3,531 research outputs found
Feelings of Belonging: An Exploratory Analysis of the Sociopolitical Involvement of Black, Latina, and Asian/Pacific Islander Sexual Minority Women
This article compares and contrasts the sociopolitical involvement of Black, Latina, and Asian/Pacific Islander American sexual minority women within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities of color. For the analysis, a sample of over 1,200 women from the Social Justice Sexuality project was analyzed. Findings indicate that, for all groups of women, feelings of connectedness to the LGBT community was the most significant predictor of sociopolitical involvement within LGBT communities of color
Effects of the private-label invasion in food industries
Using supermarket scanner data, we test a variety of hypotheses from trade journals about the invasion of private-label food products. According to conventional industry wisdom, name-brand firms defended their brands against new private-label products by lowering their prices, engaging in additional promotional activities, and increasingly differentiating their products. Our empirical evidence is inconsistent with these beliefs.private label; entry; price; promotional activity; differentiation; supermarket
Characterization of Flake Orientation in Flakeboard By The Von Mises Probability Distribution Function
The orientation of flakes in thin experimental wood composite boards was characterized by the von Mises distribution function. An in situ measuring procedure was developed for acquiring wood flake grain angle data within the board. Parameters characterizing the extent of orientation for a variety of boards with prespecified degrees of alignment were verified using the measurement procedure
Thirty shades of offensiveness: L1 and LX English users’ understanding, perception and self-reported use of negative emotion-laden words
Previous research on multilinguals’ emotion-laden words has shown that these have more emotional weight in the first language(s) than in languages acquired later in life (Dewaele, 2013). The present study investigates this further with a list of 30 emotion-laden words extracted from the British National Corpus that range in emotional valence from mildly negative to extremely negative. An analysis of data collected via an online questionnaire from 1159 native English (L1) users and 1165 English foreign language (LX) users revealed, surprisingly, that LX users overestimated the offensiveness of most words, with the exception of the most offensive one in the list. It is suggested that when coming across these words in a classroom, learners are warned about them and they attach a red flag to them reminding them of their power. As a result they generally overestimate the power they fail to perceive accurately themselves. LX users were significantly less sure about the exact meaning of most words compared to the L1 users and reported more frequent use of relatively less offensive words while the L1 users reported higher use of more taboo words. Variation among LX users was linked to having (or not) lived in English-speaking environments, to context of acquisition and to self-perceived level of proficiency in English LX
Positively Correlated miRNA-miRNA Regulatory Networks in Mouse Frontal Cortex During Early Stages of Alcohol Dependence
Although the study of gene regulation via the action of specific microRNAs (miRNAs) has experienced a boom in recent years, the analysis of genome-wide interaction networks among miRNAs and respective targeted mRNAs has lagged behind. MicroRNAs simultaneously target many transcripts and fine-tune the expression of genes through cooperative/combinatorial targeting. Therefore, they have a large regulatory potential that could widely impact development and progression of diseases, as well as contribute unpredicted collateral effects due to their natural, pathophysiological, or treatment-induced modulation. We support the viewpoint that whole mirnome-transcriptome interaction analysis is required to better understand the mechanisms and potential consequences of miRNA regulation and/or deregulation in relevant biological models. In this study, we tested the hypotheses that ethanol consumption induces changes in miRNA-mRNA interaction networks in the mouse frontal cortex and that some of the changes observed in the mouse are equivalent to changes in similar brain regions from human alcoholics. Results: miRNA-mRNA interaction networks responding to ethanol insult were identified by differential expression analysis and weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA). Important pathways (coexpressed modular networks detected by WGCNA) and hub genes central to the neuronal response to ethanol are highlighted, as well as key miRNAs that regulate these processes and therefore represent potential therapeutic targets for treating alcohol addiction. Importantly, we discovered a conserved signature of changing miRNAs between ethanol-treated mice and human alcoholics, which provides a valuable tool for future biomarker/diagnostic