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A growing number of schools are adopting restorative justice (RJ) practices that de–emphasize exclusionary discipline and aim for racial equity. We examine student discipline as RJ programs matured in Meadowview Public Schools from 2008 to 2017. Our difference–in–difference estimates show that students in RJ schools experienced a profound decline in their suspension rates during the first 5 years of implementation. However, the benefits of RJ were not shared by all students, as disciplinary outcomes for Black students were largely unchanged. While the overall effects of RJ in this context are promising, racial disproportionality widened. Our results suggest that the racial equity intentions of RJ may be diluted as schools integrate RJ into their existing practices.

Extant research on the gender pay gap suggests that men and women who do the same work for the same employer receive similar pay, so that processes sorting people into jobs are thought to account for the vast majority of the pay gap. Data that can identify women and men who do the same work for the same employer are rare, and research informing this crucial aspect of gender differences in pay is several decades old and from a limited number of countries. Here, using recent linked employer–employee data from 15 countries, we show that the processes sorting people into different jobs account for substantially less of the gender pay differences than was previously believed and that within-job pay differences remain consequential. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (Award 0525831; D.A., A.M.P. and D.T.), the Humboldt Foundation (grant number AR8227; D.T.), the Research Council of Norway (grant number 287016; A.S.H.), European Research Council ERC Starting Grant (grant number 851149; A.S.H.), the European Research Council ERC Starting Grant (grant number 677739; T.K.), the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grant ANR-17-CE41-0009-01; M. Safi and O.G.), the Independent Research Fund Denmark (grant number 5052-00143b; L.H.), the European Social Fund and state budget of the Czechia (grant number CZ.03.1.51/0.0/0.0/15_009/0003702; A.K.), the Czech NPO Systemic Risk Institute (LX22NPO5101; A.K.), and institutional support (RVO: 68378025; A.K.), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant number PID2020-118807RB-I00/AEI /10.13039/501100011033; M.E.), the Fritz Henkel Stiftung (Endowed PhD Scholarship; HS) and Swedish Forte (grant number 2015-00807; M.H.), Z.L. received support from the European Research Council ERC Advanced Grant (grant number 340045), and A.K.M. was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) under grant no. P5-0193.

Previous research has established that people shift their identities situationally and may come to subconsciously mirror one another. We explore this phenomenon among survey interviewers in the 2004-2018 General Social Survey by drawing on repeated measures of racial identification collected after each interview. We find not only that interviewers self-identify differently over time but also that their response changes cannot be fully explained by several measurement-error related expectations, either random or systematic. Rather, interviewers are significantly more likely to identify their race in ways that align with respondents’ reports. The potential for affiliative identification, even if subconscious, has a range of implications for understanding race-of-interviewer effects, the social construction of homophily, and for how we consider causality in studies of race and racial inequality more broadly.

The Virus BioResistor (VBR) is a biosensor capable of the rapid and sensitive detection of small protein disease markers using a simple dip-and-read modality. For example, the bladder cancer-associated protein DJ-1 (22 kDa) can be detected in human urine within 1.0 min. with a limit-of-detection (LOD) of 10 pM. The VBR uses engineered virus particles as receptors to recognize and selectively bind the protein of interest. These virus particles are entrained in a conductive poly(3,4 ethylenedioxythiophene) or PEDOT channel. The electrical impedance of the channel increases when the target protein is bound by the virus particles. But VBRs exhibit a sensitivity that is inversely related to the molecular weight of the protein target. Thus, large proteins, such as IgG antibodies (150 kDa), can be undetectable even at high concentrations. We demonstrate that the electrochemical over-oxidation of the VBR’s PEDOT channel increases its electrical impedance, conferring enhanced sensitivity for both small and large proteins. Over-oxidation makes possible the detection of two an antibody, undetectable at a normal VBR, with a limit-of-detection of 40 ng/mL (250 pM), and a dynamic range for quantitation extending to 600 ng/mL.

