A partnership-based, whole-watershed approach to climate adaptation in Acadia National Park

Changes in climate and associated changes in seasonality, invasive plants and insects, and visitation are stressing ecosystems and infrastructure in Acadia National Park. Over the past five years, park staff and partners have begun taking an interdisciplinary, partnership-based approach to assessing baseline conditions, identifying stresses, developing climate change scenarios, and restoring the ecological and cultural integrity and resilience of whole watersheds. The approach contrasts with past resource management in which managers frequently tackled problems with minimal coordination between disciplines (e.g., water, wildlife, cultural resources, and maintenance) and locations. The result has been a series of projects that have begun to measurably improve the health of one of the park’s most visited and iconic watersheds: the Cromwell Brook watershed, which includes Sieur de Monts (Acadia began in 1916 as Sieur de Monts National Monument) and the Great Meadow, and whose namesake waterway flows through the gateway town of Bar Harbor. Projects (inside and out of the park) have included rehabilitating a historic spring pool, replacing undersized culverts with open-bottom bridges, removing a poorly sited septic system, removing invasive plants, restoring native wetland, establishing monitoring to assess changes in watershed health, and working with the town and other stakeholders to plan future projects that would further improve the health of Great Meadow and downstream areas in Bar Harbor. The combination of planning; monitoring; restoring healthy, functioning ecological communities; and minimizing stresses from human infrastructure and visitation offer the best chance of main- taining Acadia National Park for the enjoyment of future generations

Terrae Incognitae: Integrative Genomic Analysis of Hnrnp L Splicing Regulation

Alternative splicing is a critical component of human gene control that generates functional diversity from a limited genome. Defects in alternative splicing are associated with disease in humans. Alternative splicing is regulated developmentally and physiologically by the combinatorial actions of cis- and trans-acting factors, including RNA binding proteins that regulate splicing through sequence-specific interactions with pre-mRNAs. In T cells, the splicing regulator hnRNP L is an essential factor that regulates alternative splicing of physiologically important mRNAs, however the broader physical and functional impact of hnRNP L remains unknown. In this dissertation, I present analysis of hnRNP L-RNA interactions with CLIP-seq, which identifies transcriptome-wide binding sites and uncovers novel functional targets. I then use functional genomics studies to define pre-mRNA processing alterations induced by hnRNP L depletion, chief among which is cassette-type alternative splicing. Finally, I use integrative genomic analysis to identify a direct role for hnRNP L in repression of exon inclusion and an indirect role for enhancing exon inclusion that supports a novel regulatory interplay between hnRNP L and chromatin. In two appendices, I present CLIP-seq studies of two additional RNA binding proteins: the splicing factor CELF2 and the RNA helicase DDX17. In conclusion, I provide comparisons of these three CLIP-seq studies, providing high-level insights into the capabilities and limitations of CLIP-seq. In sum, this dissertation expands our knowledge of hnRNP L splicing control in the context of broader studies of RNA binding proteins in multiple cell types and conditions

Securing Russia: Seeking Ontological Security in the Arctic

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia experienced an abrupt discontinuity in its sense of identity. This break in identity, and a more profound lost sense of self, creates a strong need to reestablish continuity. The need to regain that sense of self is strong and can supersede other concerns. Ontological security theory proposes that the need to maintain identity can outweigh physical security considerations. This study uses game theory methodology and the Arctic as a contextual example to demonstrate that ontological security-seeking actors are willing to sacrifice physical security. Today, the current conditions in the Arctic reflect a security dilemma. This study argues that following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia pursued its ontological security needs by militarizing the Arctic. Militarizing the Arctic was a way that Russia could reassert its power and dominance over a region with little resistance. Arctic states and stakeholders cooperated over Arctic matters for decades. As Russia continues its pursuit of dominance in the Arctic, Ukraine, Georgia, and Syria, it has conditioned the U.S. and NATO to respond by increasing their Arctic military capabilities. The resultant conditions in the Arctic may appear as a security dilemma, but the traditional causes of the security dilemma cannot sufficiently rationally explain Russia’s decision-making. Assuming Russia is a rational actor, understanding Russia’s behavior requires us not to look to alternatives to neorealism’s or constructivism’s explanations. Ontological security helps us understand Russia’s need to create an Arctic security dilemma to validate its status as a great power

