The Prediction of Success in Selected Areas at the Des Moines Area Community College

45 leave

Recollections by Jim Dowis

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/pioneerrecollections/1022/thumbnail.jp

Within the Hour

In our hyper-connected, present-day reality, many people think of solitude as a strange or lonely aspect of life. Over the last two years, I have been exploring themes of solitude by isolating individuals in composition. I first began the project primarily by photographing myself and the landscape around me, including both residential and public areas that I would find myself in. The concept grew from the isolation I felt when first moving here for school during the Covid pandemic. It was the first time I was living on my own, and in addition, I was moving to a new city without knowing anyone. This project became a part of not just my photographic practice but a part of my weekly routine. This body of work focuses on instances of solitude and small moments woven into one\u27s day that grant a person an opportunity to unwind and take time for themselves. While every person experiences these instances differently, this series aims to provide a glimpse through the walls we have built up when we are alone and expose the profundity of a private moment that can be experienced together

Detection of a Peptide Hormone - Somatostatin - Label-free Split-aptameric Probes

Peptide hormones are important biomolecules that transduce downstream effects such as cell proliferation, regulation, and gene expression. Their levels have been upregulated in various disorders such as cancer, yet detection methods are lacking. We designed two split aptamer-based assays for the detection of a peptide hormone – Somatostatin (SST) – with different signal readouts: fluorescent readout based on light-up aptamers and the colorimetric readout of ABTS peroxidation from a G-quadruplex. We used an already selected split-aptamer –SSTA5–for SST for our designs and we had expected the developed detection systems to exhibit detection and quantification capabilities that would hopefully allow their use for SST monitoring in clinical samples. However, our experiments did not support the hypothesis of this project and SST was not able to be detected using either of our fluorescent or colorimetric methods. To determine if the SSTA5 aptamer could bind SST appropriately, Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) was used. We verified that there was no energy transfer between two covalently-attached light-sensitive molecules (one attached to each part of the split SSTA5 aptamer); thus, we theorize that the aptamer does not hybridize in the presence of the tetra decapeptide SST. Therefore selection of another, more appropriate, aptamer for SST will be needed for further aptameric-based detection methods. Once this is accomplished, our methodologies could be re-applied for detection of SST which could lead to real-time detection of essential hormonal levels in patients

An empirical examination of gender, political affiliation, and family composition issues affecting reasonable compensation in closely held corporations

This study examines the effect of gender, political affiliation, and family composition issues on reasonable compensation in closely held corporations. It is broken down into two parts: an archival and behavioral (survey) portion. The archival part analyzes decisions made in the U.S. Tax Court spanning 1983-2014 through the use of simple regression, multiple regression/ordinary least squares, and logistic regression. Four variables were found to be significant: judge gender, tenure, number of tax years decided, and taxpayer gender. The behavioral portion investigates the current perceptions of tax practitioners through surveying Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Analysis of variance is used in this portion. The significant variable from this part is political affiliation

Optimal Strouhal number for swimming animals

To evaluate the swimming performances of aquatic animals, an important dimensionless quantity is the Strouhal number, St = fA/U, with f the tail-beat frequency, A the peak-to-peak tail amplitude, and U the swimming velocity. Experiments with flapping foils have exhibited maximum propulsive efficiency in the interval 0.25 < St < 0.35 and it has been argued that animals likely evolved to swim in the same narrow interval. Using Lighthill's elongated-body theory to address undulatory propulsion, it is demonstrated here that the optimal Strouhal number increases from 0.15 to 0.8 for animals spanning from the largest cetaceans to the smallest tadpoles. To assess the validity of this model, the swimming kinematics of 53 different species of aquatic animals have been compiled from the literature and it shows that their Strouhal numbers are consistently near the predicted optimum.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure