REDRESSING THE ADJUNCT STAFFING MODEL IN AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Since their advent as supplemental staff at community colleges four decades ago, part-time instructors, or adjuncts, have since been employed with increasing frequency and in escalating numbers across all institutional types of American higher education. Currently comprising approximately forty percent of all postsecondary faculty, part-time instructors now outnumber full-time nontenure-track, tenure-track, and tenured faculty respectively on many campuses. This pervasive trend has created a professional climate of uncertainty and, in some cases, even hostility as American colleges and universities struggle to adapt to ever changing enrollment populations, market demands, technological innovations, and political pressure. As the sustainability of traditional faculty tenure hangs in the balance and as opportunities to secure tenure-track appointments continually diminish, the arguably inequitable working conditions of college faculty hired off the tenure track have fallen under public and political scrutiny since these instructors now provide such a large proportion of undergraduate education. This dissertation offers a comprehensive overview of the adjunct staffing model’s development and consequences as well as a proposed solution particularly to chairpersons of academic departments that have become inordinately dependent upon part-time instructors to teach their undergraduate curriculum. Combining personal experience with recent research, the first chapter offers a detailed description of the typical adjunct’s current working conditions, which include heavy workloads, poor compensation, and insufficient time for preparation and professional development. I briefly review the origins of and dramatically increasing reliance upon postsecondary adjunct employment over the past forty years. I situate the present undervaluing of part-time instructors within the context of colleges’ persistently rising “sticker prices,” which most commonly derive from curricular as well as extracurricular amenities and a drastic increase in non-instructional staff. I suggest that colleges cannot afford to ignore the adjunct problem much longer due to growing public and political awareness of the issue. I conclude by encouraging college governing boards, administrators, and faculty to collaborate in order to arrange respectable and sustainable terms of employment. The second chapter analyzes how the current model of adjunct employment adversely affects higher education. In addition to the first chapter’s grievances pertaining specifically to adjuncts, college faculty as a whole suffers from the deprofessionalization and bifurcation resulting from the widespread overdependence upon part-time instruction. Furthermore, college students suffer from part-time instructors’ compromised ethos and resultant “shielding,” last-minute staffing practices by means of which institutions often hire adjuncts, part-time instructors’ inadequate access to instructional resources, and irrational models for adjunct compensation. Finally, the adjunct problem harms the reputations of postsecondary institutions overall, indicating dysfunction and lack of accountability to an already skeptical public. The chapter closes with a call to action, encouraging all postsecondary institutions to consider improved, sustainable employment for all faculty. The third and final chapter proposes a solution in the form of a standardized college faculty position, which I call the core-survey instructor. Based loosely on a specific definition of contingent faculty, such a professor would assume reasonably heavy teaching loads as a full-time employee of one institution in exchange for a respectable salary, renewable multi-year contracts, and limited benefits. I explain how core-survey instructors will benefit postsecondary institutions not only by resolving the detriments listed in the second essay but also via improved remedial instruction, academic advising, and participation in shared governance

A Meta-Analysis and Genome-Wide Association Study of Platelet Count and Mean Platelet Volume in African Americans

Several genetic variants associated with platelet count and mean platelet volume (MPV) were recently reported in people of European ancestry. In this meta-analysis of 7 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) enrolling African Americans, our aim was to identify novel genetic variants associated with platelet count and MPV. For all cohorts, GWAS analysis was performed using additive models after adjusting for age, sex, and population stratification. For both platelet phenotypes, meta-analyses were conducted using inverse-variance weighted fixed-effect models. Platelet aggregation assays in whole blood were performed in the participants of the GeneSTAR cohort. Genetic variants in ten independent regions were associated with platelet count (N = 16,388) with p<5×10−8 of which 5 have not been associated with platelet count in previous GWAS. The novel genetic variants associated with platelet count were in the following regions (the most significant SNP, closest gene, and p-value): 6p22 (rs12526480, LRRC16A, p = 9.1×10−9), 7q11 (rs13236689, CD36, p = 2.8×10−9), 10q21 (rs7896518, JMJD1C, p = 2.3×10−12), 11q13 (rs477895, BAD, p = 4.9×10−8), and 20q13 (rs151361, SLMO2, p = 9.4×10−9). Three of these loci (10q21, 11q13, and 20q13) were replicated in European Americans (N = 14,909) and one (11q13) in Hispanic Americans (N = 3,462). For MPV (N = 4,531), genetic variants in 3 regions were significant at p<5×10−8, two of which were also associated with platelet count. Previously reported regions that were also significant in this study were 6p21, 6q23, 7q22, 12q24, and 19p13 for platelet count and 7q22, 17q11, and 19p13 for MPV. The most significant SNP in 1 region was also associated with ADP-induced maximal platelet aggregation in whole blood (12q24). Thus through a meta-analysis of GWAS enrolling African Americans, we have identified 5 novel regions associated with platelet count of which 3 were replicated in other ethnic groups. In addition, we also found one region associated with platelet aggregation that may play a potential role in atherothrombosis

