Midfirst Bank v. Ranieri: An Update on Deficiency Judgments under Montana\u27s Small Tract Financing Act

Midfirst Bank v. Ranieri: An update on deficiency judgments under Montana\u27s Small Tract Financing Ac

Inferring evolutionary histories of pathway regulation from transcriptional profiling data

One of the outstanding challenges in comparative genomics is to interpret the evolutionary importance of regulatory variation between species. Rigorous molecular evolution-based methods to infer evidence for natural selection from expression data are at a premium in the field, and to date, phylogenetic approaches have not been well-suited to address the question in the small sets of taxa profiled in standard surveys of gene expression. We have developed a strategy to infer evolutionary histories from expression profiles by analyzing suites of genes of common function. In a manner conceptually similar to molecular evolution models in which the evolutionary rates of DNA sequence at multiple loci follow a gamma distribution, we modeled expression of the genes of an \emph{a priori}-defined pathway with rates drawn from an inverse gamma distribution. We then developed a fitting strategy to infer the parameters of this distribution from expression measurements, and to identify gene groups whose expression patterns were consistent with evolutionary constraint or rapid evolution in particular species. Simulations confirmed the power and accuracy of our inference method. As an experimental testbed for our approach, we generated and analyzed transcriptional profiles of four \emph{Saccharomyces} yeasts. The results revealed pathways with signatures of constrained and accelerated regulatory evolution in individual yeasts and across the phylogeny, highlighting the prevalence of pathway-level expression change during the divergence of yeast species. We anticipate that our pathway-based phylogenetic approach will be of broad utility in the search to understand the evolutionary relevance of regulatory change.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables, contact authors for supplementary table

Double-Consciousness Squared during Black Pride Movement: Self-Determination and Maternal Activism in Alice Walker’s Meridian

Although the Black pride movement encouraged a singular identity, Alice Walker’s novel Meridian, recognizes the faultiness presented in singular identities. Black women were not able to identify fully with Black movements because these movements were male centric. Similarly, the feminist movements of the era were concerned primarily with issues of white women and did not address the issues of women of colour. Because of this lack of complete belonging to either movement, women of colour understood that their doubly marginalized identities depended on the success of both movements while not being able to expect personal progress from either. Walker explores how the movements of the 1960s and 1970s sought to differentiate themselves from the civil rights movement of the 1950s. The expressed questions “What does a movement require?” and “What should a movement do?” encourage Walker’s protagonist, Meridian, to explore her own understanding of activism. Because there are no clear answers to these questions regarding the movement, Walker, by way of Meridian, is free to create a new understanding of activism, which becomes Meridian’s sacrificial performance of maternal activism. And very similar to how she seeks to redefine activism, Meridian pursues a new concept of the maternal that pushes beyond the requirement and/or expectation of physical motherhood

Dynamics of selective molecular excitation - Laser photocatalysis of bromine reactions

Tuned ruby laser for photocatalysis of reaction between excited bromine molecules and fluorocarbon

The Beach Zone: Using Local Land Use Authority to Preserve Barrier Islands

This article is an exploration of the barrier island\u27s unique landform and the solution to its protection. By using Fire Island, a critical barrier island off the coast of Long Island, New York, as a case study, this article attempts to offer a paramount solution, the beach zone. The authors begin by discussing the natural processes of the barrier islands, focusing on tidal cycles, sea level rising, and periodic storm surges, which threaten development on them. They illustrate the dynamic nature of the barrier islands that often make them unsuitable for permanent development. To date, the primary focus of both the private and public sectors has been on solutions that involve structural engineering. The authors show that many of these efforts have been futile and, in some cases, have led to more destruction than protection. The authors move on to discuss the recent focus on nonstructural solutions to alleviate the shortcomings of structural solutions. However, these nonstructural solutions have their own inherent problems that limit their scope and effect. There is a regulatory solution available that is both effective and practical. The authors propose a solution - a zoning ordinance to be adopted by municipal legislatures

Cancer cell lines show high heritability for motility but not generation time

Tumour evolution depends on heritable differences between cells in traits affecting cell survival or replication. It is well established that cancer cells are genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous; however, the extent to which this phenotypic variation is heritable is far less well explored. Here, we estimate the broad-sense heritability (H2) of two cell traits related to cancer hallmarks––cell motility and generation time––within populations of four cancer cell lines in vitro and find that motility is strongly heritable. This heritability is stable across multiple cell generations, with heritability values at the high end of those measured for a range of traits in natural populations of animals or plants. These findings confirm a central assumption of cancer evolution, provide a first quantification of the evolvability of key traits in cancer cells and indicate that there is ample raw material for experimental evolution in cancer cell lines. Generation time, a trait directly affecting cell fitness, shows substantially lower values of heritability than cell speed, consistent with its having been under directional selection removing heritable variation

Taking Control of Archdesc: Implementing Spaceport for Special Collections Finding Aids

This poster describes a project to develop Spaceport, a Python app that transforms EAD finding aids from ArchivesSpace into EADs for Virginia Heritage, HTML files for the JMU Libraries website, and MARCXML records for the catalog. It outlines the challenges and needs that led to Spaceport\u27s development and describes benefits experienced from its implementation