studies in humans. We report positively correlated miRNA-mRNA expression networks that suggest an adaptive, targeted miRNA response due to binge ethanol drinking. Conclusions: This study provides new evidence for the role of miRNA regulation in brain homeostasis and sheds new light on current understanding of the development of alcohol dependence. To our knowledge this is the first report that activated expression of miRNAs correlates with activated expression of mRNAs rather than with mRNA downregulation in an in vivo model. We speculate that early activation of miRNAs designed to limit the effects of alcohol-induced genes may be an essential adaptive response during disease progression.NIAAA 5R01AA012404, 5P20AA017838, 5U01AA013520, P01AA020683, 5T32AA007471-24/25Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Researc
The role of Rap1 in Drosophila morphogenesis
Without proper apicobasal polarity, epithelial cells cannot properly assemble into various tissues or change cell shape in a coordinated fashion to allow for proper development. Loss of polarity in Drosophila embryonic development leads to defects in cell-cell adhesion as adhesion complexes are no longer proper localized, disrupting coordination of the actin cytoskeletons between the cells that make up a tissue. As a result, tissues quickly become disorganized, appearing multilayered. Here, we show that loss of the small GTPase Rap1 causes defects in apical constriction during Drosophila gastrulation, leading to a failure to properly invaginate the mesoderm. This suggested that Rap1 modulates connection of adherens junctions to the actin cytoskeleton. As a result, we broadened our initial studies to learn the role of Rap1 in regulating the actin cytoskeleton and polarity during morphogenesis. In embryos lacking maternal and zygotic Rap1, we observed early defects in the localization of the apical polarity proteins, Baz and aPKC. Additionally, Rap1 mutants exhibit defects in apical tension as the sizes of cell apices in mutants wildly vary from cell to cell. Further exploration of these initial results suggests that Rap1 performs a critical role in the regulation of the establishment and elaboration of apical polarity during early Drosophila embryogenesis.Doctor of Philosoph
A Blue Tilt in the Globular Cluster System of the Milky Way-like Galaxy NGC 5170
Here we present HST/ACS imaging, in the B and I bands, of the edge-on Sb/Sc
galaxy NGC 5170. Excluding the central disk region region, we detect a 142
objects with colours and sizes typical of globular clusters (GCs). Our main
result is the discovery of a `blue tilt' (a mass-metallicity relation), at the
3sigma level, in the metal-poor GC subpopulation of this Milky Way like galaxy.
The tilt is consistent with that seen in massive elliptical galaxies and with
the self enrichment model of Bailin & Harris. For a linear mass-metallicity
relation, the tilt has the form Z ~ L^{0.42 +/- 0.13}. We derive a total GC
system population of 600 +/- 100, making it much richer than the Milky Way.
However when this number is normalised by the host galaxy luminosity or stellar
mass it is similar to that of M31. Finally, we report the presence of a
potential Ultra Compact Dwarf of size ~ 6 pc and luminosity M_I ~ -12.5,
assuming it is physically associated with NGC 5170.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 11 pages, 10 figure
A Glimpse into the Past: The Recent Evolution of Globular Clusters
We present the serendipitous discovery of 195 extragalactic globular clusters
(GCs) in one of the deepest optical images ever obtained, a 126 orbit HST/ACS
imaging study of the nearby Galactic GC NGC 6397. The distant GCs are all found
surrounding a bright elliptical galaxy in the field, and are among the faintest
objects detected in the image, with magnitudes 26 < F814W < 30. We measure the
redshift of the parent elliptical galaxy, using GMOS on Gemini South, to be z =
0.089 (375 Mpc). This galaxy, and its associated clusters, therefore ranks as
one of the most distant such systems discovered to date. The measured light
from these clusters was emitted 1.2 Gyr ago (the lookback time) and therefore
the optical properties hold clues for understanding the evolution of GCs over
the past Gyr. We measure the color function of the bright GCs and find that
both a blue and red population exist, and that the colors of each
sub-population are redder than GCs in local elliptical galaxies of comparable
luminosity. For the blue clusters, the observed color difference from z = 0.089
to today is only slightly larger than predictions from stellar evolution (e.g.,
changes in the luminosity and color of the main-sequence turnoff and the
morphology of the horizontal branch). A larger color difference is found in the
red clusters, possibly suggesting that they are very metal-rich and/or
significantly younger than 12 Gyr.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. Higher
resolution Figure 1 available at
http://www.ucolick.org/~jkalirai/DistantGlobs
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