Females with autism have unique socialization profiles, but less is known about sex/gender differences in the context of socialization interventions. This study utilized a combination of behavioral and survey measures to examine sex/gender differences in 32 autistic adolescents (10 females, 22 males) before and after participation in the 20-week START socialization program. At intake, males self-reported superior social skills use while parents endorsed that females demonstrated superior social competencies. While males and females both experienced socialization improvements post-trial, females experienced greater increases in self-reported social competency and the proportion of questions they asked during peer conversations. These preliminary findings on differential intervention response may help inform future social skill intervention efforts for the needs of females on the spectrum.

pH sensors that are nanoscopic in all three dimensions are fabricated within a single gold nanowire. Fabrication involves the formation of a nanogap within the nanowire via electromigration, followed by electropolymerization of pH-responsive poly(aniline) (PANI) that fills the nanogap forming the nanojunction. All fabrication steps are performed using wet chemical methods that do not require a clean room. The measured electrical impedance of the PANI nanojunction is correlated with pH from 2.0 to 9.0 with a response time of 30 s. Larger, micrometer-scale PANI junctions exhibit a slower response. The measured pH is weakly influenced by the salt concentration of the contacting aqueous solution. An impedance measurement at two frequencies (300 kHz and 1.0 Hz) enables estimation of the salt concentration and correction of the measured pH value, preserving the accuracy of the pH measurement across the entire calibration curve for salt concentrations up to 1.0 M. The result is a nanoscopic pH sensor with pH sensing performance approaching that of a conventional, macroscopic pH glass-membrane electrode.

Hydrogen (H2) is one of the next-generation energy sources because it is abundant in nature and has a high combustion efficiency that produces environmentally benign products (H2O). However, H2/air mixtures are explosive at H2 concentrations above 4%, thus any leakage of H2 must be rapidly and reliably detected at much lower concentrations to ensure safety. Among the various types of H2 sensors, chemiresistive sensors are one of the most promising sensing systems due to their simplicity and low cost. This review highlights the advances in H2 chemiresistors, including metal-, semiconducting metal oxide-, carbon-based materials, and other materials. The underlying sensing mechanisms for different types of materials are discussed, and the correlation of sensing performances with nanostructures, surface chemistry, and electronic properties is presented. In addition, the discussion of each material emphasizes key advances and strategies to develop superior H2 sensors. Furthermore, recent key advances in other types of H2 sensors are briefly discussed. Finally, the review concludes with a brief outlook, perspective, and future directions.

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognized in vitro evolution, including the development by George Smith and Gregory Winter of phage display, a technology for engineering the functional capabilities of antibodies into viruses. Such bacteriophage solve inherent problems with antibodies including their high cost, thermal lability, and their propensity to aggregate. While phage display accelerated the discovery of peptide and protein motifs for recognition and binding to proteins in a variety of applications, the development of biosensors using intact phage particles was largely unexplored in the early 2000’s. Virus particles, 16.5 MDa in size and assembled from thousands of proteins, could not simply be substituted for antibodies in any existing biosensor architectures. Incorporating viruses into biosensors required us to answer several questions: What process will allow the incorporation of viruses into a functional bioaffinity layer? How can the binding of a protein disease marker to a virus particle be electrically transduced to produce a signal? Will the variable salt concentration of a bodily fluid interfere with electrical transduction? A completely new biosensor architecture, and a new scheme for electrically transducing the binding of molecules to viruses, was required. This Account describes the highlights of a research program, launched in 2006, that answered these questions. These efforts culminated in 2018, in the invention of a biosensor specifically designed to interface with virus particles – the Virus BioResistor (VBR). The VBR is a resistor, consisting of a conductive polymer matrix into which M13 virus particles are entrained. The electrical impedance of this resistor, measured across four orders of magnitude in frequency, simultaneously measures the concentration of a target protein and the ionic conductivity of the medium in which the resistor is immersed. Large signal amplitudes coupled with the inherent simplicity of the VBR sensor design results in high signal-to-noise (S/N >100) and excellent sensor-to-sensor reproducibility. Using this new device, we have measured the urinary bladder cancer biomarker, nucleic acid deglycase (DJ-1) in urine samples. This optimized VBR is characterized by extremely low sensor-to-sensor coefficients-of-variation in the range of 3-7% across the DJ-1 binding curve down to a 30 pM limit-of-quantitation (LOQ), encompassing four orders of magnitude in concentration.

