22689 research outputs found
Sort by
Oral History of Erricka Bridgeford
No full textThis oral history about transgender experience in Baltimore was recorded as part of Vintage T, a public humanities project led by Monica Stevens, Jamie Grace Alexander, and Rahne Alexander and sponsored by Sistas of the “T” and the Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center. Vintage T was launched in 2023 to document and archive the perspectives, strategies, and personal histories of trans individuals in Baltimore, thereby preserving valuable traditions within trans communities
Defining The Role Of Sensory Nerves In Osteosarcoma Using Imaging And Sequencing Approaches
No full textProblem Statement: Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant bone cancer. Peripheral neural regulation of cancer growth has been suggested by clinical observations in pancreatic and prostate cancers, but limited studies explore the role of nerve in OS. My thesis aims to define the pathological sensory innervation and vascular infiltration patterns in response to OS and to study the phenotypic and molecular changes upon TrkA disruption.
Methods: Human 143B OS cells were injected into the NOD-Scid mice. TrkA inhibition was achieved by treating TrkAF592A mice with small molecule 1NMPP1. Tumor volume analysis was performed using serial caliper measurements. Innervation (TUBB3), vascularity (CD31), and cancer cell proliferation (Ki67) were assayed using immunostaining. Tumor implants were harvested and subjected to single-cell RNA sequencing to detect the underlying molecular alterations upon TrkA disruption. Downstream analysis steps were performed using the R studio Seurat package. Differentially expressed genes were analyzed using Gene Oncology enrichment analysis and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis.
Results: The temporal patterning of peripheral nerve and vascular infiltration was examined in a xenograft OS model during OS growth. Robust sprouting of pathological sensory nerves was found adjacent to the OS periphery with a 34.4% increase compared to non-inoculated mice. A 79.9% increase in vascular density was observed over the 28 days post-tumor injection. TrkA inhibition resulted in a 51.5% reduction in tumor size which was associated with an 80.1% reduction in Ki67 proliferative index at day 28 after inoculation. The nerve and vascular density upon TrkA disruption was reduced by 88.6% and 74.0%, respectively. Transcriptomic analysis showed increased apoptosis and reduced invasiveness, as well as reduced notch signaling pathway in the human OS cell cluster from TrkAF592A compared to the TrkAWT, which was consistent with the phenotypic observation.
Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that pathological TrkA+ nerve sprouting was a consistent feature in OS. TrkA inhibition resulted in reduced innervation and vascular density, which significantly mitigated OS disease progression in a mouse xenograft model. Mechanistically, denervation altered Notch signaling activity in the implanted human OS cells. In sum, preventing pathological innervation in tumors may represent a future adjunctive therapy in human OS
SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP: MAPPING THE PATH TO NET ZERO AND BEYOND WITH APPLE, GOOGLE, AND MICROSOFT
Get PDFThis report arrives at a critical juncture in corporate strategy, especially within the technology sector, where Net Zero is rapidly becoming a key focus. This report specifically examines the efforts of leading U.S.-based tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft in their progression towards "Net Zero" emissions, a milestone that remains an ongoing challenge. This research aims to clearly articulate the nuanced differences between and pathways to achieving carbon neutrality, attaining Net Zero emissions, and taking actions that exceed these goals.
The hypothesis of this report is that the leading U.S. technology companies, particularly Apple, Google, and Microsoft, are not merely aiming to achieve 'Net Zero' emissions but are actively pioneering a multifaceted approach towards this goal that other companies can learn from. The hypothesis also posits that the strategies, technological innovations, and policy frameworks employed by these companies are not only advancing their own sustainability goals but are also setting a precedent for the entire tech industry.
