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The US buildings sector faces a confluence of challenges, including a clear necessity to decarbonize the built environment to mitigate climate change, a need for greater resilience in the face of more frequent extreme weather events, a dearth of affordable housing, and flat or declining construction productivity that hinders the sector’s ability to adapt. Better data and guidance on new and existing residential buildings can outline paths forward for the market. These can help clarify stakeholder priorities and highlight applications for new (or newly relevant) technologies and approaches that have the potential to break traditional barriers, bridge technical gaps, reduce costs, create added value, and enable decarbonization of the national residential building stock. Decarbonizing the national building stock before 2050 will require massive increases in zero-carbon retrofits and new construction in this decade. By 2030, whole-home retrofit activity must increase several fold, and virtually all new construction will need to be zero carbon. It is difficult to imagine achieving this transformation without substantial changes in how buildings are constructed and retrofitted. By employing innovative building technologies and modernized construction techniques, while leveraging novel business models and aggregated demand, the residential construction industry has the opportunity to deliver energy-efficient, zero-carbon-aligned, and ultimately cost-effective new and retrofitted homes at scale, with streamlined delivery and consistent quality. This report provides product manufacturers, fabricators, contractors and installers, design professionals, owners, and real estate developers with technical performance and cost guidance for scalable zero-carbon-aligned new construction pathways and retrofit packages across the nation’s climate regions. The report builds on market research, stakeholder engagement, and modeling and analysis by the Advanced Building Construction Collaborative and its national laboratory partners. Market stakeholders can use this information to focus their strategic and project-level decision-making to drive zero-carbon-aligned buildings within the limited time frame for decarbonization. Though the report does not provide policy recommendations, public-sector stakeholders may also see it as a useful input into their decision-making.The information in this report can serve as a springboard for further development and refinement of specific physical solutions — such as construction products and assemblies — that can achieve necessary performance levels to meet climate goals. It can also inform business models that can deploy these physical solutions at scale and enabling financial and technical tools. In particular, it can be relevant to stakeholders in the emergent advanced building construction (ABC) market.

A workshop was sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to address the research gaps and opportunities in pancreatic endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). The event occurred on July 26, 2017 in 4 sessions: (1) benign pancreatic diseases, (2) high-risk pancreatic diseases, (3) diagnostic and therapeutics, and (4) new technologies. The current state of knowledge was reviewed, with identification of numerous gaps in knowledge and research needs. Common themes included the need for large multicenter consortia of various pancreatic diseases to facilitate meaningful research of these entities; to standardize EUS features of different pancreatic disorders, the technique of sampling pancreatic lesions, and the performance of various therapeutic EUS procedures; and to identify high-risk disease early at the cellular level before macroscopic disease develops. The need for specialized tools and accessories to enable the safe and effective performance of therapeutic EUS procedures also was discussed.

A workshop was sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to address the research gaps and opportunities in pancreatic EUS. The event occurred on July 26, 2017 in 4 sessions: (1) benign pancreatic diseases, (2) high-risk pancreatic diseases, (3) diagnostic and therapeutics, and (4) new technologies. The current state of knowledge was reviewed, with identification of numerous gaps in knowledge and research needs. Common themes included the need for large multicenter consortia of various pancreatic diseases to facilitate meaningful research of these entities; to standardize EUS features of different pancreatic disorders, the technique of sampling pancreatic lesions, and the performance of various therapeutic EUS procedures; and to identify high-risk disease early at the cellular level before macroscopic disease develops. The need for specialized tools and accessories to enable the safe and effective performance of therapeutic EUS procedures also was discussed.

School library programs have measured success by improved test scores. But how do next-generation school libraries demonstrate success as they strive to be centers of innovation and creativity? These libraries offer solutions for school leaders who struggle to restructure existing systems built around traditional silos of learning (subjects and departments) and prescribed curricula that aim to cover content. The Common Core State Standards call for a shift from content to process, from memorization to problem-solving. School libraries can lead schools to embrace innovation, think outside the box, engage in interdisciplinary and community collaboration, embrace sudden learning opportunities, and address real-world problems. Innovative organizations "are ones that continually identify and adopt programs and practices, including the requisite organizational structures and cultures that help them better serve students" (Moreno, Luria, and Mojkowski 2013). This article chronicles an evidence based library redesign project of a public high school of 700 students. The Library Improvement Committee was formed, consisting of teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community members. The committee started with a common belief that the school library can and should improve student achievement and that new functions of the library would determine the design of the learning space. As part of the planning process, the committee imagined where the school library would be in five years and asked, "What do you see people doing in the school library?"