Hyper-compressions: The rise of flash fiction in “post-transitional” South Africa

Blair, P. (2020). Hyper-compressions: The rise of flash fiction in “post-transitional” South Africa', The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 55(1), 38-60. Copyright © 2018. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.This article begins with a survey of flash fiction in “post-transitional” South Africa, which it relates to the nation’s post-apartheid canon of short stories and short-short stories, to the international rise of flash fiction and “sudden fiction”, and to the historical particularities of South Africa’s “post-transition”. It then undertakes close readings of three flash fictions republished in the article, each less than 450 words: Tony Eprile’s “The interpreter for the tribunal” (2007), which evokes the psychological and ethical complexities, and long-term ramifications, of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Michael Cawood Green’s “Music for a new society” (2008), a carjacking story that invokes discourses about violent crime and the “‘new’ South Africa”; and Stacy Hardy’s “Kisula” (2015), which maps the psychogeography of cross-racial sex and transnational identity-formation in an evolving urban environment. The article argues that these exemplary flashes are “hyper-compressions”, in that they compress and develop complex themes with a long literary history and a wide contemporary currency. It therefore contends that flash fiction of South Africa’s post-transition should be recognized as having literary-historical significance, not just as an inherently metonymic form that reflects, and alludes to, a broader literary culture, but as a genre in its own right

The Role of Selection in Shaping Diversity of Natural M. tuberculosis Populations

Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( M.tb ), the cause of tuberculosis (TB), is estimated to infect a new host every second. While analyses of genetic data from natural populations of M.tb have emphasized the role of genetic drift in shaping patterns of diversity, the influence of natural selection on this successful pathogen is less well understood. We investigated the effects of natural selection on patterns of diversity in 63 globally extant genomes of M.tb and related pathogenic mycobacteria. We found evidence of strong purifying selection, with an estimated genome-wide selection coefficient equal to −9.5×10 −4 (95% CI −1.1×10 −3 to −6.8×10 −4 ); this is several orders of magnitude higher than recent estimates for eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms. We also identified different patterns of variation across categories of gene function. Genes involved in transport and metabolism of inorganic ions exhibited very low levels of non-synonymous polymorphism, equivalent to categories under strong purifying selection (essential and translation-associated genes). The highest levels of non-synonymous variation were seen in a group of transporter genes, likely due to either diversifying selection or local selective sweeps. In addition to selection, we identified other important influences on M.tb genetic diversity, such as a 25-fold expansion of global M.tb populations coincident with explosive growth in human populations (estimated timing 1684 C.E., 95% CI 1620–1713 C.E.). These results emphasize the parallel demographic histories of this obligate pathogen and its human host, and suggest that the dominant effect of selection on M.tb is removal of novel variants, with exceptions in an interesting group of genes involved in transportation and defense. We speculate that the hostile environment within a host imposes strict demands on M.tb physiology, and thus a substantial fitness cost for most new mutations. In this respect, obligate bacterial pathogens may differ from other host-associated microbes such as symbionts. Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( M.tb ), the etiologic agent of tuberculosis (TB), is a highly prevalent pathogen of humans, estimated to infect one-third of the world's population. Previous investigations of M.tb evolution have emphasized the influence of chance events on populations of these bacteria. To understand why this organism is so well adapted to its niche, we sought to characterize the influence of natural selection on M.tb . DNA sequence data from M.tb populations appeared to be strongly influenced by genome-wide selection against deleterious mutations. This type of selection was particularly evident in three functional categories: genes essential for infection (identified in an animal model of TB), genes involved in protein translation, and genes involved in trafficking and metabolism of inorganic ions. By contrast, a fourth category (‘defense’ genes) exhibited high levels of diversity, consistent with selection for advantageous mutations. In addition to effects of selection on M.tb genomic data, we identified the influence of a pronounced recent expansion in M.tb populations, coincident with explosive growth of human populations around the world. Our results suggest that growth of M.tb populations parallels that of its human host population, and that complex influences lead to emergence and maintenance of adaptive traits in M.tb

