest an association between occupational exposure to DCPs and other chronic airway diseases, such as rhinitis, COPD and poor lung function. Summary: Epidemiological and experimental data showed that many chemicals contained in DCPs are likely to cause airway damages, indicating that prevention strategies should target multiple products. Further research is needed to evaluate the impact of DCPs exposure on occupational airway diseases beyond asthma.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the influence of diversity climate perceptions (DCPs) on team member’s contribution to team innovation and team performance in a multicultural team (MCT). The authors also investigate the moderating effect of cultural intelligence on these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw upon the interactional model for cultural diversity to build their hypotheses. Data was gathered from 43 teams consisting of 217 members using a structured questionnaire. Ratings were obtained from both team members and supervisors. The data collected was analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsResults indicated that when team members have positive DCPs, it had a positive impact on their innovation and performance in the team. Cultural intelligence was also found to have a direct impact on team member innovation but not on team member performance. Furthermore, cultural intelligence was found to positively moderate the DCPs – team member performance relationship but not the DCPs – team member innovation relationship.Practical implicationsManaging diversity is a key concern for organizations worldwide given the exponentially rising cultural diversity within the workforce. This study would enable practitioners to understand that developing positive DCPs and cultural intelligence of team members are critical to the success of MCTs.Originality/valueLiterature has documented mixed results pertaining to team diversity and its effect on performance, resulting in scholars urging the need to explore how the negative effects of team diversity can be mitigated. This research establishes that positive DCPs and cultural intelligence as two key factors contributing to the performance of MCTs.

Decapping scavenger enzymes (DcpSs) are important players in mRNA degradation machinery and conserved in eukaryotes. Importantly, human DcpS is the recognized target for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapy, and has recently been connected to development of intellectual disability. Most recombinant DcpSs used in biochemical and biophysical studies are prepared as tagged proteins, with polyhistidine (His-tag) at the N-terminus or C-terminus. Our work is the first report on the parallel characterization of three versions of DcpSs (native and N- or C-terminally tagged) of three species (humans, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Ascaris suum). The native forms of all three enzymes were prepared by N-(His)10 tag cleavage. Protein thermal stability, measured by differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF), was unaffected in the case of native and tagged versions of human and A. suum DcpS; however, the melting temperature (Tm) of C. elagans DcpS of was significantly influenced by the presence of the additional N- or C-tag. To investigate the impact of the tag positioning on the catalytic properties of DcpS, we tested the hydrolytic activity of native DcpS and their His-tagged counterparts toward cap dinucleotides (m7GpppG and m32,2,7GpppG) and m7GDP. The kinetic data indicate that dinucleotide substrates are hydrolyzed with comparable efficiency by native human and A. suum DcpS and their His-tagged forms. In contrast, both His-tagged C. elegans DcpSs exhibited higher activity toward m7GpppG than the native enzyme. m7GDP is resistant to enzymatic cleavage by all three forms of human and nematode DcpS.

Drop-carrier particles (DCPs) are solid microparticles designed to capture uniform microscale drops of a target solution without using costly microfluidic equipment and techniques. DCPs are useful for automated and high-throughput biological assays and reactions, as well as single-cell analyses. Surface energy minimization provides a theoretical prediction for the volume distribution in pairwise droplet splitting, showing good agreement with macroscale experiments. We develop a probabilistic pairwise interaction model for a system of such DCPs exchanging fluid volume to minimize surface energy. This leads to a theory for the number of pairwise interactions of DCPs needed to reach a uniform volume distribution. Heterogeneous mixtures of DCPs with different sized particles require fewer interactions to reach a minimum energy distribution for the system. We optimize the DCP geometry for minimal required target solution and uniformity in droplet volume.

The liposoluble tanshinones are bioactive components in Salvia miltiorrhiza and are widely investigated as anti-cancer agents, while the molecular mechanism is to be clarified. In the present study, we identified that the human fragile histidine triad (FHIT) protein is a direct binding protein of sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate (STS), a water-soluble derivative of Tanshinone IIA (TSA), with a Kd value of 268.4 ± 42.59 nM. We also found that STS inhibited the diadenosine triphosphate (Ap3A) hydrolase activity of FHIT through competing for the substrate-binding site with an IC50 value of 2.2 ± 0.05 µM. Notably, near 100 times lower binding affinities were determined between STS and other HIT proteins, including GALT, DCPS, and phosphodiesterase ENPP1, while no direct binding was detected with HINT1. Moreover, TSA, Tanshinone I (TanI), and Cryptotanshinone (CST) exhibited similar inhibitory activity as STS. Finally, we demonstrated that depletion of FHIT significantly blocked TSA’s pro-apoptotic function in colorectal cancer HCT116 cells. Taken together, our study sheds new light on the molecular basis of the anti-cancer effects of the tanshinone compounds.

