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This Wisdom of Crowds: C&T’s Approaches to Using Big Data to Inform Arts-Based Research
No full textC&T are a UK arts organization combining drama, learning and digital technology. This presentation will explore how C&T are combining these disciplines to develop new tools for the evaluation of arts projects and impact measurement. The presentation will include a number of C&T projects and tools to illustrate their approach
Radioactive Contamination and Climate Warming Affect Physiological Performance of Chornobyl Barn Swallows
No full textGlobal warming and degradation of natural habitats are the two main factors causing ecophysiological stress on individuals and risk for biodiversity. Hyperthermia is a common response to stress in homeothermic animals, in particular to heat, pathogens and environmental contamination. Resilience of biological systems to global warming may be deteriorated in polluted habitats. Here we investigated how body temperature of a wild bird, the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica), responded to global warming while simultaneously exposed to radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl accident. Our results showed that both high air temperatures (t = 15.55, df = 335, p \u3c 0.0001) and elevated environmental radioactive contamination (t = 5.18, df = 8.09, p = 0.0008) increased internal body temperature of individuals. The additive effect suggests that birds might suffer hyperthermia in locally contaminated habitat (1.47% body temperature increase) while simultaneously exposed to globally rising temperatures (1.95% body temperature increase), potentially reducing the fitness of individual and the maintenance of breeding colonies. The cumulative and interactive negative effects of multiple stressors, such as those emerging from increasing habitat degradation and climate change, will likely contribute to biodiversity losses globally
Menopause-Related Changes in Sleep and the Associations with Cardiometabolic Health: A Narrative Review
No full textThis narrative review examines the complex relationship between sleep changes during the menopausal transition and cardiometabolic risks. The most common complaint about sleep is increased awakenings during sleep. Other complaints include having trouble falling asleep, waking up too early, insufficient and non-restorative sleep, and overall poor quality. Sleep determined using objective methods also indicates that greater awakenings after sleep onset are associated with the period of menopausal transition. Polysomnography recordings suggest physiological hyperarousal during sleep. Changes in other sleep metrics, such as sleep latency and sleep duration, are less consistent, and some studies suggest they may not worsen during the menopausal transition. These sleep issues are influenced by multiple factors, such as hormonal fluctuations, vasomotor symptoms, and psychosocial factors, and evidence suggests that hypothalamic kisspeptin/neurokinin B/dynorphin (KNDy) neurons are key underlying mechanisms for these associations. The menopausal transition is also associated with increases in cardiometabolic risk factors, such as body fat, altered lipid profiles, blood pressure, and vascular health. Emerging evidence suggests that poor sleep health during this period is associated with increased cardiometabolic risks and adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Thus, addressing sleep disturbances is crucial for comprehensive healthcare during the menopausal transition to safeguard long-term cardiometabolic health. Future research is needed to investigate interventions that can improve sleep and their impact on cardiometabolic health in this population experiencing increases in cardiometabolic risk
Expanding Functionalities of Immune Receptors Through Simultaneous Transfer of Sensor and Helper NLRs
No full textUnleashing Hip-Hop Energy: Poetry, Performance, & Knowledge of Self
No full textCreative performances and co-construction of knowledge between audience and artist, educator and student can help to disrupt conventions that pressure educators and students to constrict both learning and themselves. Centered in the power of hip-hop culture and spoken word poetry, this session will facilitate a dialogue on the viability of “knowledge of self,” creative expression, and performance poetry as tools of liberatory learning
Unaccompanied Double Bass Literature: History, Pedagogy, and Performance Practice
No full textWhile most solo recitals featuring the double bass employ the piano as accompaniment, this ensemble configuration presents several problems for the performer in terms of balance and sound production. These challenges can cause students who are still developing their technique and musicianship to form bad habits in an effort to meet the demands of playing with piano. Over time, double bassists have developed a multitude of strategies to solve the problem of projecting a soloistic sound that will project over the accompaniment. However, the question must be asked: Why not remove the accompaniment from the equation entirely? While the double bass repertoire is not as extensive as other stringed instruments, unaccompanied pieces written specifically for the double bass exist as far back as the nineteenth century. There are plenty of pieces that can help students develop the same level of technique and artistry as repertoire written for bass and piano. This document presents a proposed curriculum of progressive repertoire composed of pieces written for unaccompanied double bass. The curriculum will direct the student through the entire range of technical capabilities on the instrument, as well as the many different styles of music that have gained notoriety throughout music history. This document will also provide instruction on how to guide a student through the technical and stylistic concepts introduced in each successive piece in the repertoire
Investigating the Role of Metallothioneins in Fungal Iron Homeostasis
