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A Fur family protein BosR is a novel RNA-binding protein that controls rpoS RNA stability in the Lyme disease pathogen
Full text linkThe σ54-σS sigma factor cascade plays a central role in regulating differential gene expression during the enzootic cycle of Borreliella burgdorferi, the Lyme disease pathogen. In this pathway, the primary transcription of rpoS (which encodes σS) is under the control of σ54 which is activated by a bacterial enhancer-binding protein (EBP), Rrp2. The σ54-dependent activation in B. burgdorferi has long been thought to be unique, requiring an additional factor, BosR, a homologue of classical Fur/PerR repressor/activator. However, how BosR is involved in this σ54-dependent activation remains unclear and perplexing. In this study, we demonstrate that BosR does not function as a regulator for rpoS transcriptional activation. Instead, it functions as a novel RNA-binding protein that governs the turnover rate of rpoS mRNA. We further show that BosR directly binds to the 5 untranslated region (UTR) of rpoS mRNA, and the binding region overlaps with a region required for rpoS mRNA degradation. Mutations within this 5 UTR region result in BosR-independent RpoS production. Collectively, these results uncover a novel role of Fur/PerR family regulators as RNA-binding proteins and redefine the paradigm of the σ54–σS pathway in B. burgdorferi
Level Up! Priming Hobbyist Political Identity Using Survey Experiment
Full text linkRecent research suggests that a strong identity attachment to leisure activity affects the hobbyists\u27 political preferences and behavior. This paper further evaluates the claim that hobbyists - in this case, gamers - react differently to political stimuli that directly involve their hobby of choice. Using original survey experiment data, this paper shows that gamers become more interested in foreign trade policy when presented in the context of video games. This finding indicates that even seemingly apolitical identities matter in framing political behavior. Aspects of hobbyist identities seep into political attitudes, even if preferences in the strictest meaning of the word may take longer to form
Unveiling Realities: Building Trans Visibility in Climate Discourse
No full textTrans and gender-diverse individuals bear a disproportionate burden of the impacts of climate change. Despite this, their climate-specific needs and challenges remain inadequately researched and underrepresented in both climate change discourse and governance spaces. My Senior Capstone Project draws public attention to the unique experiences and vulnerabilities of trans individuals within the broader context of climate-related issues, and advocates for their inclusion and resilience. My three public writing pieces delve into various dimensions of this intersection, understanding how climate change affects transgender individuals, emphasizing the importance of including transgender voices in climate justice and governance discussions, highlighting the resilience of transgender individuals in the face of climate challenges, and proposing new models for mapping and addressing trans-specific vulnerabilities to climate change
The Effects of PM2.5 from Wildfires on Educational Attainment in California
No full textIn California, the threat of wildfires, specifically the threat from the pollutant PM2.5 found in 90% of wildfire smoke, is growing as climate change continues to increase the severity and frequency of wildfires (Wade, 2023). Educational outcomes such as test scores and cognitive function tests have been negatively linked to pollution exposure while little to no research exists on the link between pollution from wildfires and educational attainment. This thesis uses data from the CDC, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, California Department of Education, and the USDA to construct a sample of counties in California from 2014-2020. I employ a two-way fixed effects model to estimate the effect of contemporary, lagged, and cumulative PM2.5 on the college going rate in California. My findings indicate a significant negative effect of two-year lagged and cumulative PM2.5 on present educational attainment and no significant relationship between present PM2.5 exposure and educational attainment. These results suggest that activities earlier on in high school such as class selection, the decision to take a college entrance exam, and academic performance may suffer as a result of PM2.5 exposure and therefore reduce educational attainment
Tidal restriction affects carbon dynamics in the Jones Creek Salt Marsh, Scarborough, ME, USA