Background and Aims Cold snare polypectomy (CSP) and jumbo forceps polypectomy (JFP) have been shown to be effective for removing diminutive colorectal polyps (DCPs) (≤5 mm). However, no study has compared complete resection rates between CSP and JFP for DCPs. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of JFP with CSP for the removal of DCPs. Methods This was a prospective randomized controlled trial from 2 tertiary-care referral centers. A total of 1003 patients were screened, and 169 patients with 196 DCPs were enrolled. The main outcome was complete polyp resection rate. Results Of 196 diminutive polyps, 177 (90.3%) were adenomatous polyps. The overall complete resection rate was 92.1% (163/177). The complete resection rate was not significantly different between JFP and CSP groups (92.0% vs 92.2%; P = .947). JFP achieved complete resection rates comparable with CSP for polyps >3 mm (90.3% vs 89.8%; P = .928). Polypectomy procedure time, tissue retrieval rate, and rate of postpolypectomy adverse events were not significantly different between the 2 groups. Conclusions Both JFP and CSP achieved complete resection rates of >90% for DCPs. Thus, JFP may be considered for polypectomy of DCPs. (International clinical trial registry number: KCT0002805.)

Natural antisense transcripts (NATs) are transcribed from the opposite strand of other genes. Most of them are noncoding RNAs. They have been reported to play important roles in a variety of biological processes. In this study, we identified a novel NAT, NATTD, which is partially complementary to both the TIRAP/Mal and DcpS genes. Interestingly, NATTD only positively regulates the expression of DcpS, a decapping scavenger enzyme which is a promising therapeutic target for spinal muscular atrophy. But it has no obvious effects on the expression of TIRAP/Mal gene. The NATTD transcript primarily resides in the nucleus and does not alter the mRNA stability of DcpS. Instead, it is required for the recruitment of RNA polymerase II at the mouse DcpS promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that knocking-down NATTD transcript with shRNA enhanced the H3K27-Me3 modification at the DcpS promoter. In summary, our studies identified NATTD as a regulator of DcpS transcription through epigenetic mechanisms.

Livelocks, like deadlocks, can result in serious results in running process of flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). Current deadlock control policies (DCPs) based on mixed integer programming (MIP) cannot detect siphons that cause and cope with livelocks in Petri nets. This study proposes a revised mixed integer programming (RMIP) method to directly solve the new smart siphons (NSSs) associated with livelocks in a system of sequential systems with shared resources (S4R), a typical subclass of generalized Petri net models. Accordingly, the solved NSSs are max’-controlled by adding the corresponding control places (CPs). As a result, an original S4R system with livelocks can be converted into the live controlled Petri net system. The related theoretical analysis and an example are given to demonstrate the proposed RMIP and the corresponding control algorithm (CA).

The m7 G cap is a unique nucleotide structure at the 5'-end of all eukaryotic mRNAs. The cap specifically interacts with numerous cellular proteins and participates in biological processes that are essential for cell growth and function. To provide small molecular probes to study important cap-recognizing proteins, we synthesized m7 G nucleotides labeled with fluorescent tags via the terminal phosph(on)ate group and studied how their emission properties changed upon protein binding or enzymatic cleavage. Only the pyrene-labeled compounds behaved as sensitive turn-on probes. A pyrene-labeled m7 GTP analogue showed up to eightfold enhanced fluorescence emission upon binding to eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) and over 30-fold enhancement upon cleavage by decapping scavenger (DcpS) enzyme. These observations served as the basis for developing binding- and hydrolytic-activity assays. The assay utility was validated with previously characterized libraries of eIF4E ligands and DcpS inhibitors. The DcpS assay was also applied to study hydrolytic activity and inhibition of endogenous enzyme in cytoplasmic extracts from HeLa and HEK cells.

Objectives This project aimed to use education sessions and exercise classes to improve exercise self-efficacy in individuals with type 1 diabetes and in diabetes care providers (DCPs). Methods We recruited 12 adults with type 1 diabetes and 12 DCPs who participated in 4 weekly group sessions to learn about exercise physiology and to experience various exercise types. We provided participants who had type 1 diabetes with real-time continuous glucose monitors and heart rate monitors to enhance experiential learning. Both groups completed questionnaires before and after the study to assess confidence concerning exercise. Following the study, focus groups assessed the impact of the study on knowledge and self-efficacy. Results There was an improvement in DCPs' attitudes toward exercise (p=0.004). DCPs' confidence in providing clients with advice regarding the time, type and intensity of exercise (p=0.005) and strategies for overcoming barriers to exercise (p=0.016) improved significantly. We found no significant changes in results in the questionnaires of participants with type 1 diabetes. Focus group analysis suggested that the study improved awareness of the importance of exercise as well as knowledge about the effects of exercise in type 1 diabetes by both DCPs and participants. Continuous glucose monitor use alleviated fear of hypoglycemia by participants with type 1 diabetes. Conclusions These findings suggest that a 4-week education- and exercise-focused program improves DCPs' self-efficacy in providing exercise advice to patients. People with type 1 diabetes did not experience an improvement in exercise self-efficacy; however, the study supports the use of continuous glucose monitoring and the grouping of DCPs and individuals with type 1 diabetes to facilitate experiential learning.