No full textThe pathogenic fungi Aspergillus fumigatus requires metals to survive and infect humans, but metal overload can be detrimental. Metallothioneins (MTs) are small, cysteine-rich proteins that alleviate metal toxicity by binding excess metals (typically Zn or Cu) for storage or delivery. A recent report indicates that the Fe-S cluster binding glutaredoxin GrxD and the putative Cu-MT CmtA were interacting under high iron conditions in A. fumigatus. We hypothesize that this MT may have a role in binding iron or Fe-S clusters under iron overload conditions to prevent iron toxicity. We also aim to characterize this new MT by determining its metal binding properties. The purpose of this project was to investigate the interaction of CmtA and GrxD in vitro, characterize metal-binding properties of CmtA, and to investigate the role of MTs in Fe homeostasis in vivo. Our results showed that CmtA binds to a [2Fe-2S] cluster evident from UV-visible absorption, CD, EXAFS, Mossbauer, and EPR spectroscopy. GrxD and CmtA do not form a complex, but GrxD is able to transfer the [2Fe-2S] to CmtA. CmtA not only binds to Fe, but it is able to bind to Cu and Zn. Spectroscopy and ESI-MS confirmed that CmtA binds to these metals, as Cu6-CmtA, Cu10-CmtA, Zn5-CmtA, and Fe5-CmtA species. In terms of binding affinity, Cu binds the tightest, followed by Zn, which is then followed by Fe. In vivo results did not conclude whether CmtA and other MTs can help with alleviating Fe toxicity in S. cerevisiae. These studies have provided insight into the function of MTs in iron homeostasis and may explain how pathogens survive in metal-stressed environments and maintain their pathogenicity
Post-Selection Inference in Regression Models
No full textThis dissertation develops new methodology for valid statistical inference following model selection in various regression settings. We first consider the logistic regression model for a binary response that can only be observed at the group level, as in group testing, and is subject to testing error. With the true responses only partially observed, we employ the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to account for missing information in the response data and simultaneously conduct variable selection using the LASSO-penalized log-likelihood function. After variable selection, we extend an existing post-selection inference method based on the polyhedral lemma \parencite{lee2016exact} to make inferences on selected covariates, adjusting for selection bias. Despite the complications caused by missing response data information, the proposed method produces more reliable post-selection inferences than those from the naive method that ignores selection bias and uncertainty. However, one drawback of this method is its overly conservative nature that leads to wide confidence intervals for regression coefficients. To address this limitation, we explore an alternative post-selection inference method based on parametric programming \parencite[PP,][]{le2022more}. This framework, originally developed for linear models, is extended here to generalized linear models (GLMs), including logistic, Poisson, and beta regression. This method improves upon the polyhedral-based inference method by avoiding conditioning on the signs of selected coefficients. In addition to preserving higher statistical efficiency, the PP-based method accommodates more complex regression settings, where the selection event is not limited to a polyhedron in the sample space. We propose a two-step procedure called parametric programming afterlinearization (PPL), for selection-adjusted inference in GLMs. In the first step, the GLM is linearized by rewriting the maximum likelihood estimation problem as a weighted least squares formulation, thereby generating pseudo-data. In the second step, variable selection and inference are performed on the pseudo-data using the PP framework as in linear regression. Simulation results confirm that the PPL method effectively corrects the inflated Type I error characteristic of naive approaches and achieves narrower confidence intervals than those from the polyhedral method. Importantly, the PPL method supports valid inference even when the tuning parameter is chosen in a data-driven manner (e.g., via train-test split), thus overcoming a key limitation of the polyhedral-based approach that require the tuning parameter to be fixed or selected independently of the data. Extending this two-step PPL framework, we address post-selection inference for error-prone group testing data with partially observed binary outcomes. Simulation studies show that the method maintains nominal Type I error control across different strengths of penalty and remains robust in the presence of correlated covariates. Indeed, the strategy of parametric programming opens the door to developing valid statistical inference following model selection in a wide range of regression settings where it is infeasible to analytically derive the post-selection sampling distribution of a statistic, such as an estimator for a regression coefficient or a test statistic
The Potential Importance of Microenvironment on Polymer Bound Chemical Reagents
No full textIn this thesis will provide a brief history of polymer bound reagents, their uses, and advancements. The importance of polymer microenvironments will be explored using a model kinetic resolution reaction utilizing polymer bound reagents to observe how changes in a polymer’s microenvironment effects the yield and selectivity of a reaction. It was found that there are copious factors that affect polymer bound reagents, and no direct conclusion could be drawn from the study
What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Them: An Examination of Culture-Centered Pedagogy in a Diverse Elementary School
No full textThis qualitative action research study examined a growing cultural divide at an elementary school with a significant teacher diversity gap, best described as a discrepancy between the number of White educators compared to the number of students of color within an educational setting. Surveys were utilized to understand teachers’ cultural competency, and then all participants engaged in a book study intervention focused on culture-centered pedagogy. The study concluded with exit interviews between participants and the researcher to gauge how perceptions of working with diverse student populations progressed throughout the study. Survey responses, book study field notes, and interview transcripts were coded in order to extract themes. Prior to participants completing the book study, emergent themes included the following: 1) experience over training, 2) challenges with diversity, 3) importance of building relationships, and 4) lack of cultural awareness/sensitivity. Upon completion of the book study and after exit interviews, further themes were extracted in relation to participants’ evolving perceptions and use of culturally relevant instructional practices: 1) more effective professional training, 2) culturally sensitive language, and 3) improved instruction. Findings of this study implied the need and desire for more formalized training for teachers working with diverse student populations