Although Li-ion batteries have emerged as the battery of choice for electric vehicles and large-scale smart grids, significant research efforts are devoted to identifying materials that offer higher energy density, longer cycle life, lower cost, and/or improved safety compared to those of conventional Li-ion batteries based on intercalation electrodes. By moving beyond intercalation chemistry, gravimetric capacities that are 2-5 times higher than that of conventional intercalation materials (e.g., LiCoO2 and graphite) can be achieved. The transition to higher-capacity electrode materials in commercial applications is complicated by several factors. This Review highlights the developments of electrode materials and characterization tools for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, with a focus on the structural and electrochemical degradation mechanisms that plague these systems.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been scarcely investigated in the field of sleep research. We hypothesize that DBS onto hypothalamic sleep- and wake-promoting centers will produce significant neuromodulatory effects and potentially become a therapeutic strategy for patients suffering severe, drug-refractory sleep–wake disturbances. We aimed to investigate whether continuous electrical high-frequency DBS, such as that often implemented in clinical practice, in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) or the perifornical area of the posterior lateral hypothalamus (PeFLH), significantly modulates sleep–wake characteristics and behavior. We implanted healthy rats with electroencephalographic/electromyographic electrodes and recorded vigilance states in parallel to bilateral bipolar stimulation of VLPO and PeFLH at 125 Hz and 90 µA over 24 h to test the modulating effects of DBS on sleep–wake proportions, stability and spectral power in relation to the baseline. We unexpectedly found that VLPO DBS at 125 Hz deepens slow-wave sleep (SWS) as measured by increased delta power, while sleep proportions and fragmentation remain unaffected. Thus, the intensity, but not the amount of sleep or its stability, is modulated. Similarly, the proportion and stability of vigilance states remained altogether unaltered upon PeFLH DBS but, in contrast to VLPO, 125 Hz stimulation unexpectedly weakened SWS, as evidenced by reduced delta power. This study provides novel insights into non-acute functional outputs of major sleep–wake centers in the rat brain in response to electrical high-frequency stimulation, a paradigm frequently used in human DBS. In the conditions assayed, while exerting no major effects on the sleep–wake architecture, hypothalamic high-frequency stimulation arises as a provocative sleep intensity-modulating approach.

How should schools assign students to more rigorous math courses so as best to help their academic outcomes? We identify several hundred California middle schools that used 7th-grade test scores to place students into 8th-grade algebra courses and use a regression discontinuity design to estimate average impacts and heterogeneity across schools. Enrolling in 8th-grade algebra boosts students’ enrollment in advanced math in ninth grade by 30 percentage points and eleventh grade by 16 percentage points. Math scores in tenth grade rise by 0.05 standard deviations. Women, students of color, and English-language learners benefit disproportionately from placement into early algebra. Importantly, the benefits of 8th-grade algebra are substantially larger in schools that set their eligibility threshold higher in the baseline achievement distribution. This suggests a potential tradeoff between increased access and rates of subsequent math success.

Females with autism have unique socialization profiles, but less is known about sex/gender differences in the context of socialization interventions. This study utilized a combination of behavioral and survey measures to examine sex/gender differences in 32 autistic adolescents (10 females, 22 males) before and after participation in the 20-week START socialization program. At intake, males self-reported superior social skills use while parents endorsed that females demonstrated superior social competencies. While males and females both experienced socialization improvements post-trial, females experienced greater increases in self-reported social competency and the proportion of questions they asked during peer conversations. These preliminary findings on differential intervention response may help inform future social skill intervention efforts for the needs of females on the spectrum.

Background In 2019 the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) launched an initiative to switch inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients on the infliximab originator, Remicade, to biosimilars Inflectra or Renflexis. Evidence shows that such switches can be made without compromising efficacy or safety of treatment. Aims We examined results in a large IBD practice, with the hypothesis that patients required to switch to a biosimilar would have similar remission rates to those who remained on Remicade. Methods A total of 113 patients were included in this retrospective chart study. 80 of these were switched to biosimilars and were compared with 33 who remained on Remicade based on availability of private or compassionate coverage. Individual patient timelines were created, the start set as when the mandated switch was discussed. Data was collected retrospectively for 6 months. Outcomes included remission status, occurrence of flares, adverse events, hospitalizations, and necessity of dosage or drug change. Results Pre-switch, 49 of the 113 patients were in complete remission on Remicade (43.4%). 27% of the Remicade patients and 28.8% of the biosimilar patients remained in complete remission throughout follow up (p=0.87). Of the patients who began the study in complete remission, similar numbers of patients in the Remicade and biosimilar groups experienced flares (11.1% vs 27.5%; p=0.3); adverse events (33.3% vs 25%; p=0.61) and hospitalizations (0% vs 5.0%; p=0.49) respectively. 6.1% of patients beginning the trial in complete remission required a change in medication after the switch, all of which were in the biosimilar group (0% vs 7.5%; p=0.39). Among all 113 patients in the study, there was a numerical difference between the Remicade group and biosimilar group of patients who required a change in medication to another biologic. While clinically important, this was not statistically significant (0% vs 8.8%; p=0.08). Other clinical outcomes were similar between Remicade and biosimilar patients in the full group of 113 patients. Conclusions IBD patients remaining on Remicade or switching to biosimilars demonstrated similar patient outcomes after a 6-month period. Funding Agencies None

