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NIMBY Charities
No full textNeighborhood organizations often advocate for land use policies and decisions that curtail development and entry into the neighborhood. This “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) disposition echoes a long history of exclusionary activity by these organizations and reflects a broader tendency to operate in furtherance of property values and other private interests. Due to substantive and procedural deficiencies in federal tax policy, these organizations often operate as 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charities, a status rightly reserved for organizations that generate broad public benefits. This Article argues for the adoption of clear substantive and procedural rules that restrict charitable status to organizations that either provide tangible benefits to the general public or target their benefits to a materially distressed communit
Minds Among Minds: An Analysis of Identity and the Self in the Hyperconnected World
No full textSince the dawn of online environments such as social media platforms, individuals have coupled their social lives with their online presence in various formats such as through posting, commenting, following, and liking the media others publish on media outlets such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (now known as X), TikTok, and others. The rise of the widespread use of social media in the 21st century has fueled a divide between the in-person world and the virtual world. This gap can impact not only one’s self-identity but their social identity as well. This raises an important question about human sociality in the 21st century: is there a difference in degree or kind of sociality as compared to before the advent of social media? This gap also raises questions about how validation is obtained and maintained. In this paper, I will make the claim that since the dawn of the hyperconnected world, individuals have faced a difference in degree of sociality. This difference in degree of socialization has the potential to impact one’s social and spiritual Self. It also can influence how personal and cultural identity is shaped, both in virtual and in-person environments. How the Self is affected by social media, both internally and externally, will tell us a considerable amount about ourselves, our culture, and our collective future
Identifying Novel Upstream Regulators of the Hippo Pathway: Forward Genetic Screen in Drosophila Melanogaster
No full textThe Hippo pathway is an evolutionarily conserved developmental pathway that controls organ size and tissue homeostasis in all metazoan animals. Dysregulated Hippo pathway has been implicated in a wide range of human disorders, including cancer. The physiological function of the Hippo pathway is best understood in Drosophila, where inactivation of the Hippo pathway tumor suppressors, or overexpression of the Yorkie (Yki) oncoprotein, results in tissue overgrowth characterized by excessive cell proliferation and diminished apoptosis, and increased transcription of Hippo pathway target genes such as diap1 and expanded (ex). Despite the well-established Hippo pathway core signaling cascade, the upstream regulation of the Hippo pathway is less understood. This screening project attempts to identify novel upstream regulators of the Hippo pathway, specifically genes located on the X chromosome of Drosophila, through a forward genetic screen for overgrowth phenotypes. Random point mutations were induced through EMS treatment, and a merlin mutant background increased the sensitivity of the screen. After candidates were identified and validated, Diap1 levels were examined in third-instar larvae eye discs to determine the mutation’s impact on the Hippo pathway. A total of five overgrowth candidates were identified, and one was validated through reproducibility tests after establishing stocks. Diap1 staining suggests a role of the candidate mutation in regulating Hippo signaling. Future directions include mapping and characterizing the candidate mutations
On the Exact Helium Wave Function Expansion, II, an exponential modulated form
No full textA 11S wave function’s expansion for 2 electron atoms and ions is proposed employing an appropriate exponential factor and Fock’s logarithmic terms. The leading coefficient’s are presented
Testing Vivo-Morpholino Mediated Gene Knockdown of STAT6, Spi1b, and HNF4α in Adult Threespine Stickleback
No full textThe fibrotic immune response to the cestode parasite, Schistocephalus solidus, varies among threespine stickleback populations. Fibrosis suppresses parasite growth but has costly effects on the fish. Previous genomic studies in stickleback have suggested potential roles of Spi1b, STAT6, and HNF4α in modulating fibrosis severity, but there is presently no evidence for this in-vivo. We used antisense vivo-morpholino oligonucleotides (MOs) to attempt to knockdown the expression of each gene in the liver, spleen, and intestine of adult stickleback. Vivo-MOs have been proven effective in other species of teleost fish, as well as in mice and humans, but no prior studies have evaluated their use in stickleback. Knockdown was assessed at 24 and 48 hours after intraperitoneal injection of each MO. A significant knockdown of Spi1b was observed in the spleen at 24 hours-post-injection, however, this technique was otherwise unsuccessful. Injection of a fluoresceinated control MO demonstrated successful delivery of a vivo-MO into each organ, validating this approach. These findings suggest a potential use for vivo-MOs in stickleback, and this technique should be modified in future studies to increase knockdown efficiency