This approach includes a progression from their current status to carbon neutrality — where emissions are offset by equivalent carbon reductions — to attaining and surpassing Net Zero emissions – where emissions are reduced to 95% below a 2018 baseline - through significant emission reductions. These companies are utilizing a combination of innovative technological solutions, robust internal sustainability policies, and leveraging external regulatory frameworks to not only reach but potentially exceed these sustainability milestones. Through a thorough review of these strategies, the purpose of this research is to offer actionable insights and strategies for other tech companies to emulate, aiming to contribute to the broader goal of a sustainable and environmentally responsible technology sector
Exposure to Inorganic Arsenic During Pregnancy Alters Structure and Function of the Murine Maternal Heart
No full textInorganic arsenic (iAs) is a drinking water contaminant in many countries throughout the world, including the U.S. The World Health Organization recommends a limit of 10µg/L iAs in drinking water yet estimates suggest that 140 million people worldwide consume water with iAs above this threshold. While iAs is a top public health contaminant of concern due to harmful health effects, iAs has been specifically established as a cardiotoxicant. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect(s) of iAs exposure on the maternal heart during pregnancy, with a focus on physiological and molecular changes using in vivo exposure paradigms. We sought to examine the impact of this environmental insult on the maternal heart as this is a relatively understudied area and can highlight potential hazards for pregnant mothers. Pregnant female C57BL/6J mice were exposed to either 1000, 100, or 0µg/L iAs (Control) after conception at embryonic day 2.5 (E2.5) with exposure ending at parturition. Dams were harvested at either E17.5 or postnatal day 12 (P12), and heart size and function were assessed using gravimetric measurement, histology, and transthoracic echocardiography. Markers of hypertrophy were examined at both time points using western blot and qRT-PCR, and single cell calcium and sarcomere shortening transients were examined postnatally. Offspring outcomes were also characterized. We found that prenatally, maternal hearts show a reduction in cardiac hypertrophy with downregulation of key markers of physiologic hypertrophy during pregnancy. Postnatally, we see that the hearts are enlarged compared to controls with some evidence of pathologic remodeling and calcium handling dysregulation. In offspring we find a reduction in postnatal growth with exposure to 100µg/L iAs and an increase in heart size in-utero at 1000µg/L iAs, as well as differential expression in proteins involved in one-carbon metabolism in the placenta. These findings underscore the detrimental impact of iAs on the cardiovascular system, as well as to reproductive and developmental health, and specifically highlight potential hazards posed by iAs exposure during pregnancy
EXPLORING SATISFACTION AMONG RESEARCH ADMINISTRATORS AT THEIR CURRENT PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT
No full textThis research aims to explore satisfaction among research administrators at their current employment. This study will examine the relationships among research administrators' overall perceptions of employee satisfaction and skills training and leadership development opportunities available through their place of employment. Are research administrators satisfied with the types of professional development available at their employment? Does satisfaction regarding professional development opportunities impact overall satisfaction with their current place of employment?
The Research Administrator Employment Satisfaction Survey was created to collect participant data related to their place of employment, duration at employment, and satisfaction related to skills training, leadership development, and overall satisfaction. Research administrators elected to participate via email invitation through professional listservs to which they subscribe. Surveys were collected and analyzed via quantitative methods.
The research administrators who participated are satisfied with their employment overall and with the availability of skills training and leadership development opportunities at their employment.
While correlations were found among the types of satisfaction, the impacts of skills training and leadership development satisfaction are unclear in relation to overall satisfaction
A Quantitative Analysis of The Retention And Reliability Of Information Presented During Informed Consents In A Virtual Environment As Compared To In-Person
No full textDue to national stay-at-home mandates prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, research institutions saw a dramatic increase in the number of research informed consents that were occurring using virtual means. However, attributable to the hasty implementation of these practices, the literary climate is sparse to address the implications surrounding mass utilization of virtual consenting. The goal of this thesis is to address these gaps in literature.
This project aims to discover any variations in retention and reliability of information provided during a research informed consent that takes place in a remote environment as compared to in-person. This is a quantitative cross-sectional study, that administers a survey to participants that fall within the scope of the screening criteria. Willing respondents are then asked to provide what they remember about their consent to the parent project; said responses are then graded for accuracy and statistically analyzed.