Full text linkHealthy salt marshes are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet. However, tidal restrictions can degrade a salt marsh, resulting in subsidence, decreased carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration, and carbon outwelling, compromising the system’s efficacy as a carbon sink. This study examines carbon stocks and sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions, pore water salinity and sulfates, sedimentation, and refractory peat fraction at depth upstream and downstream of a tidal restriction in the Jones Creek Marsh, Scarborough, Maine, USA. The average carbon density in the upper 100 cm was 0.025 ± 0.015 g/cm3 and 0.035 ± 0.008 g/cm3 upstream and downstream of the restriction, respectively, indicating significantly lower carbon stocks in the upstream area (p = 0.0001). Preliminary estimates of carbon sequestration differed between 50 gC/m2yr upstream of the tidal restriction and 70 gC/m2yr downstream of the tidal restriction. Greenhouse gas fluxes analyses from June and July suggested that methane emissions were significantly greater upstream of the tidal restriction in June (p \u3c 0.05), but not July. Methane flux was seemingly independent of both porewater salinity and sulfate concentrations. Above 20 cm, % refractory mass of the peat was highly dynamic. Below 20 cm, there was a significantly higher average % refractory mass upstream of the tidal restriction (M = 68.3 ± 5.8 %) than downstream of the tidal restriction (M = 55.0 ± 3.9 %) (p = 0.001), which raised questions about the efficacy of our estimations of long term carbon storage. Our data show that changes in marsh hydrology induced by the Snow’s Canning Road tidal restriction have effectively restricted tidal inundation to the west half of the Jones Creek Salt Marsh, and suggest that this restriction has a negative impact on carbon storage and sequestration upstream
Aldicarb sensitivity is altered in two strains with novel V-ATPase mutations in C. elegans.
Full text linkSynaptic vesicles are individual, uniform packets of neurotransmitters that transmit signals when they fuse to the presynaptic membrane. However, the mechanisms that regulate the quantity of neurotransmitters packaged into synaptic vesicles are not understood. Partially filled vesicles cause impaired signaling (Prado et al. 2006; de Castro et al. 2009; Lima et al. 2010), and vesicles are not maximally filled (Song et al. 1997; Pothos et al. 2000; Wojcik et al. 2004). What controls this set-point? The same vesicular proteins responsible for neurotransmitter loading may also determine fusion competence. Prior work has ruled out neurotransmitter quantity as a prerequisite for vesicle fusion (Ernstrom personal communication; Parsons et al. 1999), but has instead suggested a role of the pH gradient generated by the V-ATPase proton pump (Ernstrom personal communication; Rost et al. 2015). If a vesicle pH threshold is a determinant for vesicle release, then we expected to recover genetic variants where V-ATPase activity is correlated with vesicle fusion. To test this model, we screened candidate V-ATPase mutants in genetically tractable nematodes, Caenorhabditis elegans, for their sensitivity to the nematicide organophosphate, aldicarb. Aldicarb causes toxic, paralyzing accumulation of neurotransmitters in the neuromuscular junction between neurons and muscles. Animals that are resistant to the paralyzing effects of aldicarb typically have a defect in neurotransmitter release, while hypersensitive animals typically have abnormally high rates of neurotransmitter release (Mahoney et al. 2006). This thesis will present the quantitative analysis of V-ATPase mutants where the molecular mutations have been mapped, but the aldicarb sensitivity phenotypes have not been characterized. We identified resistance and hypersensitivity in two mutant strains respectively, suggesting a possible role of V-ATPase proton pump acidification in vesicle fusion competency
The Impact of Stable Modes on Saturation in Magnetorotational Turbulence
Full text linkThe magnetorotational instability (MRI) plays a pivotal role in the dynamics of protoplanetary disks and the accretion processes near black holes in galactic nuclei. MRI drives turbulence that transports density, heat, and angular momentum in the accretion disk. In ideal MRI, each unstable mode has a corresponding conjugate stable mode with a similar absolute value of the growth rate. This thesis investigates local magnetorotational turbulence in a shearing box with a uniform magnetic field through 3D incompressible magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Utilizing the Dedalus framework, we formulate an eigenvalue problem for MRI, and found the fastest-growing mode and its conjugate stable mode, along with their mode structures. We observed that in the linear growth phase, the most unstable mode dominated the state vectors of the MRI simulation. Using eigenmode projection, we found that in the turbulence phase, stable modes are excited and contribute to the turbulence of MRI
