281 research outputs found
jacob-ogre.github.io: Initial release
No full text<p>Creating a release so that the GitHub Pages blog is archived at <a href="https://zenodo.org">Zenodo</a>. This will result in a DOI being generated for the site and the posts, e.g. <a href="https://jacob-ogre.github.io/blog/2016/03/20/sound-editing">this one on audio clean-up</a>.</p>
Settlement fictions: global south literature and the postcolonial urban imaginary
No full textThis dissertation traces the emergence of overlooked articulations of the megacity in contemporary postcolonial novels. Representations of non-Western cities and informal settlements or “slums” in global popular culture and Anglophone urban commentary enact a series of elisions -- making poor women and their economic and social activities invisible, allowing the volatile space of the street to stand in for all noteworthy space, and ignoring the progressive energies of slum-based social movements by equating them with religious extremism and other radicalisms. Postcolonial novelists, this dissertation argues, challenge these elisions by crafting what I term settlement fictions: narratives that foreground the unforeseen intra-community relationships, hidden spaces of work and laboring solidarities, and flexible approaches to spatial politics engendered by impoverished megacity life. Analyzing urban images of the Global South in film, journalism, visual culture, and literature, I suggest that contemporary African, Indian, and Caribbean writers, including Chris Abani, Zakes Mda, Rohinton Mistry, and Patrick Chamoiseau, loosen the bonds that have heretofore tightly associated the imagined megacity with the fate of postcolonial nations embedded in a global system of exploitative capitalism. While recognizing the importance of both neoliberalism and colonialism in shaping modern urbanization, the writers I discuss push critics to see non-Western megacities equally as incubators of original urban social practices. My work draws upon theories of everyday practice, transnational governance, the gendering of postmodern labor, and micro-politics to clarify the local, regional, and global significance of these practices.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Carolyn Patricia Malco
Evolution of Competitive Ability: An Adaptation Speed vs. Accuracy Tradeoff Rooted in Gene Network Size
Get PDFEcologists have increasingly come to understand that evolutionary change on short time-scales can alter ecological dynamics (and vice-versa), and this idea is being incorporated into community ecology research programs. Previous research has suggested that the size and topology of the gene network underlying a quantitative trait should constrain or facilitate adaptation and thereby alter population dynamics. Here, I consider a scenario in which two species with different genetic architectures compete and evolve in fluctuating environments. An important trade-off emerges between adaptive accuracy and adaptive speed, driven by the size of the gene network underlying the ecologically-critical trait and the rate of environmental change. Smaller, scale-free networks confer a competitive advantage in rapidly-changing environments, but larger networks permit increased adaptive accuracy when environmental change is sufficiently slow to allow a species time to adapt. As the differences in network characteristics increase, the time-to-resolution of competition decreases. These results augment and refine previous conclusions about the ecological implications of the genetic architecture of quantitative traits, emphasizing a role of adaptive accuracy. Along with previous work, in particular that considering the role of gene network connectivity, these results provide a set of expectations for what we may observe as the field of ecological genomics develops.This work was supported in part by a start-up grant from the University of Texas at Austin; remaining costs were borne by the author. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Biological Sciences, School o
Boston University Wind Ensemble, November 20, 1985
Get PDFThis is the concert program of the Boston University Wind Ensemble performance on Wednesday, November 20, 1985 at 8:00 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Piece Heroique by César Franck, The Corsair Overture by Hector Berlioz, Prelude from Suite Bergamasque by Claude Debussy, An Original Suite by Gordon Jacob, Caccia and Chorale by Clifton Williams, Queretaro by Mel Broiles, and Four Scottish Dances by Malcom Arnold. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund
Smaller Gene Networks Permit Longer Persistence in Fast-Changing Environments
Get PDFThe environments in which organisms live and reproduce are rarely static, and as the environment changes, populations must evolve so that phenotypes match the challenges presented. The quantitative traits that map to environmental variables are underlain by hundreds or thousands of interacting genes whose allele frequencies and epistatic relationships must change appropriately for adaptation to occur. Extending an earlier model in which individuals possess an ecologically-critical trait encoded by gene networks of 16 to 256 genes and random or scale-free topology, I test the hypothesis that smaller, scale-free networks permit longer persistence times in a constantly-changing environment. Genetic architecture interacting with the rate of environmental change accounts for 78% of the variance in trait heritability and 66% of the variance in population persistence times. When the rate of environmental change is high, the relationship between network size and heritability is apparent, with smaller and scale-free networks conferring a distinct advantage for persistence time. However, when the rate of environmental change is very slow, the relationship between network size and heritability disappears and populations persist the duration of the simulations, without regard to genetic architecture. These results provide a link between genes and population dynamics that may be tested as the -omics and bioinformatics fields mature, and as we are able to determine the genetic basis of ecologically-relevant quantitative traits.This work was supported in part by a start-up grant from the University of Texas at Austin. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Biological Sciences, School o
Gene Networks and Metacommunities: Dispersal Differences Can Override Adaptive Advantage
Get PDFDispersal is an important mechanism contributing to both ecological and evolutionary dynamics. In metapopulation and metacommunity ecology, dispersal enables new patches to be colonized; in evolution, dispersal counter-acts local selection, leading to regional homogenization. Here, I consider a three-patch metacommunity in which two species, each with a limiting quantitative trait underlain by gene networks of 16 to 256 genes, compete with one another and disperse among patches. Incorporating dispersal among heterogeneous patches introduces a tradeoff not observed in single-patch simulations: if the difference between gene network size of the two species is greater than the difference in dispersal ability (e.g., if the ratio of network sizes is larger than the ratio of dispersal abilities), then genetic architecture drives community outcome. However, if the difference in dispersal abilities is greater than gene network differences, then any adaptive advantages afforded by genetic architecture are over-ridden by dispersal. Thus, in addition to the selective pressures imposed by competition that shape the genetic architecture of quantitative traits, dispersal among patches creates an escape that may further alter the effects of different genetic architectures. These results provide a theoretical expectation for what we may observe as the field of ecological genomics develops.This work was supported in part by a start-up grant from the University of Texas at Austin. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Biological Sciences, School o
Smaller, Scale-Free Gene Networks Increase Quantitative Trait Heritability and Result in Faster Population Recovery
Get PDFOne of the goals of biology is to bridge levels of organization. Recent technological advances are enabling us to span from genetic sequence to traits, and then from traits to ecological dynamics. The quantitative genetics parameter heritability describes how quickly a trait can evolve, and in turn describes how quickly a population can recover from an environmental change. Here I propose that we can link the details of the genetic architecture of a quantitative trait—i.e., the number of underlying genes and their relationships in a network—to population recovery rates by way of heritability. I test this hypothesis using a set of agent-based models in which individuals possess one of two network topologies or a linear genotype-phenotype map, 16–256 genes underlying the trait, and a variety of mutation and recombination rates and degrees of environmental change. I find that the network architectures introduce extensive directional epistasis that systematically hides and reveals additive genetic variance and affects heritability: network size, topology, and recombination explain 81% of the variance in average heritability in a stable environment. Network size and topology, the width of the fitness function, pre-change additive variance, and certain interactions account for ~75% of the variance in population recovery times after a sudden environmental change. These results suggest that not only the amount of additive variance, but importantly the number of loci across which it is distributed, is important in regulating the rate at which a trait can evolve and populations can recover. Taken in conjunction with previous research focused on differences in degree of network connectivity, these results provide a set of theoretical expectations and testable hypotheses for biologists working to span levels of organization from the genotype to the phenotype, and from the phenotype to the environment.This work was supported in part by a start-up grant from the University of Texas at Austin. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Biological Sciences, School o
Dow Agrosciences letter to EPA, Interior, and Commerce
No full textThe letter sent by Wiley Rein, LLP, on behalf of Dow Agrosciences and others, to the EPA Administrator and the Secretaries of Interior and Commerce, to argue that previous agreements on Endangered Species Act consultations under section 7 (Interim Approaches) be set aside.Document added to figshare by Jacob Malcom</div
The logic of the violence in the civil war: the armed conflict in Colombia
Get PDFThis paper proposes a reading of the armed conflict from an evolutionary design that takes into account the Logic of Violence in the Civil War. Their aim is to assess the dynamics of conflict and changes from its author's scientific output. A context of conflicts that includes new expressions of violence and the relative failure of the paramilitary reintegration involves using new analytical models (argumentation, game theory and inconsistent information). The recent evolution of emerging gangs and their expansion into areas that were paramilitary camps requires monitoring not only of the government and the authorities, but those investigating the conflict in the present tense. The author provides heuristic research support from Schelling’s theory of strategy, Nozick’s agencies and the protection, and Gambetta’s recent contributions to the relationship between organized crime and drug cartels.Civil_war, Colombia, armed conflict, strategic_theory, Gambetta, Nozick, Schelling
Fork of ESA recovery plans overview data
No full textCore data required for an overview of the missingness, age, and timeliness of ESA recovery plan
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