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MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF PSGL-1 DECAMERIC REPEATS FOR INACTIVATING HIV-1 INFECTIVITY
No full textThis work is embargoed by the author and will not be publicly available until August 2028.P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1/CD162) is a dimeric glycoprotein that has been identified as a restriction enzyme factor of HIV-1. PSGL-1 is expressed on the surface of CD4+ T cells, primarily on lymphoid and myeloid cells. This mucin-like surface protein binds to P, E, and L selectin, is upregulated during inflammation, and mediates leukocyte tethering and rolling. Previous studies showed PSGL-1 blocks the infectivity of virions released through steric hindrance, preventing particles from attaching to target cells. Mapping studies showed PSGL-1’s extracellular N-terminus is needed for the antiviral activity. Polymorphisms of PSGL-1 contain an extracellular domain containing 14-16 tandem repeats of 10 amino acids, with the consensus sequence, (-A-T/M-E-A-Q-T-T-X-P/L-A/T-). The extracellular region contains highly O-glycosylated Threonines (30%) and Prolines (10%), which in addition to the tandem repeats form a sturdy elongated backbone for the protein. To determine if the presence of the decameric repeats (DRs) in PSGL-1 is required for its anti-HIV activity, we performed DR deletion mutagenesis studies of PSGL-1, deleting single DR to all DRs. We found that deleting all DRs eliminated PSGL-1’s antiviral activity, but the presence of a single DR, dependent on location, was sufficient to maintain its antiviral activity. The PSGL-1 mutant containing 1 DR has lower antiviral activity than full-length PSGL-1. Mutagenesis of N-linked and O-linked glycosylation sites inside and outside the DRs demonstrated that these sites contribute to PSGL-1’s restriction of HIV-1 activity. However, residues involved in selectin-binding did not appear to be critical for PSGL-1’s antiviral activity. Furthermore, we show that the availability of glucose also affected the antiviral activity of PSGL-1. The results demonstrate that PSGL-1 maintains significant antiviral activity in the absence of certain decameric repeats and the presence of glycosylation sites also influences its anti-HIV activity.2028-08-1
DELEGATE OR ABDICATE: HOW PUBLIC OPINION INFLUENCES CONGRESSIONAL AND EXECUTIVE BEHAVIOR
Get PDFWhen referring policy to the executive branch, how does the US Congress determine whether to delegate or abdicate policymaking authority? This research investigates the important role of public attitudes over policy in congressional decisions to abdicate or delegate to the executive branch in the modern legislative era, 1973 - 2020. I operationalize congressional delegation or abdication by measuring oversight activity and developing a ratio of proactive to passive activities across 21 policy areas. My theory posits that congressional interactions with the executive are dependent on public attitudes over the most important problems in the country. I expect congressional action to depend on levels of public attitudes over policy, and for Congress to empower the executive to take unitary action in policy areas where Congress abdicates. The research uses the Comparative Agendas Project, Government Accountability Office, and Federal Register data to determine congressional and executive activity by policy area. I establish a baseline of congressional and executive activity to discern fluctuations in attention across policy topics, and this baseline is utilized to identify instances of delegation or abdication. The research employs a panel data statistical approach to test expectations, evaluating the relationship between the public's valuation of a policy topic and congressional decisions to delegate or abdicate. The results support that there is a significant relationship between public attitudes and congressional decisions to delegate or abdicate. Furthermore, the results indicate that Congress has increasingly abdicated to the executive over the past two decades
Three Essays on Monetary Economics and Policy
Get PDFThis dissertation consists of three chapters on monetary economics and policy. The first two chapters deal specifically with U.S. monetary issues. The third chapter traces Milton Friedman’s thinking on monetary theory and policy, more generally, but it is also relevant for U.S. monetary policy considerations.Chapter 1, coauthored with David Beckworth, examines the flexible average inflation targeting (FAIT) framework adopted by the Federal Reserve in 2020 and the framework’s failure to prevent the current inflation surge. This failure is the result of challenges created by FAIT’s asymmetric design. We argue that applying symmetric makeup policy and treatment of supply shocks can improve the FAIT framework in achieving the Federal Reserve’s stated goal of achieving 2 percent average inflation. Doing so would give FAIT the properties of a nominal GDP-level target, so we call this proposed framework FAIT-N. We show how to operationalize this framework using a measure called the NGDP gap. This chapter was previously published as a Mercatus Center working paper. Chapter 2 assesses the performance of Divisia and simple-sum monetary aggregates in explaining changes in key macroeconomic variables in the United States from 1967 to 2022. In the spirit of Friedman and Schwartz, I extract the cyclical components of money, output, and prices, and find that money generally leads the latter two variables. Next, I test for Granger causality from monetary aggregates to several measures of real activity. Then, I estimate a more inclusive VAR consisting of multiple real and nominal variables. Consistent with theory and previous research, Divisia aggregates outperform their simple-sum counterparts. While the narrower aggregates exhibit a close relationship with output and prices in the earlier years of the sample, the broader aggregates outperform the narrow aggregates over the entire period. This reflects an evolution of the monetary system where assets included in the broad aggregates became increasingly important. Finally, I use counterfactual forecasts to find that broad Divisia money played an important role in explaining the severity of the Great Recession and the high inflation of 2021 and 2022. Chapter 3 considers Milton Friedman’s normative views on monetary policy. For much of his career, Friedman advocated a constant money growth rule to limit central bank discretion and to achieve long-term price stability. By contrast, he wrote little on nominal income stabilization as an alternative goal for monetary policy. Despite this, a careful examination of Friedman’s work shows that the desirability of a constant money growth rule in his view depended on its ability to stabilize nominal income. Given Friedman’s preference for simple rules, requiring minimal knowledge on the part of central banks, he would have had strong reason to support nominal income targeting over central banks’ standard practice of inflation targeting. I consider several strategies for achieving a nominal income target, including a modified Taylor rule and multiple monetary base rules