Although first-century writings in the New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the pseudepigrapha are widely recognized for their descriptions of the ultimate destiny of individuals and the world, the views of Philo of Alexandria do not get the same attention. To situate the apocalyptic eschatologies of Jesus, the Qumran sectarians, and Enoch in their context, we must compare them to the eschatology of this contemporary Hellenistic Jew. I demonstrate that Philo’s eschatology is shaped by two convictions: (1) that God is good and can do no evil, and (2) virtue must be developed within people in this life. These convictions entail that the purpose of punishment must be solely for correction, and that God provides unlimited opportunity for souls to improve. Philo held that reincarnation provides just such an ever-improving spiral in which souls finally become wise by honoring God and consequently the world becomes a peaceful, prosperous paradise.

The view expressed in BDAG that Hebrais refers not to Hebrew but to ‘the Aramaic spoken at that time in Palestine’ derives from a century-old argument that because Hebrais could mean either Aramaic or Hebrew, and since the average person could not understand Hebrew, Hebrais must mean Aramaic. This article challenges the view that Hebrais(ti) could mean Aramaic (1) by using an exhaustive list of all instances to show that Aramaic was consistently distinguished from Hebrew, and (2) by explaining the evidence to the contrary: Aramaic-looking words in John, Josephus and Philo that are said to be Hebraisti.

A polymer-based electrode capable of specific detection of human serum albumin, and its glycated derivatives, is described. The sensor is constructed from a glass microscope slide coated with a synthesized, polythiophene film bearing a protected, iminodiacetic acid motif. The electrode surface is then further elaborated to a functional biosensor through deprotection of the iminodiacetic acid, followed by metal-affinity immobilization of a specific and high-affinity, albumin ligand. Albumin was then quantified in buffer and synthetic urine via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Glycated albumin was next bound to a boronic acid-modified, single-cysteine dihydrofolate reductase variant to quantify glycation ratios by square-wave voltammetry. The platform offers high sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility in an inexpensive arrangement. The detection limits exceed the requirements for intermediate-term glycemic control monitoring in diabetes patients at 5 and 1 nM for albumin and its glycated forms, respectively.

Colleges offer remedial coursework to help students enrolling in post-secondary education who are not adequately prepared to succeed in college-level courses. Despite the prevalence of remediation, previous research presents contradictory findings regarding its short- and long-term effects. This paper uses a doubly robust inverse probability weighting strategy to examine whether the degree completion and wage outcomes associated with remedial education vary by passing or failing remedial coursework. Using the NLSY Postsecondary Transcript-1997 data, we find that almost 30% of remedial course takers fail a remedial course. Students who took and passed their remedial coursework at both two-year and four-year colleges were more likely to graduate from college than similar students who did not take remediation. For both two-year and four-year college entrants, students who failed remedial coursework were less likely to obtain a bachelor’s degree and, among degree receivers, took longer to graduate. Students who entered two-year or four-year colleges and who failed remedial coursework earned lower wages over time compared to similar students who never took remediation. Among four-year college entrants, these wage differences seem to be explained completely by degree completion. However, wage differences for two-year college entrants still remain after accounting for degree receipt. Our findings thus suggest that while many students may benefit from remedial education, a substantial number of students struggle with remedial coursework and fail to realize the intended benefits.

Despite interest in the contributions of school discipline to the creation of racial inequality, previous research has been unable to identify how students who receive suspensions in school differ from unsuspended classmates on key young adult outcomes. We utilize novel data to document the links between high school discipline and important young adult outcomes related to criminal justice contact, social safety net program participation, postsecondary education, and the labor market. We show that the link between school discipline and young adult outcomes tends to be stronger for Black students than for White students, and that approximately 30% of the Black–White disparities in young adult criminal justice outcomes, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) receipt, and college completion can be traced back to inequalities in exposure to school discipline.