Scanning electron microscopic analysis of developmental speed\u27s effect on symmetry in Drosophila melanogaster

The purpose of this project is primarily to examine the effects of development speed on symmetry in Drosophila melanogaster when employing methylparaben, an anti-microbial preservative, as an additive to the organisms\u27 growth medium. This paraben was selected due to its studied effects on prolonging the length of juvenile development. The research question being examined in this project is whether manipulating developmental speed by lengthening the average developmental cycle would lead to more overall symmetry as opposed to a shorter developmental cycle speed. Baseline assays of juvenile developmental speed of Drosophila melanogaster, both groups with and without methylparaben growth medium, will be established via the addition of cameras to the incubator in which they will be stored while developing, allowing for key developmental timelines to be tracked and logged. Both the control group without methylparaben growth medium and the experimental group with methylparaben-infused growth medium will be raised under identical growth conditions (i.e., temperature, humidity, diet, etc.), minus the experimental factor. The physical effects and results of both groups\u27 body symmetry will be examined and analyzed via the use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

Masking Away Our Emotions

The use of face masks has the potential to greatly reduce the efficacy and ability of nonverbal communication during in-person social interactions. The purpose of this study is to determine the consequences and implications that face masks have on nonverbal communication, as well as the effect that the use of face masks has on an individual\u27s ability to perceive emotions based on facial expressions. It is believed that an individual would be statistically successful matching an unmasked facial expression to a pictured emotion, but not as statistically successful matching a masked facial expression to a pictured emotion. This study will be carried out via the use of a survey containing pictures of a person displaying various emotions, both with and without face masks, in which participants would be asked to match listed emotions with what they believe the acted emotion portray

Imperfect Sound Forever: Loudness Wars, Listening Formations and the History of Sound Reproduction

The purpose of this paper is to provide some historical perspective on the so-called loudness war. Critics of the loudness war maintain that the average volume level of popular music recordings has increased dramatically since the proliferation of digital technology in the 1980s, and that this increase has had detrimental effects on sound quality and the listening experience. My point is not to weigh in on this debate, but to suggest that the issue of loudness in sound recording and playback can be traced back much earlier than the 1980s. In fact, loudness has been a source of pleasure, a target of criticism, and an engine of technological change since the very earliest days of commercial sound reproduction. Looking at the period between the turn-of-the-century format feud to the arrival of electrical amplification in the 1920s, I situate the loudness war within a longer historical trajectory, and demonstrate a variety of ways in which loudness and volume have been controversial issues in – and constitutive elements of – the history of sound reproduction. I suggest that the loudness war can be understood in relation to a broader cultural history of volume

Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research Consortium: Accelerating Evidence-Based Practice of Genomic Medicine

Despite rapid technical progress and demonstrable effectiveness for some types of diagnosis and therapy, much remains to be learned about clinical genome and exome sequencing (CGES) and its role within the practice of medicine. The Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research (CSER) consortium includes 18 extramural research projects, one National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) intramural project, and a coordinating center funded by the NHGRI and National Cancer Institute. The consortium is exploring analytic and clinical validity and utility, as well as the ethical, legal, and social implications of sequencing via multidisciplinary approaches; it has thus far recruited 5,577 participants across a spectrum of symptomatic and healthy children and adults by utilizing both germline and cancer sequencing. The CSER consortium is analyzing data and creating publically available procedures and tools related to participant preferences and consent, variant classification, disclosure and management of primary and secondary findings, health outcomes, and integration with electronic health records. Future research directions will refine measures of clinical utility of CGES in both germline and somatic testing, evaluate the use of CGES for screening in healthy individuals, explore the penetrance of pathogenic variants through extensive phenotyping, reduce discordances in public databases of genes and variants, examine social and ethnic disparities in the provision of genomics services, explore regulatory issues, and estimate the value and downstream costs of sequencing. The CSER consortium has established a shared community of research sites by using diverse approaches to pursue the evidence-based development of best practices in genomic medicine

BIOL 250: Curly Hair: Homozygous or Heterozygous

Research Question: The purpose of this experiment was to determine if DNA cells collected from the inside of a human cheek tested homozygous or heterozygous for curly hair. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that neither cheek cell would be homozygous for curly hair because neither subject from which the DNA samples were collected possessed a curly hair phenotype