For laser direct metal deposition (LDMD) process, a general powder distribution model of discontinuous coaxial powder stream (DCPS) was developed based on homogeneous transformation. An image-based powder measurement (IBPM) technique, whose illumination light is a cylindrical light, was used to acquire powder distribution characteristics. A set of data preprocessing methods were proposed to validate the developed model. Correlation analysis indicated that the matching coefficients between the measured and simulated data are above 0.99 on the axial plane of the coaxial powder stream, whereas above 0.95 on the cross-sections near the focal spot. The error of the predicted focal spot position was less than 1%. Mean sensitivity indexes inferred that both the injection radius and the injection angle of the powder-fed head have significant influence on the focal spot characteristics of the DCPS compared to the nozzle exit diameter. Reducing the focal spot diameter can improve the powder utilization efficiency. For achieving safe deposition process and stable powder delivery, the standoff distance at the focal spot should be greater than 6 mm.

Homozygous mutations in the gene encoding the scavenger mRNA-decapping enzyme, DcpS, have been shown to underlie developmental delay and intellectual disability. Intellectual disability is associated with both abnormal neocortical development and mRNA metabolism. However, the role of DcpS and its scavenger decapping activity in neuronal development is unknown. Here, we show that human neurons derived from patients with a DcpS mutation have compromised differentiation and neurite outgrowth. Moreover, in the developing mouse neocortex, DcpS is required for the radial migration, polarity, neurite outgrowth, and identity of developing glutamatergic neurons. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that the scavenger mRNA decapping activity contributes to multiple pivotal roles in neural development and further corroborate that mRNA metabolism and neocortical pathologies are associated with intellectual disability.

All service and professional communities confront challenges and issues on diverse subjects. Some of these have been mentioned earlier in this book. The providers, those serviced or served, and policy-makers in the EU have to make known a solution. In this case, it is the dental care professionals (DCPs), patients, and the decision-makers in the EU and/or the Member States who compose the community. Hopefully, the solution will be consensual. Unfortunately, such does not always occur. When this happens, the community suffers a rupture that can signal adverse consequences.

The paper proposes bright and dark channel priors dependent single image based dehazing in two color spaces. The hazy RGB is first converted into YC b C r space. Transmission maps are estimated using dark channel priors (DCPs) and airlight of intensity (in YC b C r ) and RGB components computed using three window sizes. Bright channel priors (BCPs) and threshold values are also computed for YC b C r and RGB color spaces. The transmission maps are adjusted using DCPs and BCPs and refined using multiscale guided filter to obtain a superior dehazed image. Comparison (both visually and qualitatively) on variety of images exhibits the significance of proposed technique over existing techniques.

An interview with dental nurses and The Dental Care Network founders Hannah Stubbins and Prabjot Mann is presented, with topics covered such as the significance of the network to dental care professionals (DCPs), the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the network's development, and whether they believe DCPs lack recognition.

The range resolution of linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFMCW) radar is limited by the frequency deviation when using traditional signal processing method. In order to solve it, a novel method called "Duplication and Continuous Phase Splicing (DCPS)" method is proposed. Compared with the traditional method, The DCPS method duplicates the beat signal within one modulation period many times and the signals are spliced together without phase jump. The performance of the method is evaluated by simulations. The results show that the range resolution of DCPS method is not limited by the frequency deviation and the ranging error of DCPS method is still less than that of the traditional method at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

Ten years ago, I worked as the Director of Assessments for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). For temporal context, I arrived after the first of the infamous test cheating scandals and left just before the incident that spawned a second. Indeed, I filled a new position created to both manage test security and design an expanded testing program. I departed shortly after Vincent Gray, who opposed an expanded testing program, defeated Adrian Fenty in the September 2010 DC mayoral primary. My tenure coincided with Michelle Rhee’s last nine months as Chancellor. There were measures that the Rhee-Henderson administrations could have adopted to substantially reduce the incidence of cheating, but they chose none that might have been effective. Rather, they dug in their heels, insisted that only a few schools had issues, which they thoroughly resolved, and repeatedly denied any systematic problem.

