43 research outputs found
Piper Alexander/Cortney Benjamin Interview
No full textInterview with Cortney Benjamin Assistant Professor of Spanish
High-throughput Functional Genomic Screening using Saturating Transposon Mutant Libraries and Next Generation Sequencing in Rhizobium leguminosarum
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Biology, University of Regina. xi, 82 p.To increase the rate of scientific discovery in the Rhizobiaceae family of bacteria there is
a need to adapt high-throughput genetic screens like insertion sequencing. Here we describe
the adaptation of a Rhizobiaceae-compatible MmeI-adapted mariner transposon,
from a previous vector pSAM_Bt, that can be used with insertion sequencing for highthroughput
forward genetic screening.
The newly constructed mariner transposon pSAM_Rl mutagenized R. leguminosarum, S.
meliloti, and A. tumefaciens at a high frequency. In R. leguminosarum, two high-throughput
forward genetic screens were performed with the vector to identify genes involved in
proper cell growth on complex and minimal media. Mutant pools of R. leguminosarum
3841 were generated that saturated 83% and 80% of potential mariner insertions sites in
the genome, on complex and minimal media, respectively. Analysis of the R.
leguminosarum transposon insertion sequencing data with a previously described HMMbased
method resulted in assignment of the contribution of the majority of the genes in
the R. leguminosarum 3841 genome for growth under both growth conditions. By cross
referencing these two data sets a subset of genes was found to belong to a core functional
genome which contained genes required for proper growth under both conditions. Based
on this analysis it is estimated that 72 and 176 genes, when interrupted by a transposon
insertion, uniquely result in an impaired ability to grow on complex and minimal media,
respectively; and 516 genes belonged to the core functional genome of R. leguminosarum
3841. Good concordance was observed between genes observed to be required for growth
on the complex medium, but not minimal media, as described in previous studies. Growth
impaired genes were annotated with their Riley functional classifications for comparison and discussion of the possible mechanisms behind the growth impaired phenotypes. Also,
an overview of the functional diversity of the core functional genome is presented and
discussed.
Adaptation of this high-throughput forward genetic screening methodology to R.
leguminosarum has been shown to be an effective method for hypothesis generation, by
providing large data sets of candidate genes that require further genetic testing and characterization
for there impact on cellular physiology. While the method has minor limitations
and considerations that must be taken into account, it will provide a technique for
future investigation of the functional genomics of R. leguminosarum in a variety of testable conditions.Studentye
The Fine Art of Leaving
No full textA personal narrative is presented which explores the author\u27s experience of resigning and employing into a new job as a nurse
A Case Study - Hydraulic Fracturing Geography: The case of the Eagle Ford Shale, TX, USA
No full textThe use of horizontal drilling in conjunction with hydraulic fracturing has increased the ability of producers to extract natural gas and oil from previously non-viable areas. By extracting natural gas and oil from low permeability geologic plays, or shale plays, the United States may have enough natural gas to burn for the next one hundred years. However, there are growing concerns about the effect hydraulic fracturing may have on the environment and surrounding ecosystems. These activities cause an increased potential for surface water contamination resulting from spills, leaks, soil erosion, large amounts of truck traffic, and habitat disturbance. With increasing amounts of hydraulic fracturing activity in the Eagle Ford structure, there is a greater chance that a spill may occur and cause adverse effects on the hydrologic processes in the area. In order to determine the risk spills pose to hydrologic processes, hydraulic fracturing wells were identified and mapped to show the distance from wells to streams as well as determining that spills in the Eagle Ford structure were not spatially auto-correlated.Geography and Environmental Studie
The Heart\u27s Truth: Essays on the Art of Nursing