Findings from the subsequent quantitative analysis yielded no statistically significant results. As such, this study has found no difference in effectiveness of research informed consents that take place via phone as compared to in-person
Art and the Making of Loreto
No full textMy dissertation centers on Loreto, the small hill town in the Marches region of Central Italy where angels supposedly deposited the Virgin Mary’s house—the “Santa Casa”—after having flown it out of the Holy Land in the last decade of the thirteenth century. Drawing on studies of ritual, pilgrimage and its material culture, geopolitics, and, crucially, theorizations of place that emphasize the role of structures in transforming their environments, I trace the ways in which distant locations bore upon the elaboration of a sacred landscape in the Italian hinterland. Over three case studies that consider Luca Signorelli’s fresco cycle in the Sacristy of Saint John (ca. 1480–4), the Donato Bramante-designed marble ornamento surrounding Mary’s humble cottage (ca. 1507–76), and the painted and sculptural decoration in the Chapel of the Dukes of Urbino (ca. 1580–4), I contend that objects and monuments responded to political currents in Italy and the broader Mediterranean and, in turn, played a constitutive role in defining Loreto in various, and sometimes conflicting, ways. Rather than art being the product of place, as art theorists and historians have maintained since at least the sixteenth century, I show that place may be better understood as the product of art
LOW ENERGY SPECTROSCOPY OF TOPOLOGICAL SUPERCONDUCTOR CANDIDATE MATERIALS
No full textA Topological superconductor is a superconductor that is not adiabatically connected via a smooth crossover to the Bose-Einstein condensate limit. Some of these superconductors can host Majorana-Bound-States (MBSs). Since Majorana bound states are potentially applicable to fault-tolerant quantum computation, searching for new topological superconductor materials is one of the central challenges in quantum science. Most of the proposed topological superconductor candidate materials superconduct at very low temperatures of ~1 K. So, the energy gap of these superconductors lies in the microwave and Terahertz energy scale, making the spectroscopic tools in these energy ranges very useful for studying them. This thesis explores the utilization of low-energy optical spectroscopy techniques like time-domain-THz spectroscopy and microwave cavity resonator technique to study the electrodynamic response of various topological superconductor candidates, including heterostructures of Bi/Ni bilayer and Al-InAs two-dimension electron gas based hybrids, polycrystalline thin-films of β-tungsten, and single crystalline PdPb2. I use magneto-terahertz spectroscopy to elaborate on the nature of the superconducting gap and the origin of superconductivity in the time-reversal symmetry-breaking superconductor bilayer heterostructure of ultra-thin Bi and Ni. Through rigorous analysis of the optical spectra, I show that this complex order-parameter superconductor develops fully-gapped superconductivity in the entire sample rather than just the surface, as previously believed.
Next, I explore the superconductivity in polycrystalline β-tungsten thin-films, where I find an anomalously small energy gap that cannot be explained by conventional BCS theory and dissipation, which likely comes from the predicted topologically non-trivial surface states.
Similarly, crystalline PdPb2 show anomalous transport properties and unusual temperature dependence of microwave surface impedance measured using a cavity resonator. By ruling out disorder as an origin of this behavior through extensive sample characterization, we determine PdPb2 to be a candidate topological superconductor with a fully gapped bulk and normal fluid surface, consistent with Majorana surface states. Lastly, I study normal and superconducting state properties of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in InAs quantum well proximitized by aluminum which is a promising platform for topological qubits based on Majorana zero modes using magneto-terahertz spectroscopy
Boundedess of n-Complements on Algebraic Surfaces
No full textIn light of Shokurov’s result in 2020, the main purpose of this paper is to prove the boundedness of n-complements for surface pairs (X/Z ∋ o,B) , without the assumptions that X/Z is of weak Fano type, (X/Z ∋ o,B) has a klt R-complement or B has hyperstandard multiplicities
Early Viral Suppression and the Antibody Response to HIV Infection in HPTN 071 (PopART)
No full textHigh HIV viral loads are associated with an increased risk of transmission and faster disease progression. Effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces HIV viral load to low levels. Early HIV diagnosis and ART initiation are now recommended for all persons living with HIV, regardless of infection duration, CD4 cell count, or clinical status. HIV controllers naturally achieve low viral loads without ART. The antibody response to HIV infection evolves rapidly during the first year of infection, with dynamic changes in titer, avidity, and specificity. The HPTN 071 (PopART) trial provided a unique cohort to assess early HIV antibody responses in persons with natural and ART-induced viral suppression. This community-randomized trial, conducted in Zambia and South Africa, demonstrated that universal delivery of HIV counseling and testing decreased HIV incidence; HIV incidence was also reduced with provision of universal ART. In this dissertation research, we examined the impact of viral suppression on the HIV antibody response by evaluating the performance of serologic assays and algorithms designed for HIV cross-sectional incidence estimation. We also used a massively multiplexed antibody profiling system (VirScan) to characterize antibody reactivities in participants enrolled in HPTN 071. We identified HIV antibody specificities present prior to infection that were associated with HIV control and modulation of HIV viral load after infection. Our findings may inform future methods for identifying individuals with recent infection and estimating HIV incidence at the population level. They also provide new insights into factors associated with HIV control, which could inform future research on antibody-based interventions used for HIV treatment and prevention