The Role of Diaphanous in Ring Canal Development in Drosophila melanogaster

Infertility is a widespread condition that does not always have a known cause, and for which we often do not have a cure. One potential cause of infertility is defects in gametogenesis, or the formation of sperm and egg. During gametogenesis in most organisms, the developing sperm and egg are connected to each other or to supporting cells through intercellular bridges, allowing transfer of materials between cells. Defects in these connections can lead to infertility. The developing fruit fly egg is an excellent model system to study intercellular bridges, or ring canals. Rich in f-actin and actinbinding proteins, ring canals expand ~20 fold during oogenesis, and this expansion is accompanied by a 134-fold increase in the amount of actin in the structure. Ring canal expansion depends on the Arp2/3 complex; mutations in Arp2/3 complex members lead to decreased expansion and ring canal collapse. Interestingly, the Arp2/3 mutant phenotype has been reported to affect later stages of oogenesis (beginning at stage 5). This suggests that other actin nucleators could be involved in promoting ring canal growth prior to this point. I have characterized a role for the formin-family actin nucleator, Diaphanous (Dia), during oogenesis. Depletion of Dia leads to defects in normal ring canal structure and expansion, which are distinct from those observed following depletion of the Arp2/3 complex members. Future work will determine the mechanisms that promote the localization and activation of Arp2/3 and Diaphanous in the context of ring canal formation and expansion

Moving meditations: embodying Bartenieff Fundamentals through sensorial awareness of breath, bones, and gravity

This article shares a somatic approach to the practice of meditation reflecting on experiences of facilitating meditation classes for others as well as my own personal practice. I share my application of Bartenieff Fundamentals as a framework for meditation, outlining the language of the body it offers for imagery-based guided meditation – a process of embodied fundamentals. Through exploring the relationship between my practice of Bartenieff Fundamentals and a somatic approach to being in the world, I question how Bartenieff’s Principle of Breath Support may guide a practice of meditation and how in this process of embodiment we might shade, tone and strengthen meditation as a process of somatic engagement, revealing a dialogic relationship between form and fluidity, somatic moving and spiritual connectivity. The use of the voice, heightened sensorial awareness through imagery of breath, bones and gravity are considered through this practice of guided meditations: an embodying of body–space–environment as a transactional space of self-care. Presented through different modalities of formal text, notes from practice, movement scores and images, I invite readers to engage with this work through reading, moving and meditating

On bias in social reviews of university courses

University course ranking forums are a popular means of disseminating information about satisfaction with the quality of course content and instruction, especially with undergraduate students. A variety of policy decisions by university administrators, instructional designers and teaching staff affect how students perceive the efficacy of pedagogies employed in a given course, in class and online. While there is a large body of research on qualitative driving factors behind the use of academic rating sites, there is little investigation of the (potential) implicit student bias on said forums towards desirable course outcomes at the institution level. To that end, we examine the connection between course outcomes (student-reported GPA) and the overall ranking of the primary course instructor, as well as rating disparity by nature of course outcomes, for several hundred courses taught at Virginia Tech based on data collected from a popular academic rating forum. We also replicate our analysis for several public universities across the US. Our experiments indicate that there is a discernible albeit complex bias towards course outcomes in the professor ratings registered by students.Comment: WebSci'19 Companion Proceeding

The virtual flyping theorem

We extend the flyping theorem to alternating links in thickened surfaces and alternating virtual links. The proof of the former result adapts the author's recent geometric proof of Tait's 1898 flyping conjecture (first proved in 1993 by Menasco-Thistlethwaite) by using Boden-Karimi's recent extension of definite surfaces (which characterize alternating classical links a la Greene) to links in thickened surfaces. In the process, we also extend a classical result of Gordon-Litherland, establishing an isomorphism between their pairing on a spanning surface and the intersection form on a 4-manifold constructed as a double-branched cover using that surface. To translate the flyping theorem to alternating virtual links, we establish a new correspondence between abstract link $\textit{diagrams}$, cellularly embedded link $\textit{diagrams}$ on closed surfaces, and equivalence classes of virtual link $\textit{diagrams}$. We also rely on results from two companion papers.Comment: 37 pages, 28 figures, comments welcom

An analysis of California community college budget policy key components in multicollege districts

This study explored the key components of budgetary policy for multicollege community college districts in California. Twenty policies from multicollege community college districts were analyzed against a structured matrix of 6 additional criteria (Community College League of California, 2007, p. 37) as recommended by the Community College League of California (CCLC). Further, a content analysis utilizing the framework as prescribed by Miles and Huberman (1994) was completed and 8 major themes emerged as key components of budgetary policy. The findings of the study were analyzed against the literature review, which validated the findings of 8 key components of budgetary policy. Eight key components of budgetary policy were identified in this study to include (a) regulatory and legal compliance, (b) planning related, (c) allocation description, (d) participation process, (e) values-priority clarity, (f) process definition, (g) specific measurements, and (h) inclusion of the CCLC recommended language. Of the districts, 90% included some or all of the CCLC 6 additional criteria. The review of the literature supports the 8 indentified key components as identified in the content analysis. This study found that 85% of the multicollege districts included in their policies some reference to regulatory and legal requirements, and 80% included some specific measurements. Implications for the field, community college leadership, policy makers, and future policy include the inclusion of key components of budgetary policy that may provide clear budgetary policy with specific measurements. Future research stemming from this study could compare the identified components of budgetary policy to the fiscal stability of community college districts, as well as comparing how the inclusion of specific measurements may compare to long-term fiscal performance

Field Doctor

As team chiropractor for the Chicago Bears, Josh Akin ’03 helps keep gridiron warriors at the top of their game