No full textWhat is it like to be a student nurse washing the feet of a dying patient? To be a newly graduated nurse, in charge of the Intensive Care Unit for the first time, who wonders if her mistake might have cost a life? Or to be an experienced nurse who, by her presence and care, holds a patient to this world? The author, a poet and nurse practitioner answers these questions by examining her own experiences and through them reveals a glimpse into the minds and hearts of those who care for us when we are at our most vulnerable. This work offers the joys, frustrations, fears, and miraculous moments that nurses, new and experienced, face every day. In these essays, she traces her twin paths, nursing and writing, inviting readers to share what she discovers along the way, lessons not only about the human body but also about the human soul. Rich, intimate, and never shrinking from the realities of illness, the grace of healing, or the wonder of words, it will inspire student caregivers, intrigue readers, and affirm those who have long worked in nursing, a profession that the author calls odd, mysterious, humbling, addicting, and often transcendent
The Aura of Eccentricity: Reflections on Outsider Art Rhetoric and its Impact on a Critical Discourse
No full textIn the field of Art History, affecting art with the artist’s aura is a central mechanism of canon creation that mythologizes artists into objects of desire. This tendency permeates outsider art whose appeal is rooted in biographical exceptionalism and eccentricity rather than aesthetic aptitude (see Morgan 2018). Reviewing the work of Henry Darger, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, and A.G. Rizzoli—artists whose works are accumulative, some suggest compulsive, in reiteration and magnitude—this essay explores the pitfalls of projecting an aesthetic affect onto the artist and in turn building their value upon a fabricated aura of eccentricity. The aura of eccentricity resides at the nexus between material and idea. It is both real and mythologized, materially communicated through excess, opulence, and exaggeration of shapes, scale, colour, and medium yet ideologically created in the realm of differentiating adjectives and semantic flourishes. Engaging with Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, this essay argues that material culture demands self-awareness of our own interpretive prejudices, in this case fashioning the artist outsider with eccentric narratives retroactively projected upon them through the interpretation of their work.Dans le domaine de l’histoire de l’art, le fait de répercuter l’aura de l’artiste sur l’art constitue un mécanisme central de création d’un canon qui mythifie les artistes et en fait des objets de désir. Cette tendance imprègne l’art marginal, dont l’attrait s’enracine dans l’exception biographique et l’excentricité plutôt que dans une aptitude esthétique (voir Morgan 2018). Passant en revue les oeuvres d’Henry Darger, Eugene von Bruenchenhein et A.G. Rizzoli – des artistes dont les travaux ont un caractère cumulatif, certains diraient compulsif, du fait de leur réitération et de leur ampleur – cet article explore le danger de projeter un affect esthétique sur l’artiste et en retour de construire la valeur des artistes sur une aura d’excentricité artificielle. L’aura d’excentricité réside au croisement du matériel et de l’idée. Elle est à la fois réelle et mythifiée, elle se communique matériellement par l’excès, l’opulence et l’exagération des formes, de l’échelle, de la couleur et du médium, tout en étant créée, sur un plan idéologique, dans un royaume où fleurissent les adjectifs distinctifs et la sémantique. Dans un dialogue avec Walter Benjamin et Theodor Adorno, cet article avance que la culture matérielle exige que nous soyons avertis de nos propres préjugés interprétatifs, qui consistent dans ce cas, lorsque l’on interprète les oeuvres de l’artiste marginal, à projeter rétrospectivement sur lui un narratif d’excentricité
The Aura of Eccentricity: Reflections on Outsider Art Rhetoric and its Impact on a Critical Discourse
No full textIn the field of Art History, affecting art with the artist’s aura is a central mechanism of canon creation that mythologizes artists into objects of desire. This tendency permeates outsider art whose appeal is rooted in biographical exceptionalism and eccentricity rather than aesthetic aptitude (see Morgan 2018). Reviewing the work of Henry Darger, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, and A.G. Rizzoli—artists whose works are accumulative, some suggest compulsive, in reiteration and magnitude—this essay explores the pitfalls of projecting an aesthetic affect onto the artist and in turn building their value upon a fabricated aura of eccentricity. The aura of eccentricity resides at the nexus between material and idea. It is both real and mythologized, materially communicated through excess, opulence, and exaggeration of shapes, scale, colour, and