DDS is a real-time protocol for fast communication. It implements Data-Centric Publish–Subscribe (DCPS) implementation and an optional higher-layer Data Local Reconstruction Layer (DLRL). DCPS ensures the reliability of message delivery to proper recipient and uses in syntactic interoperability in different platforms and languages. ROS is a widely used platform to develop robots, drones, and other cyber–physical systems (CPSs). ROS 2 is built on top of middleware DDS and provided abstraction in communication. Adaptive AUTOSAR (Automotive Open System Architecture) also adopted the DDS standards as one of the communication bindings. This research paper proposes connection establishment and interoperability between ROS 2 and Adaptive AUTOSAR software using DDS as a middleware. Interoperability is the major challenge with the increasing number of IoT devices, being solved by DDS. The outcome of this research is useful for autonomous cars, and the proposed concept can be extended for fog computing and other interoperability problems. DDS will bring a revolution in the near future in automotive industry, smart grid, smart homes, and other smart applications.

The private sector of Ghana faces many problems with respect to raising capital for their operations; this is largely due to government relying heavily on the local credit market for funds for developmental projects. This study uses exponential smoothing method (ESM) in EViews to build a single sample model to forecast future domestic credit to private sector (DCPS) values in Ghana. Secondary annual data on DCPS spanning the period from 1982 to 2016 is used. The findings show that an exponential smoothing model with multiplicative error, additive trend and no seasonality fits the data best. The model had very small residual measures, which demonstrates a good model for forecasting. The estimated model is used to forecast the DCPS values for Ghana from the year 2017 to 2020. The results of this study will help private business people plan for the future. The results will also help policy makers to make informed decisions and formulate policies to improve the DCPS figures, since the private sector is the engine of growth, and crowding out would not be in the best interest of the government and the nation as a whole.

Irreversible enzyme inhibitors and covalent chemical biology probes often utilize the reaction of a protein cysteine residue with an appropriately positioned electrophile (e.g., acrylamide) on the ligand template. However, cysteine residues are not always available for site-specific protein labeling, and therefore new approaches are needed to expand the toolkit of appropriate electrophiles ("warheads") that target alternative amino acids. We previously described the rational targeting of tyrosine residues in the active site of a protein (the mRNA decapping scavenger enzyme, DcpS) using inhibitors armed with a sulfonyl fluoride electrophile. These inhibitors subsequently enabled the development of clickable probe technology to measure drug-target occupancy in live cells. Here we describe a fluorosulfate-containing inhibitor (aryl fluorosulfate probe (FS-p1)) with excellent chemical and metabolic stability that reacts selectively with a noncatalytic serine residue in the same active site of DcpS as confirmed by peptide mapping experiments. Our results suggest that noncatalytic serine targeting using fluorosulfate electrophilic warheads could be a suitable strategy for the development of covalent inhibitor drugs and chemical probes.

mRNA decapping proteins (DCPs) are components of the P-bodies in the cell which are hubs of mRNAs targeted for decay and they provide the cell with a reversible pool of mRNAs in response to cellular demands. TheDrosophilagenome codes for two decapping proteins, DCP1 and DCP2 out of which DCP2 is the cognate decapping enzyme. The present endeavour explores the endogenous promoter firing, transcript and protein expression ofDCP2inDrosophilawherein, besides a ubiquitous expression across development, we identify active expression paradigm during dorsal closure and a plausible moonlighting expression in the Corazonin neurons of the larval brain. We also demonstrate that the ablation ofDCP2leads to embryonic lethality and defects in vital morphogenetic processes whereas a knockdown ofDCP2in the Corazonin neurons reduces the sensitivity to ethanol in adults, thereby ascribing novel regulatory roles to DCP2. Our findings unravel novel putative roles for DCP2 and identify it as a candidate for studies on the regulated interplay of essential molecules during early development inDrosophila, nay the living world.

Dihalophenols such as dichlorophenols (DCPs) are important industrial chemical intermediates, but also persistent pollutants in the environment. Oxidative dehalogenation by microbes is an efficient biological method to degrade halophenols, but the mechanism is unclear yet. Cupriavidus nantongensis X1T was a type strain of genus Cupriavidus, and could degrade 2,4-dichlorophenol of 50 mg/L within 12 h. The degradation rate constant was approximately 84 fold greater than that by Bacillus endophyticus CP1R43, a well-studied 2,4-DCP-degrading bacterial strain. The genes encoding 2,4,6-trichlorophenol monooxygenase (TcpA) and NAD(P)H:FAD reductase (Fre) from strain X1T were cloned and expressed. The expressed TcpA Fre were purified. The molecular docking of TcpA with DCPs and point mutation experiments showed that the degradation activity of TcpA was associated with the length of the hydrogen bond between the substrates and the amino acids in the active pocket. DCPs were degraded via a stepwise oxidative dechlorination in a positive relationship between the oxidation ability and the electron-withdrawing potential of the p-position group. In addition, TcpA has dual dehalogenation and denitration functions. The results demonstrate that either strain X1T or TcpA and Fre can effectively dehalogenate dihalophenols, which can be useful for the treatment of dihalophenols in wastewaters and remediation of DCP-contaminated environments.

Catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) of dichlorophenols (DCPs) over Fe-Cu-pillared clay (PILC) without and with NaCl was investigated. Concentration change dynamics in H2O2, Cl−, and hyd...

Host nucleases are implicated in antiviral response through the processing of pathogen-derived nucleic acids. Among many host RNases, decapping enzymes DCP1 and 2, and 5′→3′ exonuclease XRN1, which are components of the RNA decay machinery, have been extensively studied in prokaryotes, plants, and invertebrates but less so in mammalian systems. As a result, the implication of XRN1 and DCPs in viral replication, in particular, the spatio-temporal dynamics during RNA viral infections remains elusive. Here, we highlight that XRN1 and DCPs play a critical role in limiting several groups of RNA viral infections. This antiviral activity was not obvious in wild-type cells but clearly observed in type I interferon (IFN-I)-deficient cells. Mechanistically, infection with RNA viruses induced the enrichment of XRN1 and DCPs in viral replication complexes (vRCs), hence forming distinct cytoplasmic aggregates. These aggregates served as sites for direct interaction between XRN1, DCP1/2, and viral ribonucleoprotein that contains viral RNA (vRNA). Although these XRN1-DCP1/2-vRC-containing foci resemble antiviral stress granules (SGs) or P-body (PB), they did not colocalize with known SG markers and did not correlate with critical PB functions. Furthermore, the presence of 5′ mono- and 5′ triphosphate structures on vRNA was not required for the formation of XRN1-DCP1/2-vRC-containing foci. On the other hand, single-, double-stranded, and higher-ordered vRNA species play a role but are not deterministic for efficient formation of XRN1-DCP1/2 foci and consequent antiviral activity in a manner proportional to RNA length. These results highlight the mechanism behind the antiviral function of XRN1-DCP1/2 in RNA viral infections independent of IFN-I response, protein kinase R and PB function.

Eukaryotic mRNAs are modified at their 5′ end early during transcription by the addition of N7-methylguanosine (m7G), which forms the “cap” on the first 5′ nucleotide. Identification of the 5′ nucleotide on mRNA is necessary for determination of the Transcription Start Site (TSS). We explored the effect of various reaction conditions on the activity of the yeast scavenger mRNA decapping enzyme DcpS and examined decapping of 30 chemically distinct cap structures varying the state of methylation, sugar, phosphate linkage, and base composition on 25mer RNA oligonucleotides. Contrary to the generally accepted belief that DcpS enzymes only decap short oligonucleotides, we found that the yeast scavenger decapping enzyme decaps RNA transcripts as long as 1400 nucleotides. Further, we validated the application of yDcpS for enriching capped RNA using a strategy of specifically tagging the 5′ end of capped RNA by first decapping and then recapping it with an affinity-tagged guanosine nucleotide.

Eukaryotic mRNAs are modified at their 5’ end early during transcription by the addition ofN7-methylguanosine (m7G), which forms the “cap” on the first 5’ nucleotide. Identification of the 5’ nucleotide on mRNA is necessary for determination of the Transcription Start Site (TSS). We explored the effect of various reaction conditions on the activity of the yeast scavenger mRNA decapping enzyme DcpS (yDcpS) and examined decapping of 30 chemically distinct cap structures varying the state of methylation, sugar, phosphate linkage, and base composition on 25mer RNA oligonucleotides. Contrary to the generally accepted belief that DcpS enzymes only decap short oligonucleotides, we found that yDcpS efficiently decaps RNA transcripts as long as 1400 nucleotides. Further, we validated the application of yDcpS for enriching capped RNA using a strategy of specifically tagging the 5’ end of capped RNA by first decapping and then recapping it with an affinity-tagged guanosine nucleotide.