Geophysics Field Camp 2000

During the Spring semester, 2000, the University of Arizona Geophysics Field Camp (GEN/GEOS 416/516 class) conducted geophysical surveys in the vicinity of the United Musical Instruments facility near Nogales, Arizona. This site is a super-fund site, due to the presence of contaminants, including TCE, in the ground water. The contaminants are presumed to have come from cleaning and electroplating solutions, which had been dumped into a small pond on the UMI property. The U.S. Geological Survey provided the funding for our study. The objective was to determine subsurface structural information that would help interpret possible future movement of the contaminant plume. Transient electromagnetic (TEM) data were most useful for interpreting the subsurface geohydrology. Water table was found at a depth of approximately 30 meters, north of the UMI building. A particularly interesting feature in the TEM data was a high-resistivity anomaly and an associated low-resistivity anomaly 10 to 1 00 meters northeast of the UMI building. We interpret the high-resistivity anomaly as possibly being due to an impermeable levee that was associated with a buried stream channel and the low-resisitivity anomaly as possibly being due to the pooling of conductive contaminated fluids against the impermeable levee. DC resistivity surveys were dominated by cultural coupling, which was pervasive m the survey area. Magnetic readings were used to help locate potential cultural interference. Gravity surveys indicated a low-density anomaly, which may be due to a buried stream channel. This feature could be related to the features mapped with the TEM surveys. The seismic survey indicated progressively more compacted and cemented alluvium, overlying the Nogales formation. The seismic data did not provide any direct information about the geohydrology of the areaThe Geophysics Field Camp Reports are made available by the Laboratory for Advanced Subsurface Imaging (LASI) and the University of Arizona Libraries. Visit the LASI website for more information http://www.lasi.arizona.edu

Simulation and inference under purifying selection and complete linkage.

<p>Results of four sets of simulation experiments (10,000 simulations/set). In all cases, a single completely linked locus of length equal to 2,753,618 bp was simulated under purifying selection, and inference of selection was done with a two parameter model (category of neutral sites plus single selection coefficient at remaining sites). The composite parameter γ ( = 2<i>N_es</i>) and proportion of neutral sites (<i>p₀</i>) were estimated from the simulated data. These are shown on the Y and X axes of each panel, respectively. The number of counts of simulations with estimates within each grid value is indicated in the color key. A) Simulated γ = 1, <i>p₀</i> = 0; B) Simulated γ = 10, <i>p₀</i> = 0; C) Simulated γ = 1, <i>p₀</i> = 0.9; D) Simulated γ = 10, <i>p₀</i> = 0.9. Simulations of relatively weak purifying selection (panels A & C) paradoxically result in inference of extremely strong purifying selection (γ∼−3,000) in a large proportion of cases. This pattern disappears when stronger selection is simulated (panel B). Even when 90% of sites are evolving neutrally, purifying selection is inferred at a large proportion of sites (panels C & D), likely due to linkage of sites.</p

Results of the McDonald-Kreitman test on whole genome sequences of <i>M.tb</i> and related mycobacteria.

a<p>d_N = fixed non-synonymous difference, d_S = fixed synonymous difference.</p>b<p>d_N = non-synonymous polymorphism, d_S = synonymous polymorphism.</p>c<p>chi-square test.</p

Null distributions of median d_N/d_S for two COG categories.

<p>Distributions of median d_N/d_S from 10,000 simulations in which synonymous and non-synonymous sites within the COG category were shuffled randomly. Red lines show observed median d_N/d_S value for the category. <b>A</b>: category J, translation and ribosomal structure. <b>B</b>: category V, defense.</p

Geographic and genetic structure of global sample of <i>M.tb</i> genomes.

<p>A) Maximum clade credibility phylogeny inferred from genome-wide <i>M.tb</i> SNP data using BEAST <a href="http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003543#ppat.1003543-Drummond1" target="_blank">[83]</a>. Tips are colored by the geographic origin of the <i>M.tb</i> isolate (see key). Descriptions of the 48 <i>M.tb</i> isolates shown here are in <b><a href="http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003543#ppat.1003543.s003" target="_blank">Table S1</a></b>. B) Countries of origin for <i>M.tb</i> isolates used in this study are shown as colored dots on global map. One dot is shown per country but some countries were represented by >1 <i>M.tb</i> isolate. Colors correspond to global regions (see key). C) Phylogeny of global human populations from <a href="http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003543#ppat.1003543-Underhill1" target="_blank">[91]</a>, based on Y chromosome data. Tips are colored according to the same scheme as the <i>M.tb</i> phylogeny (A).</p

Observed folded site frequency spectrum (SFS) of synonymous and non-synonymous SNPs.

<p>Numbers of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, Y axis) in frequency classes 1–23 (X axis). The SFS is leptokurtic and bumpy, consistent with purifying selection and linkage of sites (see text).</p