medium yet ideologically created in the realm of differentiating adjectives and semantic flourishes. Engaging with Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, this essay argues that material culture demands self-awareness of our own interpretive prejudices, in this case fashioning the artist outsider with eccentric narratives retroactively projected upon them through the interpretation of their work.Dans le domaine de l’histoire de l’art, le fait de répercuter l’aura de l’artiste sur l’art constitue un mécanisme central de création d’un canon qui mythifie les artistes et en fait des objets de désir. Cette tendance imprègne l’art marginal, dont l’attrait s’enracine dans l’exception biographique et l’excentricité plutôt que dans une aptitude esthétique (voir Morgan 2018). Passant en revue les oeuvres d’Henry Darger, Eugene von Bruenchenhein et A.G. Rizzoli – des artistes dont les travaux ont un caractère cumulatif, certains diraient compulsif, du fait de leur réitération et de leur ampleur – cet article explore le danger de projeter un affect esthétique sur l’artiste et en retour de construire la valeur des artistes sur une aura d’excentricité artificielle. L’aura d’excentricité réside au croisement du matériel et de l’idée. Elle est à la fois réelle et mythifiée, elle se communique matériellement par l’excès, l’opulence et l’exagération des formes, de l’échelle, de la couleur et du médium, tout en étant créée, sur un plan idéologique, dans un royaume où fleurissent les adjectifs distinctifs et la sémantique. Dans un dialogue avec Walter Benjamin et Theodor Adorno, cet article avance que la culture matérielle exige que nous soyons avertis de nos propres préjugés interprétatifs, qui consistent dans ce cas, lorsque l’on interprète les oeuvres de l’artiste marginal, à projeter rétrospectivement sur lui un narratif d’excentricité
Reaping What You Sow : The Effects of Teachers' Perceptions on Students' Self-Concept
No full textiii, 56 p.The author reflects on her experience student teaching in a first grade Spanish immersion classroom, focusing on the effects of negative reinforcement by some of the staff
Does A Classroom Website Increase Positive Communication And Relationships Between Parents And Teachers?
No full textThe research questions addressed in this project was: Does a classroom website increase positive communication and relationships with teachers and parents? It provides readers research regarding the benefits of different communication strategies that can take place between teachers and parents. The project then narrows down to the focus of building a classroom website that will increase communication and build relationships between parents and teachers. Throughout the different chapters, the author describes the benefits, but also the barriers that come with communicating through a classroom website. It provides readers information on several different types of school website designs and classroom website designs. However the author focused on using Dunn and Pete’s Taxonomy of a Classroom Website design to create the website for parents to visit throughout the school year and to learn about their child’s education
Postprandial cardiac hypertrophy is sustained by mechanics, epigenetic, and metabolic reprogramming in pythons
No full textConstricting pythons, known for their ability to consume infrequent, massive meals, exhibit rapid and reversible cardiac hypertrophy following feeding. Our primary goal was to investigate how python hearts achieve this adaptive response after feeding. Isolated myofibrils increased force after feeding without changes in sarcomere ultrastructure and without increasing energy cost. Ca2+ transients were prolonged after feeding with no changes in myofibril Ca2+ sensitivity. Feeding reduced titin-based tension, resulting in decreased cardiac tissue stiffness. Feeding also reduced the activity of sirtuins, a metabolically linked class of histone deacetylases, and increased chromatin accessibility. Transcription factor enrichment analysis on transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing revealed the prominent role of transcription factors Yin Yang1 and NRF1 in postfeeding cardiac adaptation. Gene expression also changed with the enrichment of translation and metabolism. Finally, metabolomics analysis and adenosine triphosphate production demonstrated that cardiac adaptation after feeding not only increased energy demand but also energy production. These findings have broad implications for our understanding of cardiac adaptation across species and hold promise for the development of innovative approaches to address cardiovascular diseases. Copyright © 2024 the Author(s)