Disruptive student behaviour is a major concern for teachers, causing classroom conflict and emotional fatigue. Whilst student-teacher closeness is known to reduce student aggression and improve behaviour, it is not yet known why some teachers experience close relationships with disruptive students and others do not. This qualitative study therefore examined relational closeness between elementary teachers and disruptive students in Sydney, Australia. Using a teacher speech sample task, we identified eight disruptive students with 'complicated' student-teacher relationships: high in both closeness and conflict. Eleven classroom teachers and seven support teachers each spoke about their relationships with the eight students. Speech samples were analysed using an inductive content analysis to determine characteristics that may facilitate relational closeness in spite of student-teacher conflict. Findings revealed two characteristics of teachers' speech that guided relational closeness: attributions for disruptive behaviour and emotional competence. Not all teachers, however, described a close relationship. These findings provide new directions for interventions that aim to improve student-teacher relationship quality.

Building on work examining teachers' perceptions of the student-teacher relationship, this study investigated how young students draw themselves with their teachers. Fourteen kindergarten and first-grade teachers each nominated 2 disruptive and 2 well-behaved students. Students then completed 1 drawing of themselves with their classroom teacher and 1 with a support teacher (e.g., librarian, art teacher) at 2 time points: the end of the school year (Phase 1) and the beginning of the next year (Phase 2). In coding for 8 markers of relationship quality--vitality/creativity, pride/happiness, vulnerability, emotional distance, tension/anger, role reversal, bizarreness/dissociation, and global pathology--we found no differences in the way that disruptive and well-behaved students depicted their own relationships with teachers. Gender and phase effects were identified, however, with boys depicting greater relational negativity than girls and all students portraying greater emotional distance at the beginning of the school year.

Objective: We report the development and validation of a combined DNA/RNA next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform to improve the evaluation of pancreatic cysts. Background and Aims: Despite a multidisciplinary approach, pancreatic cyst classification, such as a cystic precursor neoplasm, and the detection of high-grade dysplasia and early adenocarcinoma (advanced neoplasia) can be challenging. NGS of preoperative pancreatic cyst fluid improves the clinical evaluation of pancreatic cysts, but the recent identification of novel genomic alterations necessitates the creation of a comprehensive panel and the development of a genomic classifier to integrate the complex molecular results. Methods: An updated and unique 74-gene DNA/RNA-targeted NGS panel (PancreaSeq Genomic Classifier) was created to evaluate 5 classes of genomic alterations to include gene mutations (e.g., KRAS, GNAS, etc.), gene fusions and gene expression. Further, CEA mRNA (CEACAM5) was integrated into the assay using RT-qPCR. Separate multi-institutional cohorts for training (n = 108) and validation (n = 77) were tested, and diagnostic performance was compared to clinical, imaging, cytopathologic, and guideline data. Results: Upon creation of a genomic classifier system, PancreaSeq GC yielded a 95% sensitivity and 100% specificity for a cystic precursor neoplasm, and the sensitivity and specificity for advanced neoplasia were 82% and 100%, respectively. Associated symptoms, cyst size, duct dilatation, a mural nodule, increasing cyst size, and malignant cytopathology had lower sensitivities (41--59%) and lower specificities (56--96%) for advanced neoplasia. This test also increased the sensitivity of current pancreatic cyst guidelines (IAP/Fukuoka and AGA) by >10% and maintained their inherent specificity. Conclusions: PancreaSeqGCwas not only accurate in predicting pancreatic cyst type and advanced neoplasia but also improved the sensitivity of current pancreatic cyst guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The call for more male primary-school teachers has long been associated with the educational needs of boys, the importance of positive male role models in schools and the disproportionate number of male and female primary-school teachers internationally. However, little is known about whether or not parents and students actually want more male primary-school teachers and if they do, the reasons they have for wanting more. This paper addresses the under-representation of parents' and students' views by drawing from a study of the perspectives of 97 parents and 184 sixth-grade students from Sydney, Australia. Surveys and semi-structured focus group interviews with boys and girls, and their mothers and fathers revealed an overall perceived social need for more male primary-school teachers. In particular, the paper indicates that male primary-school teachers are considered important for boys; a view consistent with some extant research literature that does not include the views of parents or students. The paper further indicates that parents and students see male primary-school teachers as being beneficial to "girls"; a matter rarely discussed in any research literature irrespective of the stakeholder group studied.

Efficient catalytic reactions that can generate C-C bonds enantioselectively, and ones that can produce trisubstituted alkenes diastereoselectively, are central to research in organic chemistry. Transformations that accomplish these two tasks simultaneously are in high demand, particularly if the catalysts, substrates and reagents are inexpensive and if the reaction conditions are mild. Here we report a facile multicomponent catalytic process that begins with a chemoselective, site-selective and diastereoselective copper-boron addition to a monosubstituted allene; the resulting boron- substituted organocopper intermediates then participate in a similarly selective allylic substitution. The products, which contain a stereogenic carbon centre, a monosubstituted alkene and an easily functionalizable Z-trisubstituted alkenylboron group, are obtained in up to 89 per cent yield, with more than 98 per cent branch-selectivity and stereoselectivity and an enantiomeric ratio greater than 99:1. The copper-based catalyst is derived from a robust heterocyclic salt that can be prepared in multigram quantities from inexpensive starting materials and without costly purification procedures. The utility of the approach is demonstrated through enantioselective synthesis of gram quantities of two natural products, namely rottnestol and herboxidiene (also known as GEX1A)., Enantioselective processes where a catalyst unites a pair of starting materials and then induces the resulting species to react with a third substrate are sought-after in chemistry (1,2). Pathways that [...]