Ground based light curve follow up observations and false positive testing for TESS Object of Interest 3553.01
Get PDFThe Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission gathers data for thousands of candidate exoplanets and their host stars (Zhang et al., 2022). In this paper we present research of TOI 3553, which is orbited by candidate exoplanet TOI 3553.01. The goal of this paper is to provide a ground based follow up of the planetary nature of TOI 3553.01. We also will confirm if TOI 3553 is a near eclipsing binary (NEB). We took 303 exposures with the GMU 0.8 m telescope and reduced them, then we conducted ground based multi aperture photometry using AstroImageJ to generate a light curve. Lastly, we conducted an NEB analysis on TOI 3553. We determined that TOI 3553.01 is not a near eclipsing binary. Due to the fact that the transit did not happen during the expected time, we did not confirm the planetary nature of TOI 3553.01
A Demographic Profile of Major League Soccer Metropolitan Communities
Get PDFMajor League Soccer is in the midst of a growing movement as a professional Soccer League in North America. With its growth in the sport, Major League Soccer has gone through the process of expanding the league from 10 cities back in the inaugural season of 1996 to 32 teams in North America, with the most recent expansion selection and approval by the league committee happening in late 2019. Using a collective case study approach, this study sought to gain a better understanding of the demographic factors that characterize the metropolitan areas surrounding Major League Soccer (MLS) teams. An understanding of commonalities and differences in characteristics across each site can be used to identify key factors that should be considered when selecting expansion cities
SOOTHING AND BAFFLING EXPEDIENTS: THE U.S. PRACTICE OF COERCIVE DIPLOMACY, 1990-2020
Get PDFThis dissertation examines the U.S. practice of Coercive Diplomacy (CD) from 1990-2020 with three primary goals in mind: to provide an empirical description of U.S. CD in a manner that integrates different coercive tools, to examine policy outcomes in light of variables derived from previous work on CD and on communications theory, and to examine the causes of success and failure in CD. The study employs a mixed methods approach, including statistical analysis, case studies, and expert interviews. A total of 122 major coercive episodes were identified and analyzed, and a number of trends in coercive performance and outcome emerged. The study offers a number of insights useful to practitioners and analysts of U.S. foreign policy in the developing era of Great Power Competition
Accessing Authenticity: Theorizing a Holistic Model of Writing Development
No full textThis work is embargoed by the author and will not be publicly available until May 2033.The field of writing studies has long understood that authentic writing tasks provide significant opportunities for writers to develop, and the predominant models in the field describe this development in cognitive terms. These cognitive models are useful for explaining the kinds of knowledge writers need to acquire and apply in order to effectively compose, but they do not articulate other factors that influence writing performance and growth. This dissertation theorizes a holistic model of writing development for the field of writing studies that adds affective, social, and material dimensions to the current cognitive models that predominate the field’s scholarship. It does so through the evidence collected from an ethnographic study of learning to write in an authentic learning environment. Specifically, it describes the experiences of undergraduate students and their mentors writing proposals to seek funding for independent scholarly, creative, or research projects and the evaluators who review these proposals. The qualitative analysis of this data surfaces often hidden factors that facilitate student success and barriers that inhibit access to and participation within authentic learning environments. The holistic model of writing development forwarded in this dissertation thus helps address current questions related to access, equity, and inclusion in higher education.2033-05-1
ENVIRONMENTALIST IDENTITY: A MIXED METHODS STUDY
Get PDFSelf-identified environmentalism in American adults has been rapidly declining over the past three decades. The following dissertation will attempt to better understand some of the reasons why in a two-part mixed methods study. In Study One, semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who identified as caring for the planet, N = 36. Major findings indicate that most individuals are influenced by a respected entity early on, and that environmentalism is rooted as a personal identity. Additionally, these individuals have high empathy and perform a wide breadth of pro-environmental behaviors. Last, it was found that those who care for the planet are largely disenchanted with the word choice of environmentalist. Study Two was informed by the results of Study One. Survey data was collected from a nationally representative sample of American adults, N = 484. A multiple regression was performed to investigate major antecedents of environmentalist identity. Findings indicate that pro-environmental behavior, felt responsibility, affective assessment, empathy, and gender all play a significant role in the formation of environmentalists. Implications are discussed
The Development and Validation of the Prosocial Goals in Online Learning Instrument for Middle School Students
Get PDFProsocial behaviors (e.g., sharing, helping) are important for adolescents’ academic and social-emotional wellbeing and can be predicted by students’ adoption of prosocial goals. Due to the recent uptick in experiences with learning online for adolescents, understanding what prosocial behaviors look like for students within this context, as well as identifying students who do or do not have goals to exhibit these prosocial behaviors, have increased in importance. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new measure, the Prosocial Goals in Online Learning Instrument (P-GOLI), which could be used to determine whether a student has prosocial goals when they are engaged in learning online. Phase 1 (Development and Validation) included the initial development of P-GOLI items based on a review of the literature, expert reviews (n = 3), cognitive interviews (n = 5), and a pilot test (n = 18). In Phase 2 (Continued Validation), the instrument was administered to a larger sample of the population (N = 123), along with others instruments to support construct validity. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted and the P-GOLI was found to have three factors: Interactive, Reflective, and Problem-Solving prosocial goals when learning online. Implications, limitations, and next steps for the P-GOLI and this novel construct are described
Amor. Pasión y sufrimiento
No full textEl discurso sobre el amor en la literatura Ilustrada. La reivindicación de las pasiones y su relación con la felicidad., a través de la obra de Mme. du Châtelet ( 1706-1749) y de Mme. d' Èpinay ( 1726- 1783