Promoting Student Activism among our Millennial Students

This comprehensive literature review investigates student activism to provide a generational backdrop to the varied types and methods of college student activism in the Millennial generation. After the explosive student uprisings of the 1960’s and 1970’s, it would be easy to deduce that in the absence of such high profile activities, student activism post-1980 is non-existent or insignificant. However, current literature suggests student activism is alive and well, although it often looks quite different. This makes student activism among Millennial students as important and worthy of study as any earlier generation. But to understand recent activism, one must be aware of the social context and players involved. What are the characteristics and activist tendencies of Millennial students in the context of higher education in the United States, and what can be expected from them? What is the role of higher education administrators in supporting the development of these students

Ekphrasis and Avant-Garde Prose of 1920s Spain

This dissertation analyzes the prose works of the “Nova Novorum,” a fiction series created and published by José Ortega y Gasset between 1926 and 1929. This collection included six works by four authors, five of which will be discussed in this dissertation. Pedro Salinas’ Víspera del gozo (1926) inaugurated the series. Benjamín Jarnés published two works: El profesor inútil (1926) and Paula y Paulita (1929). Antonio Espina is also responsible for two works: Pájaro pinto (1927) and Luna de copas (1929). The dissertation is divided into five sections. The first chapter introduces the topic of avant-garde prose during the 1920s in Spain, and the concept of ekphrasis as a methodological approach. Prose authors of the avant-garde were prolific during the first third of the twentieth century in Spain. They produced a new aesthetic sensibility with their experimental narrations. All of the works analyzed are examined through the lens of ekphrasis, which is the verbal representation of visual representation. Chapter Two discusses three relational aspects of ekphrasis: word and image, time and space, and the hermeneutics of ekphrasis. The first section examines the difference between narration and description. The second explores the relationship between time and space and the implications of the fact that a visual object is normally associated with space, while a verbal representation is associated with time. This section examines how authors incorporate spatial techniques into their narrations in ways that are commonly employed by painters. The third section of Chapter Two examines iconology and the hermeneutics of ekphrasis and how the authors use the trope of mimesis not to imitate nature but rather to distort reality. Chapters Three, Four and Five closely examine the images described by each author. This study draws on understanding of ekphrasis from literary studies and art history as well as theories of the literary avant-garde that stems both from Europe and from Spain in particular. Ortega y Gasset’s ideas about the novel and the avant-garde informed the basic assumptions of the authors of the “Nova Novorum,” who often used ekphrasis as a means of avoiding narrative progress. In many cases of ekphrasis found in the “Nova Novorum” collection, the representations of art are deployed in the same way in which the authors utilize metaphor, as a means of digressing from the narrative. These ekphrastic moments allow each author to withdraw from or slow down the narration, providing the author with the opportunity to focus on the use of language itself

Transient performance of parallel-flow and cross-flow direct transfer type heat exchangers with a step temperature change on the minimum capacity rate fluid stream

Parallel and cross-flow with both fluids unmixed, direct transfer type heat exchangers are modeled utilizing a thermal network consisting of nodes and resistors. A commercially available software package, Thermonet, calculates the transient outlet temperatures for a steadystate model introduced to a sudden change (step input) in inlet temperature of the Cmin fluid stream. Both models are validated against analytical solutions provided in literature. Solutions are verified to within a maximum percent mean difference of 4 % of analytical solutions for parallel-flow, and 8 % of analytical solutions for cross-flow heat exchangers. Tables are generated which provide new dimensionless transient outlet temperature effectiveness values for parallel and cross-flow with both fluids unmixed, heat exchangers. The parallel-flow temperature responses are presented in graphical form for the specific parameters: NTU equal to 0.5, 1.0, and 3.0; C* equal to 0.2, 0.6, and 1.0; R* equal to 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0; Cw* equal to 1.0, 10.0, and 1000.0; and td equal to 0.25, 1.0, and 4.0. The cross-flow temperature responses are presented in graphical form for the same parameters listed above except NTU is equal to 1.0. Discussion regarding the dimensionless parameters\u27 effects on the transient response of the heat exchanger is provided. The transient performance tables provide a quick reference for transient outlet temperature solutions required for practical industrial heat exchanger analysis

A Survey of Information Sources Used for Progress Decisions about Medical Students

Although many medical schools have adopted a variety of methods to assess student competency, the extent to which these innovations have changed how decisions about student progress are made is not clear. This paper describes a survey of 126 accredited allopathic U.S. medical schools to determine which information sources are used for decisions related to medical student progress and graduation. Respondents were asked to indicate up to three information sources used for seven specific decisions about student progress. The results indicate that multiple choice questions (MCQs) and faculty ratings remain the most frequently used information sources. Clinical skills education in the pre-clinical curriculum is the area with the broadest use of assessments for progress decisions. Several explanations are suggested for the primacy of MCQs and faculty ratings in student decisions, including familiarity for faculty and students, ease of implementation and the resources required for the adoption of other assessment strategies