Rocksprings

This paper won a second place writing flag award in the creative/reflective category. It was written for Lester Faigley's E 379R class, "Travel Literature".Faigley, LesterUndergraduate Studie

Genomic Dysregulation by Overexpression of Transcription Factors

As one of the major organs, the liver plays vital roles in the homeostasis of an individual. Being able to identify master regulator genes, genes whose product can affect the activation or deactivation of other genes, will enrich our understanding of hepatic function and liver disease. Previously, our lab used genome-wide microarray data to identify several transcription factors that may play a key role in liver expression. Here we ask whether overexpression of these transcription factors in a non-liver cell would result in liver phenotype activation or general disruption of gene regulation. To this end, we stably introduced seven transcription factors that we identified as being liver-specific into a non-liver cell line, followed by whole-genome expression analysis. As controls, we introduced a neo-plasmid to monitor general plasmid effects, as well as the HNF1α gene, previously shown to rescue liver-specific gene expression. Results show that introduction of the neo-plasmid alone resulted in 9 genes activated and 58 genes repressed by ≥2.5 fold. Overexpression of transcription factors resulted in between 320 and 664 genes activated, and 158 and 348 genes repressed by ≥2.5 fold even after controlling for the neo-plasmid data. In some cases, we observed much overlap. For example, 41 genes were activated by 4 of the 4 transcription factors (HHEX, CREG, CREB, and HNF6), with CREG and CREB sharing activation of an additional 94 genes. Focusing on only hepatic genes, each of the transcription factors activated between 13 and 35 liver-specific genes. However, there was little overlap between which genes that were activated in each case. These results suggest that while over-expression of transcription factors may activate tissue-specific genes, there is also a general dysregulation of gene expression that must be considered when interpreting data

Motivation and IT project success

The goal of this literature review is to Compare and contrast the types of quantitative research approaches used to conduct studies on the relationship between motivation and IT project success. Additionally, the secondary goal is to Examine and discuss the issues of sampling, validity, reliability, and bias within these contexts. Wester, Borders, Boul, and Horton (2013) define research as, "An activity conducted to increase knowledge by systematically collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to answer carefully formulated questions about publicly observable phenomena." (p. 280). Research is a critical part of the scientific method that allows our society and species to understand the world around us. Research can be divided into multiple categories. The two predominant research categories are qualitative and quantitative. Simply making the choice between quantitative and qualitative research is a challenge that deadlocks many research projects. Students struggle with this very dilemma, often changing the direction of their research multiple times before settling on a solid direction

The Lullaby as Art Song: Engaging Repertoire For Study and Performance

When selecting repertoire, teachers of singing do not often turn to lullabies. The consensus is they are too simple in melody, texture, and harmony to warrant attention. However, this commonly held view should be reconsidered because lullabies can offer dramatic text settings. Lullabies can be divided into two categories: those for practical use and those for performance. The latter are composed as art songs written from many perspectives. They can be nationalistic, violent, frustrated, funny, and can use sleep as a metaphor for the release of death. This wealth of subject matter and variety of styles and skill levels found in art song lullabies make them a viable choice for study and performance. While most lullabies conform to the expected characteristics (lilting meter, etc.), many stray away from the standard in surprising and expressive ways. This document includes a catalog of lullabies written for concert performance whose scores are readily available. The catalog is organized by language and includes the poet, source, key, and range for each song, providing singers and teachers of singing an aid in exploring this unusual and often ignored repertoire