Embracing Diversity: Exploring the Multifaceted Experiences of Asian American students at PWIs
Full text linkDespite Asian Americans’ being well represented in higher education in the United States, their experiences on college campuses are commonly misunderstood and overlooked when it comes to advocating for minority voices. While there are previous studies that have explored Asian Americans\u27 sense of belonging and self-formation in post-secondary education, this present research aims to disaggregate the pan-ethnic label to avoid perpetuating monolithic perceptions of Asian American experiences in higher education. This paper gives greater visibility to sub-ethnic variations and overlapping identities that shape perceptions of self, belonging, and institutional support in predominantly white institutions. Drawing from 25 semi-structured interviews with Asian American undergraduate students across 11 colleges and universities, participants’ responses resulted in 6 themes: hypervisibility and invisibility in the classroom, monolithic stereotypes, conflicting national and ethnic identities, negotiating minoritized identities, co and pan-ethnic relationships, and lack of institutional recognition. In this thesis, I argue that monolithic stereotypes continue to define many of the racialized experiences Asian American students face in predominately white institutions (PWIs). This paper further presents solutions that Asian American students want to see implemented at their institutions to amplify Asian voices on campus
Metaautobiography and Identity\u27s Paradox: de Manian and Derridean Readings of Joyce and Svevo
Full text linkAs a narrative device which applies both to its characters and its respective reader, description of phenomenological experience as a source of insight is an integral aspect of James Joyce\u27s fiction. To the same extent that Stephen Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man arrives at epiphanic conclusions about his faith and about art, the reader is in a similar position to examine these as part of the analytic process. This phenomenological framework is of utmost concern in the type of deconstructive analysis we find in the works of Jacques Derrida and Paul de Man, who challenge the non-transcendental subjectivity of intuition as a solution to the question what is literature? Joyce virtually relays the above deconstructive predicament as the process by which Stephen arrives at self-discovery and artistic becoming. A main, yet hitherto unexamined aspect of this becoming, however, is Portrait\u27s extension into Ulysses, whereby Stephen\u27s identification with Leopold Bloom\u27s Otherness remedies the romanticized flaws in Stephen\u27s aesthetic theory in Portrait and has legitimate implications in our conception of Joyce\u27s works as metaautobiographical. To follow this claim, I will examine autobiographical information about Joyce and his relationship to the author who inspired Bloom\u27s character: Italo Svevo. More specifically, throughout this thesis I will point out how the mutual influence both Joyce and Svevo had on each other translates into their texts, insofar as Joyce\u27s fiction becomes the site for a meta-kunstelrroman about himself
Emancipatory or Merely Appropriate? Revealing the Right to Education under the Thirteenth Amendment and Its Implications for Students with Disabilities
Full text linkThe federal government has been invested in developing and advancing public education since the nation’s inception. However, the Constitution remains silent on the notion of a constitutionally protected right to education. Several scholars have suggested that such a right would flow from the framework of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection, Due Process, or Citizenship Clause. After reviewing these claims, I provide a framework for a fundamental right to education, which flows from an expansive and emancipatory reading of the Thirteenth Amendment. This thesis proceeds in two parts. In Part One, I evaluate the modalities of evidence that support a fundamental right to education. In Part Two, I apply my theory of a fundamental right to education to the case of access for students with disabilities. I review the passage and subsequent reforms to a law initially passed in 1975, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA. I then review the Supreme Court’s evaluation of this law in Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson Central School District., Westchester City. v. Rowley (1982), and ultimately consider whether, if the Constitution does guarantee a right to education, the outcome of this Supreme Court decision would change.1 This thesis offers policy, legal, and constitutional analysis on the fundamental right to education, specifically regarding the rights of students with disabilities