Objective: To evaluate the significance of UDD in IPMNs. Background: The uncinate process of the pancreas has an independent ductal drainage system. International consensus guidelines of IPMNs still consider it as a branch-duct, even though it is the main drainage system for the uncinate process. Methods: A retrospective review of all surgically treated IPMNs at our institution after 2008 was performed. Preoperative radiological studies were reviewed by an abdominal radiologist who was blinded to the pathological results. In addition to the Fukuoka criteria, presence of UDD was recorded. Using multivariate analysis, the pathological significance of UDD in predicting advanced neoplasia [high grade dysplasia or invasive carcinoma (HGD/ IC)] was determined. Results: Two hundred sixty patients were identified (mean age at diagnosis was 68 years and 49% were females): 122 (47%) had HGD/IC. UDD was noted in 59 (23%), of which 36 (61%) had HGD/IC (P < 0.003). On multivariate analysis, UDD was an independent predictor of HGD/IC (odds ratio = 2.99, P < 0.04). Subgroup analysis on patients with IPMNs confined to the dorsal portion of the gland (n = 161), also demonstrated UDD to be a significant predictor of HGD/IC in those remote lesions (odds ratio: 4.41, P = 0.039). Conclusions: This is the largest study to evaluate the significance of UDD in IPMNs and shows it to be a high-risk feature. This association persisted for remote IPMNs limited to the dorsal pancreas, suggesting UDD may be associated with an aggressive phenotype even in remote IPMN lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of therapeutic response after neoadjuvant treatment and pancreatectomy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has been an ongoing challenge. Several limitations have been encountered when employing current grading systems for residual tumor. Considering endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) represents a sensitive imaging technique for PDAC, differences in tumor size between preoperative EUS and postoperative pathology after neoadjuvant therapy were hypothesized to represent an improved marker of treatment response. For 340 treatment-naïve and 365 neoadjuvant-treated PDACs, EUS and pathologic findings were analyzed and correlated with patient overall survival (OS). A separate group of 200 neoadjuvant-treated PDACs served as a validation cohort for further analysis. Among treatment-naïve PDACs, there was a moderate concordance between EUS imaging and postoperative pathology for tumor size (r = 0.726, P <.001) and AJCC 8th edition T-stage (r = 0.586, P <.001). In the setting of neoadjuvant therapy, a decrease in T-stage correlated with improved 3-year OS rates (50% vs 31%, P <.001). Through recursive partitioning, a cutoff of ≥47% tumor size reduction was also found to be associated with improved OS (67% vs 32%, P <.001). Improved OS using a ≥47% threshold was validated using a separate cohort of neoadjuvant-treated PDACs (72% vs 36%, P <.001). By multivariate analysis, a reduction in tumor size by ≥47% was an independent prognostic factor for improved OS (P =.007). The difference in tumor size between preoperative EUS imaging and postoperative pathology among neoadjuvant-treated PDAC patients is an important prognostic indicator and may guide subsequent chemotherapeutic management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction, cloning, and expression of the synthetic genes encoding recombinant spider silk proteins is presented. The repetitive units in the synthetic genes were patterned after sequences identified from native dragline silk proteins. These sequences were transformed to DNA sequences to maximize expression levels in Escherichia coli, which were used as building blocks for the construction. These synthetic spider silks were seen to have significant beta-sheet structure.

Methods for the bacterial expression of artificial repetitive polypeptides are developed and the correlation between primary sequence and solid-state conformation in these polypeptides is investigated. The chemical synthesis and cloning of short oligonucleotides followed by self-ligation results in DNA fragments encoding variable numbers of repeating (AlaGly)3ProGluGly elements. Genetic instability is not observed from the synthetic DNA used in the translation system.

Catalytic enantioselective allylic substitution (EAS) reactions involving the use of alkyl- or aryl-substituted vinylaluminum reagents and producing 1,4-dienes containing a quaternary carbon stereogenic center at their C-3 site are described. Sequential Ni-catalyzed hydrometalations and Cu-catalyzed C-C bond-forming reactions have allowed for the synthesis of a range of enantiomerically enriched EAS products and the utility of the protocols is shown through a concise enantioselective synthesis of natural product bakuchiol.

Catalytic enantioselective conjugate addition (ECA) reactions with readily accessible and stereochemically defined E‐, Z‐, di‐ and trisubstituted alkenyl aluminum compounds are disclosed. Transformations are promoted by various NHC‐copper catalysts (NHC=N‐heterocyclic carbene), which are derived from enantiomerically pure sulfonate imidazolinium salts. The desired products were obtained in up to 89% yield and >99:1 e.r.; the alkenyl moiety was transferred with complete retention of its stereochemical identity in all instances. The scope and limitations of the approach, key mechanistic attributes, and representative functionalization are presented as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]