An overview of the CDFI industry

The community development financial institutions (CDFI) industry is at a crossroads in terms of identifying strategies for increasing overall sustainability and scale, and ultimately, impact. This article presents an overview of the CDFI industry in the United States and New England and identifies the changes and challenges facing CDFIs and what they indicate for the sector’s future.Financial institutions ; Financial institutions - New England ; Community development ; Community development - New England

Social Media and it\u27s Effects on Mental Health of High School Students

Previous studies have established a link between mental health and social media usage. That research has shown that social media usage in students can be detrimental to their self-esteem, motivation, and generalized anxiety. This study focused on the effects of social media usage on high school students. The hypothesis was that high social media usage would be associated with student mental health. This study included surveying high school students in the Northwest Indiana area. These surveys asked questions regarding how often the students used social media, what they used it for, and what their perceived stress and anxiety levels were regarding social media usage. This study is important because it brings awareness to the community on how social media can have an impact. The presenters include senior Social Work majors Nancy Engel, Kimberly Mullins, and Emma Brandy. The sponsor of this research is Professor Dr. Matthew Ringenberg, the Valparaiso University Social Work Department Chair

Knots with distinct primitive/primitive and primitive/Seifert representatives

Berge introduced knots that are primitive/primitive with respect to the genus 2 Heegaard surface, $F$, in $S^3$; surgery on such knots at the surface slope yields a lens space. Later Dean described a similar class of knots that are primitive/Seifert with respect to $F$; surgery on these knots at the surface slope yields a Seifert fibered space. Here we construct a two-parameter family of knots that have distinct primitive/Seifert embeddings in $F$ with the same surface slope, as well as a family of torus knots that have a primitive/primitive representative and a primitive/Seifert representative with the same surface slope.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures; 2 figures update

On manifolds with multiple lens space filings

An irreducible 3--manifold with torus boundary either is a Seifert fibered space or admits at most three lens space fillings according to the Cyclic Surgery Theorem. We examine the sharpness of this theorem by classifying the non-hyperbolic manifolds with more than one lens space filling, classifying the hyperbolic manifolds obtained by filling of the Minimally Twisted 5 Chain complement that have three lens space fillings, showing that the doubly primitive knots in $S^3$ and $S^1 \times S^2$ have no unexpected extra lens space surgery, and showing that the Figure Eight Knot Sister Manifold is the only non-Seifert fibered manifold with a properly embedded essential once-punctured torus and three lens space fillings.Comment: 30 pages, 13 figure

A new approach to public housing

Since 1996, a federal demonstration project called Moving to Work has shown that if public housing agencies are permitted to merge funds from various programs and are exempted from most regulations, they can administer housing programs better.Public housing - New England ; Public housing ; Housing policy

Drug transport mechanism of P-glycoprotein monitored by single molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer

In this work we monitor the catalytic mechanism of P-glycoprotein (Pgp) using single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Pgp, a member of the ATP binding cassette family of transport proteins, is found in the plasma membrane of animal cells where it is involved in the ATP hydrolysis driven export of hydrophobic molecules. When expressed in the plasma membrane of cancer cells, the transport activity of Pgp can lead to the failure of chemotherapy by excluding the mostly hydrophobic drugs from the interior of the cell. Despite ongoing effort, the catalytic mechanism by which Pgp couples MgATP binding and hydrolysis to translocation of drug molecules across the lipid bilayer is poorly understood. Using site directed mutagenesis, we have introduced cysteine residues for fluorescence labeling into different regions of the nucleotide binding domains (NBDs) of Pgp. Double-labeled single Pgp molecules showed fluctuating FRET efficiencies during drug stimulated ATP hydrolysis suggesting that the NBDs undergo significant movements during catalysis. Duty cycle-optimized alternating laser excitation (DCO-ALEX) is applied to minimize FRET artifacts and to select the appropriate molecules. The data show that Pgp is a highly dynamic enzyme that appears to fluctuate between at least two major conformations during steady state turnover.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure