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Victims’ Participation in an Era of Multi-Door Criminal Justice
No full textVictims’ right to participate in their cases—to hear and be heard—has gained formal recognition in both common law and continental legal cultures over the past two decades. Paradoxically, even as victims’ rights are acknowledged, their participation in the judicial process is increasingly circumscribed due to the proliferation of abbreviated and efficiency oriented judicial procedures. Focusing on this paradox, this Article uncovers and analyzes the level of victims’ participation in an era of convergence and transformation of legal cultures and traditions. By exploring new ways to conceptualize the role of victims within contemporary criminal legal systems, this Article explores various and creative paths to enhance victims’ participation in an era characterized by the vanishing trial and a multi-door criminal justice system
Exchangeability and a Model of Biological Evolution
No full textA sequence of random variables (RVs) is exchangeable if its distribution is invariant under permutations. For example, every sequence of independent and identically distributed (IID) RVs is exchangeable. The main result on exchangeable sequences of random variables is de Finetti\u27s theorem, which identifies exchangeable sequences as conditionally IID. In this thesis, we explore exchangeability, provide an elementary proof of de Finetti\u27s theorem, and present two applications: the classical Polya\u27s urn model and a toy model for biological evolution
Understanding the Role of Minor Intron Splicing in Spermatogenesis
No full textThe minor spliceosome is composed of the unique small nuclear RNAs (snRNA), U11, U12, U4atac, and U6atac, and is necessary for the splicing of less than 0.5% of introns, termed minor introns. Minor intron containing genes (MIGs) regulate diverse processes, one of which is spermatogenesis. Specifically, 111 testis-specific MIGs have been identified, suggesting that minor splicing is necessary for spermatogenesis. To interrogate the role of minor splicing in spermatogenesis, we conditionally ablated the Rnu11 gene, which encodes for the U11 snRNA, in the developing testes via Stra8-iCre, creating a Rnu11Flx/Flx::Stra8-Cre+ mutant. We found, at postnatal day (p) 42, the mutant testes are smaller than the wildtype (WT). Assay for cell death confirmed that U11 ablation results in cell death in the mutant at 6 weeks of age. Lastly, we found that our mutant resulted in varying spermatogenesis defects, such as an increase of asynchronous meiosis and a decrease in differentiating cells. Despite this, meiotic recombination can still occur in these mutants, concluding that U11 is important but not essential for meiotic recombination. This work is the first study to assess the importance of minor splicing in spermatogenesis which is underscored by the phenotype observed when the minor spliceosome is inhibited. Furthermore, the importance of studying spermatogenesis is highlighted by a decrease in sperm count over the last decades, which contributes to rising rates of male infertility
Advancements in CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing: Applications and Future Implications for Sickle Cell Disease and β-Thalassemia Treatment
No full textThis literature review explores the utilization of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology in addressing Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and Beta-Thalassemia. CRISPR, leveraging the Cas-9 enzyme inspired by bacterial defense mechanisms, serves as a precise molecular tool for targeted genetic modifications. The process involves guide RNA directing Cas-9 to specific DNA sites, allowing for meticulous gene editing. Focusing on the specific applications of CRISPR in SCD and Beta-Thalassemia, the review critically analyzes recent methods, including CRISPR-Cas9 editing targeting the BCL11A enhancer for SCD and the HBG1/HBG2 promoters for both SCD and Beta-Thalassemia. The synthesis of findings highlights the potential and challenges of these approaches, providing insights into the transformative impact of CRISPR technology on addressing monogenic disorders. While CRISPR-Cas9 holds promising prospects for revolutionizing the treatment of monogenic disorders like SCD and Beta-Thalassemia, ongoing technological limitations warrant further exploration and refinement
The First Draft Genome of Cold-Water Octocoral Anthothela grandiflora, the Great Flowerbud Coral
No full textCold-water corals are important sources of ocean biodiversity, yet populations are increasingly threatened by human activity and climate change. Soft octocorals may endure higher ocean acidification levels in comparison to stony hexacorals, although the mechanisms of octocoral biomineralization are less understood. Building genomic resources for cold-water octocorals could help to close information gaps by elucidating the evolutionary history of octocoral calcification and provide a reference for future studies of adaptation to acidified waters. This report describes the first reference genome for the cold-water octocoral species Anthothela grandiflora found throughout the Atlantic Ocean. Sequencing using Oxford Nanopore Technologies generated 43.6 Gb of long reads at 35.9x coverage. The final reference genome was 641 Mb in length, contained 22,669 scaffolds with an N50 length of 82.5 Kb, and included 84.1% of the expected metazoan single-copy orthologs. A high proportion of repetitive content (67.8%) was masked from the genome. Illumina sequencing generated 32.9 Mb of paired-end RNASeq reads for genome annotation to identify 14,837 protein-coding genes with a BUSCO completeness of 81.80%. Orthologous gene family analysis was used to identify 5 expanded and 155 contracted gene families specific to A. grandiflora, many of which relate to metabolic and biosynthetic processes, immune and stress response, and ion binding. These genomic resources will augment the current understanding of soft corals and benefit the protection of ecologically-important cold-water coral communities
Archaeal Diversity in the Anna\u27s Hummingbird Microbiome
No full textThe microbial communities that are present in and on vertebrates are collectively called the microbiome. The composition of a microbiome is dependent upon the host, the environment, and evolution. There has been extensive research on the bacterial composition of host-associated microbiomes, however, there has been much less work on the archaeal composition of host-associated microbiomes. Archaea have previously been assumed to primarily exist in extreme environments, but this may not be true and has been influenced by their generally low abundance and methodological difficulties in detection. It is possible they are consistent members of diverse host-associated microbiomes.
Archaea-specific PCR primers were used to study the archaeal component of the fecal microbiome of 24 Anna’s hummingbirds (Calypte anna). The purpose of this investigation was to compare Archaea-specific primers to “universal” primers that amplify both archaea and bacteria in the detection of archaea in the Anna’s hummingbird and to effectively complete a microbiome analysis. The sequencing data were used to identify and quantify the archaea present in the samples. The most prevalent order of archaea was Nitrososphaerales, which was present in all 24 samples using the Archaea-specific primers. The universal primers only detected archaea in one sample, where twelve reads assigned to the order Methanobacteriales were detected. Overall, we found that by using Archaea-specific primers, there was an increase in archaeal reads and taxonomic diversity in comparison to the use of universal primers that mainly detected bacteria only
BIM Coordination Post Pandemic
No full textThe goal of this thesis is to utilize previous research done on virtual meetings and build upon it by conducting new research on the successes and failures of current virtual BIM meetings. This paper starts with a literature review looking into Building Information Modeling (BIM) Coordination and the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the BIM meetings. BIM meetings started to shift virtual due to the nature of the pandemic and this has had effects on the performance and structure of the coordination. This knowledge was then expanded on by looking at virtual BIM meeting case studies. Interviews were conducted with current participants in BIM projects to further the understanding of how virtual BIM meetings are affecting the whole coordination process. Based on the interviews, it can be inferred that the vast majority of BIM workers believe that switching to virtual meetings has greatly improved the coordination process and meetings especially with respect to timeliness, comfortability, and progress