A polyomino is a finite, edge-connected set of cells in the plane. At the present time, an enumeration of all polyominoes is nowhere in sight. On the other hand, there are several subsets of polyominoes for which generating functions are known. For example, there exists extensive knowledge about column-convex polyominoes, a model introduced by Temperley in 1956. While studying column-convex polyominoes, researchers also gave a look at diagonally convex polyominoes (DCPs), but noticed an awkward feature: when the last diagonal of a DCP is deleted, the remaining object is not always a polyomino. So researchers focused their attention on directed DCPs. (A directed DCP is such a DCP that remains a polyomino when, for any $i$, its last $i$ diagonals are deleted.) Directed DCPs gradually became well understood, whereas general DCPs have remained unexplored up to now. In this paper, we finally face general DCPs. Modulo a little trick, which saves us from dealing with non-polyominoes, we use the layered approach (described in chapter 3 of the book ``Polygons, Polyominoes and Polycubes", edited by Anthony Guttmann). The computations are of remarkable bulk. Our main result is the perimeter generating function for DCPs; we denote it $D(d,x)$. The function $D(d,x)$ is algebraic and satisfies an equation of degree eight. The formula for $D(d,x)$ is about eight pages long. That formula involves nine polynomials in $d$ and $x$, and each of those polynomials is of degree $58$ or more in $x$. The interested reader can view the formula for $D(d,x)$ in the Maple worksheet attached to this paper., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures

In practice, teacher turnover appears to have negative effects on school quality as measured by student performance. However, some simulations suggest that turnover can instead have large positive effects under a policy regime in which low-performing teachers can be accurately identified and replaced with more effective teachers. This study examines this question by evaluating the effects of teacher turnover on student achievement under IMPACT, the unique performance-assessment and incentive system in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Employing a quasi-experimental design based on data from the first years of IMPACT, we find that, on average, DCPS replaced teachers who left with teachers who increased student achievement by 0.08 standard deviation ( SD) in math. When we isolate the effects of lower-performing teachers who were induced to leave DCPS for poor performance, we find that student achievement improves by larger and statistically significant amounts (i.e., 0.14 SD in reading and 0.21 SD in math). In contrast, the effect of exits by teachers not sanctioned under IMPACT is typically negative but not statistically significant.

Fiona Ellwood et al, 2016 explore dental care professionals' (DCPs') awareness of mentorship and clinical governance as part of a local professional development programme

Richard Griffith discusses the duties of dental care professionals (DCPs) to ensure patients benefit from proper infection prevention and control procedures, and highlights the sanctions that DCPs may face if they fail to discharge those duties

New dialkylamino groups-comprising diarylethenes of 2,3-diarylcyclopent-2-en-1-one (DCP) series have been synthesized and its photochromic, fluorescent as well as acidochromic features have been investigated. It was shown that photochromic properties of the substances depend strong on their structures; the non-symmetry of the photochromic molecule is a powerful tool to properly control and tune the parameters of diarylethenes. It has been found that the most promising of DCPs synthesized are those containing dialkylamino groups in ethene “bridge” (rather than in aryl moieties) because they possess photo- and pH-switchable emission along with thermal stability. It has been established that the introduction at the second position of the cyclopentenone ring the benzene residue leads to the disappearance of the photochromic properties.

Several nucleotide-specific phosphohydrolases can cleave P-F bonds in substrate analogues containing a fluorophosphate moiety to release fluoride ions. In this work, by employing a fluoride-sensitive molecular sensor, we harnessed this cleavage reaction to develop a fluorescence assay to screen for phosphohydrolase inhibitors. The assay is rapid, sensitive, and based on simple and synthetically available reagents. The assay was adapted to the high-throughput screening (HTS) format and its utility was demonstrated by screening an 'in-house' library of small nucleotides against two enzymes: DcpS, a metal-independent mRNA decapping pyrophosphatase of the histidine triad (HIT) family; and PDE-I, a divalent cation-dependent nuclease. Our screening results agreed with the known specificities of DcpS and PDE-I, and led to the selection of several inhibitors featuring low-micromolar IC50 values. For DcpS, we also verified the results by using an alternative method with the natural substrate. Notably, the assay presented here is the first fluorescence-based HTS-adaptable assay for DcpS, an established therapeutic target for spinal muscular atrophy. The assay should be useful for phosphohydrolase specificity profiling and inhibitor discovery, particularly in the context of DcpS and other HIT-family enzymes, which play key roles in maintaining cellular functions and have been linked to disease development.

The application of evidence-based practice (EBP) requires a competent understanding of the best available research. There is increasing acknowledgement that some of this evidence also needs to be generated at the practice level. Currently, research activity in general dental practices is not well embedded. Dental care professionals (DCPs) play an important role in a dental team and present a good way for dental practices to become engaged in research. This experiential article highlights potential opportunities and benefits of DCP research activity to the dental practice.

Dental therapist Shaun Howe shares his insight into the General Dental Council and its fee setting

To support Differentially Corrected Positioning Service (DCPS) in airport, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver’s anti-multipath ability should be validated carefully to airport environment. This paper discusses the quantification of GNSS signal characteristics in airport based on Finite Difference Time Domain-Parabolic Equation (FDTD-PE) method. The proposed method can deal with complex environment with different objects and large scale clear space of airport efficiently. An equivalent process is introduced to deal with the problem of non-uniform sampling grid. By comparing with FDTD method, the validation of this method is proved. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of this method for predicting the GNSS signal propagation in airport environment.

