Cultural Intelligence Growth of Guatemala Internship Participants

Like many other forms of knowledge, cultural intelligence (CQ) is acquired or learned. Our study uses the CQ scale as a means of measuring growth in cultural intelligence in students participating in a two-month home-stay in Guatemala. Based on this data, we selected students to interview as a way of discovering specifically in what areas they grew the most and why they think they experienced CQ growth. As a result of these interviews, we have pinpointed three key areas of growth that will be the focus of this post presentation: a shift from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation, a rejection of stereotype-based knowledge of culture, and linguistic growth that empowers students to engage culture

Concentration and Length Dependence of DNA Looping in Transcriptional Regulation

In many cases, transcriptional regulation involves the binding of transcription factors at sites on the DNA that are not immediately adjacent to the promoter of interest. This action at a distance is often mediated by the formation of DNA loops: Binding at two or more sites on the DNA results in the formation of a loop, which can bring the transcription factor into the immediate neighborhood of the relevant promoter. These processes are important in settings ranging from the historic bacterial examples (bacterial metabolism and the lytic-lysogeny decision in bacteriophage), to the modern concept of gene regulation to regulatory processes central to pattern formation during development of multicellular organisms. Though there have been a variety of insights into the combinatorial aspects of transcriptional control, the mechanism of DNA looping as an agent of combinatorial control in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes remains unclear. We use single-molecule techniques to dissect DNA looping in the lac operon. In particular, we measure the propensity for DNA looping by the Lac repressor as a function of the concentration of repressor protein and as a function of the distance between repressor binding sites. As with earlier single-molecule studies, we find (at least) two distinct looped states and demonstrate that the presence of these two states depends both upon the concentration of repressor protein and the distance between the two repressor binding sites. We find that loops form even at interoperator spacings considerably shorter than the DNA persistence length, without the intervention of any other proteins to prebend the DNA. The concentration measurements also permit us to use a simple statistical mechanical model of DNA loop formation to determine the free energy of DNA looping, or equivalently, the J-factor for looping

Probing DNA conformational changes with high temporal resolution by Tethered Particle Motion

The Tethered Particle Motion (TPM) technique informs about conformational changes of DNA molecules, e.g. upon looping or interaction with proteins, by tracking the Brownian motion of a particle probe tethered to a surface by a single DNA molecule and detecting changes of its amplitude of movement. We discuss in this context the time resolution of TPM, which strongly depends on the particle-DNA complex relaxation time, i.e. the characteristic time it takes to explore its configuration space by diffusion. By comparing theory, simulations and experiments, we propose a calibration of TPM at the dynamical level: we analyze how the relaxation time grows with both DNA contour length (from 401 to 2080 base pairs) and particle radius (from 20 to 150~nm). Notably we demonstrate that, for a particle of radius 20~nm or less, the hydrodynamic friction induced by the particle and the surface does not significantly slow down the DNA. This enables us to determine the optimal time resolution of TPM in distinct experimental contexts which can be as short as 20~ms.Comment: Improved version, to appear in Physical Biology. 10 pages + 10 pages of supporting materia

The Deficiencies of Oregon Ballot Measure 110

In 1970, the Federal Government enacted the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), which made certain drugs and substances illegal absent a medical prescription. The control of drugs through the CSA exists to prevent harm to the public. Nonetheless, some cities and states have enacted laws that allow for the benefit of selling or pleasure of using illegal drugs to outweigh the legal ramifications. In November 2020, The Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, also known as Oregon Ballot Measure 110 (Measure 110), made Oregon the first state in the country to decriminalize all drugs. Measure 110 was enacted with the overarching goal to reduce addiction rates and help fight the war on drugs. However, what principles rationalize this heightened degree of decriminalization as a course to lowering addiction rates and combating the war on drugs? This Note provides historic background information on controlled substances, Measure 110, and the laws surrounding controlled substances. It also includes recent news reports, warning letters written prior to the enactment of Measure 110, and a comparison of foreign drug legislation to that of Oregon. While this Note does not discuss the use of psychedelics in therapy, it does include discussion on the implications that have come to pass and are still to come since Measure 110’s enactment, including (1) the effects it has on addicts and relapse concerns; (2) how Brazil and Portugal’s decriminalization laws differ; (3) how it violates public health policy; (4) the increase it will have on crime rates; and (5) its negative impact on juveniles. Finally, this Note discusses alternative measures Oregon could take to assist addicts in the recovery process, incentivize them to stay clean, and lower incarceration rates

The Deficiencies of Oregon Ballot Measure 110

In 1970, the Federal Government enacted the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), which made certain drugs and substances illegal absent a medical prescription. The control of drugs through the CSA exists to prevent harm to the public. Nonetheless, some cities and states have enacted laws that allow for the benefit of selling or pleasure of using illegal drugs to outweigh the legal ramifications. In November 2020, The Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, also known as Oregon Ballot Measure 110 (Measure 110), made Oregon the first state in the country to decriminalize all drugs. Measure 110 was enacted with the overarching goal to reduce addiction rates and help fight the war on drugs. However, what principles rationalize this heightened degree of decriminalization as a course to lowering addiction rates and combating the war on drugs? This Note provides historic background information on controlled substances, Measure 110, and the laws surrounding controlled substances. It also includes recent news reports, warning letters written prior to the enactment of Measure 110, and a comparison of foreign drug legislation to that of Oregon. While this Note does not discuss the use of psychedelics in therapy, it does include discussion on the implications that have come to pass and are still to come since Measure 110’s enactment, including (1) the effects it has on addicts and relapse concerns; (2) how Brazil and Portugal’s decriminalization laws differ; (3) how it violates public health policy; (4) the increase it will have on crime rates; and (5) its negative impact on juveniles. Finally, this Note discusses alternative measures Oregon could take to assist addicts in the recovery process, incentivize them to stay clean, and lower incarceration rates

Letter to Claire Engel regarding award of the Lucile Elliott Scholarship, March 4, 1987

A letter from Anne S. Towles to Claire Engel accepting the Lucile Elliott Scholarship awarded to her

Letter to Ed Edmonds regarding present for SEAALL President, 1982

A letter from Anne Slaughter Towles to Ed Edmonds discussing a potential present for then-SEAALL President Donald Ziegenfuss

Sequence Dependence of Transcription Factor-Mediated DNA Looping

DNA is subject to large deformations in a wide range of biological processes. Two key examples illustrate how such deformations influence the readout of the genetic information: the sequestering of eukaryotic genes by nucleosomes, and DNA looping in transcriptional regulation in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. These kinds of regulatory problems are now becoming amenable to systematic quantitative dissection with a powerful dialogue between theory and experiment. Here we use a single-molecule experiment in conjunction with a statistical mechanical model to test quantitative predictions for the behavior of DNA looping at short length scales, and to determine how DNA sequence affects looping at these lengths. We calculate and measure how such looping depends upon four key biological parameters: the strength of the transcription factor binding sites, the concentration of the transcription factor, and the length and sequence of the DNA loop. Our studies lead to the surprising insight that sequences that are thought to be especially favorable for nucleosome formation because of high flexibility lead to no systematically detectable effect of sequence on looping, and begin to provide a picture of the distinctions between the short length scale mechanics of nucleosome formation and looping.Comment: Nucleic Acids Research (2012); Published version available at http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/gks473? ijkey=6m5pPVJgsmNmbof&keytype=re

Linseed oil and its oxidation products.

Linseed oil is the oil from the plant linum usitatissiumum. It is not a new oil, for we read that the Greeks and Romans used it, not as it is used today, but as a food, and it is still used for that purpose in some countries, especially in Russia, Poland, and Hungary. The oil was first introduced into the United States during the nineteenth century, and in 1810 there were two hundred eighty three linseed oil mills in only fourteen states. In those days the process of obtaining the oil from the seed was tedious, and the yield was poor, for the oil was extracted by means of the old-fashioned mill stones. After the demand for linseed oil increased, oil had to be imported from foreign fields. Up until 1861 the output was one million gallons per year. Prior to that time the largest portion of the seed was grown and used for the fiber, with the seed regarded as a by-product, but now the fiber itself is only a by-product, and the plant is grown for the seed. After 1865 the production of flax moved west from the middle states, where all of the yield of the United States had been grown. The demand increased greatly from year to year. In 1870 the industry received a great stimulus when the old mill stones used for pressing were replaced by rolls, and in ten years the yearly crop was quadrupled. All the seed is now grown west of the Alleghanies, and the states in the east still send to India and Russia for seed

Letter to Ed Edmonds providing SEAALL documents, May 5, 1982

A letter from Anne Slaughter Towles to Ed Edmonds enclosing several documents relating to SEAALL administration