The Dental Professional's Conference (DPC) 2018 brought together Dental Professionals from across all the clinical and technical disciplines. Daniel Shaw provides an overview.

The effect of addition of small amounts of the ionic impurity Potassium Thiocyanate (KSCN) on the tunnel-like region in the phase diagram of Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) + secondary Butyl Alcohol (sBA) + Water (W) is investigated in detail. The KSCN weight fraction range, 0 ≤ XKSCN ≤ 0.0318, results in a systematic decrease in the diameter of the critical-tunnel from ΔT = 71.416 K at XKSCN = 0, to ΔT = 5.275 K at XKSCN = 0.0315. For 0.03190 ≤ XKSCN ≤ 0.03195 the line of critical points end abruptly at specific values of water weight fractions (XW) resulting in the formation of several critical end points. For XKSCN ≥ 0.0320 the critical-tunnel splits into several pairs of parabolic critical lines, each carrying double critical points (DCPs) at their vertices, with one-phase region in-between. The distance between the DCPs corresponding to the low- and high-MEK regions can be made to approach or recede from each other depending on the KSCN weight fraction. The QCP in this system is pushed into a hypothetical region due to curvature effects of the coexistence surface in MEK + W + sBA + KSCN.

The Defence Clinical Psychology Service (DCPS) is the professional clinical psychology service and community of clinical psychology practice within UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). The DCPS provides professional clinical care, consultation and research in support of the UK Armed Forces. Regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council, DCPS psychologists are employed as Crown (Civil) Servants within the MoD. Serving as assets of Joint Forces Command within the Defence Primary Healthcare organisation, the professional leadership for such personnel is provided by the office of the Defence Consultant Advisor (DCA) for clinical psychology. The following paper offers an overview of the history, service context, training and mission of the DCPS. Areas for future development are also considered.

Rationale and Objectives To quantify the use of Diagnostic Certainty Phrases (DCP) in radiology reports, including DCPs with good agreement (including “diagnostic of,” “unlikely” and “represents”) in connoting degree of certainty between providers based on previous studies; and to assess whether modality, presence of a trainee, radiologic subspecialty, and individual radiologists are associated with the usage of DCPs with good agreement. Materials and Methods This retrospective, IRB-approved study was conducted at an academic medical center. Radiology reports that contain DCPs were identified using information retrieval from all reports generated in 2016, excluding mammograms, obstetrical ultrasound, bone densitometry, and interventional studies. DCPs connoting good agreement were further noted. Of the reports that contained DCPs, a two-level hierarchical generalized linear model with attending as the level-two variable was performed comparing the use of DCP with good agreement while considering trainee involvement, modality, and subspecialty. Results A total of 159,151 reports out of 370,881 were found to have at least one DCP (43%). Reports of CT scans had the most number of DCP (68% of all CT reports). Breast and abdomen subspecialties were associated with use of DCP with good agreement. There was significant variation in use of DCP with good agreement between physicians that could not be explained by modality, trainee presence, and subspecialty. Conclusion Phrases to convey diagnostic certainty were commonly used in radiology reports. There is wide variation in usage of DCP with good agreement. Future interventions to reduce variation in use of DCPs may reduce ambiguity and improve quality of radiology reports.

DCPS gene encodes for a protein involved in gene expression regulation through promoting cap degradation during mRNA decapping processes. Mutations altering the DCPS function have been associated to a distinct disorder, Al-Raqad syndrome, so far described only in two families. We report on a patient harboring a novel homozygous missense mutation in DCPS, presenting with growth retardation, craniofacial anomalies, skin dyschromia, and neuromuscular defects. This case study explains the molecular spectrum of DCPS mutations and might contribute to the phenotypic delineation of this rare condition.

To identify novel targets for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapy, we performed genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screening using AML cell lines, followed by a second screen in vivo. Here, we show that the mRNA decapping enzyme scavenger (DCPS) gene is essential for AML cell survival. The DCPS enzyme interacted with components of pre-mRNA metabolic pathways, including spliceosomes, as revealed by mass spectrometry. RG3039, a DCPS inhibitor originally developed to treat spinal muscular atrophy, exhibited anti-leukemic activity via inducing pre-mRNA mis-splicing. Humans harboring germline bi-allelic DCPS loss-of-function mutations do not exhibit aberrant hematologic phenotypes, indicating that DCPS is dispensable for human hematopoiesis. Our findings shed light on a pre-mRNA metabolic pathway and identify DCPS as a target for AML therapy.

Hispanic Americans are among the fastest growing minority groups in the USA, and understanding their preferences for medical decision-making and information sharing is imperative to provide high quality end of life care. Studies exploring these decision control preferences (DCPs) are limited and found inconsistent results. (1) To measure DCPs of Hispanic patients in the Bronx. (2) To measure disclosure of information preferences of Hispanic patients in the Bronx. This is a cross-sectional survey. One hundred nineteen cancer patients who self-identified as Hispanic and were waiting at the oncology clinic at Montefiore Medical Center Cancer Center. Proportions of patients endorsing DCPs and disclosure of information preferences are reported. The relationship between patient characteristics and DCPs was tested using chi-squared tests of homogeneity. The majority (63, 52.9%) preferred shared decision-making with their doctors, families or both, while 46 (38.7%) had an active decision-making style. A minority (9, 7.6%) had a passive decision-making style, deferring to their families, and only 1 (0.8%) deferring to the physician. No demographic characteristics significantly predicted DCPs. The majority of patients agreed or strongly agreed that they wanted to hear all of the information regarding their diagnosis (94%), treatment options (94%), treatment expectations (92%), and treatment risks and benefits (96%). These results confirm our hypothesis that most Hispanic patients prefer either an active or shared decision-making process rather than a passive decision-making process. Most patients prefer disclosure of diagnosis, prognosis, and plan.

For asynchronous power systems which are interconnected only by HVDC transmission lines, the tie-line power scheduling becomes challenging due to the discrete characteristics of HVDC transmission power profile. Based on previous work on modeling HVDC transmission power, a feasible framework of constraints that fully describes the power characteristics is proposed. Moreover, a power scheduling model of HVDC transmission (DCPS) considering power and energy balance conditions, as well as operation limits of power plants and AC lines is developed. The model is decoupled into two subproblems and a high-performance solution is proposed. Real data of China Southern Power Grid is utilized to demonstrate that the method is efficient and reliable, and thus can be a competent approach for dispatching center to work out a HVDC transmission plan.

A simple and efficient synthesis of dinucleotide mRNA 5′ cap analogues functionalised by the addition of an amine or carboxylic acid group onto one of the ribose rings is reported. Selection of the modification sites was dictated by the recognition specificity for the 5′ cap by various cap-binding proteins, including eIF4E, DcpS, and Dcp2, as well as by bacteriophage RNA polymerase, which enables the incorporation of the synthetic cap into the mRNA chain. Some analogues were further modified by O-to-CH2 substitution in the triphosphate bridge to confer resistance to specific hydrolases. Spatial crowding and structural rigidity were balanced by use of diamines and amino acids of different lengths attached to the ribose through a carbamate moiety. The impact of these substitutions on the conformational equilibria of the ribose components was investigated by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The utility of the analogues for labelling with fluorescent dyes and affinity tags was demonstrated with the aid of NHS activation chemistry.

Distributed cyber-physical systems (DCPS), such as aeronautics and ground transportation systems, are very hard to design and verify, because of asynchronous communication, network delays, and clock skews. Their model checking verification typically becomes unfeasible due to the huge state space explosion caused by the system's concurrency. The Multirate PALS (“physically asynchronous, logically synchronous”) methodology has been proposed to reduce the design and verification of a DCPS to the much simpler task of designing and verifying its underlying synchronous version, where components may operate with different periods. This paper presents a methodology for formally modeling and verifying multirate DCPSs using Multirate PALS. In particular, this methodology explains how to deal with the system's physical environment in Multirate PALS. We illustrate our methodology with a multirate DCPS consisting of an airplane maneuvered by a pilot, who turns the airplane to a specified angle through a distributed control system. Our formal analysis using Real-Time Maude revealed that the original design did not achieve a smooth turning maneuver, and led to a redesign of the system. We then use model checking and Multirate PALS to prove that the redesigned system satisfies the desired correctness properties, whereas model checking the corresponding asynchronous model is unfeasible. This shows that Multirate PALS is not only effective for formal DCPS verification, but can also be used effectively in the DCPS design process.

Photochemistry of recently synthesized 2,3-bis-(2,5-dimethylthiophen-3-yl-cyclopent-2-en-1-one) (diarylcyclopentenone, 1A) as a characteristic representative of photochromic 2,3-diarylcyclopent-2-en-1-ones (DCPs) was examined by means of stationary an nanosecond laser flash photolysis. Quantum yields of forward and backward photochemical reactions and molar absorption coefficient of the closed form were measured. Contradictions in the literature values of these parameters were eliminated. In laser flash photolysis experiments the formation of the 1A open form triplet state was exhibited, and the rate constants of the reactions of its decay were measured. 1A demonstrates rather low fatigue resistance, as any of other DCPs. In spite of the triplet state formation, photodegradation of 1A is not caused by the reactions of singlet oxygen.