Faculty Scholarship

Showing 21 - 30 of 733 Items

Evolution in Candida albicans populations during a single passage through a mouse host

Date: 2009-07-01

Creator: Anja Forche, P. T. Magee, Anna Selmecki, Judith Berman, Georgiana, May

Access: Open access

The mechanisms and rates by which genotypic and phenotypic variation is generated in opportunistic, eukaryotic pathogens during growth in hosts are not well understood. We evaluated genomewide genetic and phenotypic evolution in Candida albicans, an opportunistic fungal pathogen of humans, during passage through a mouse host (in vivo) and during propagation in liquid culture (in vitro). We found slower population growth and higher rates of chromosome-level genetic variation in populations passaged in vivo relative to those grown in vitro. Interestingly, the distribution of long-range loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and chromosome rearrangement events across the genome differed for the two growth environments, while rates of short-range LOH were comparable for in vivo and in vitro populations. Further, for the in vivo populations, there was a positive correlation of cells demonstrating genetic alterations and variation in colony growth and morphology. For in vitro populations, no variation in growth phenotypes was detected. Together, our results demonstrate that passage through a living host leads to slower growth and higher rates of genomic and phenotypic variation compared to in vitro populations. Results suggest that the dynamics of population growth and genomewide rearrangement contribute to the maintenance of a commensal and opportunistic life history of C. albicans. Copyright © 2009 by the Genetics Society of America.


Knuth relations for the hyperoctahedral groups

Date: 2009-06-01

Creator: Thomas Pietraho

Access: Open access

C. Bonnafé, M. Geck, L. Iancu, and T. Lam have conjectured a description of Kazhdan-Lusztig cells in unequal parameter Hecke algebras of type B which is based on domino tableaux of arbitrary rank. In the integer case, this generalizes the work of D. Garfinkle. We adapt her methods and construct a family of operators which generate the equivalence classes on pairs of arbitrary rank domino tableaux described in the above conjecture. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.


Continuity Trumps Change: The First Year of Trump's Administrative Presidency

Date: 2019-10-01

Creator: Rachel Augustine Potter, Andrew Rudalevige, Sharece Thrower, Adam L. Warber

Access: Open access

From campaign rhetoric to tweets, President Trump has positioned himself as disrupter in chief, often pointing to administrative action as the avenue by which he is leaving a lasting mark. However, research on the administrative presidency begins with the premise that all presidents face incentives to use administrative tools to gain substantive or political traction. If, as this article suggests, Trump's institutional standing differs little from his recent predecessors, then how much of the Trump presidency represents a change from past norms and practices' How much represents continuity, or the perennial dynamics of a far-from-omnipotent executive in an ongoing world of separate institutions sharing powers (Neustadt 1990, 29)' To answer this, we tracked presidential directives and regulatory policy during Trump's first year in office. We found evidence of continuity, indicating that in its use of administrative tactics to shape policy, the Trump White House largely falls in line with recent presidencies.


Multistable solitons in higher-dimensional cubic-quintic nonlinear Schrödinger lattices

Date: 2009-01-15

Creator: C. Chong, R. Carretero-González, B. A. Malomed, P. G. Kevrekidis

Access: Open access

We study the existence, stability, and mobility of fundamental discrete solitons in two- and three-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger lattices with a combination of cubic self-focusing and quintic self-defocusing onsite nonlinearities. Several species of stationary solutions are constructed, and bifurcations linking their families are investigated using parameter continuation starting from the anti-continuum limit, and also with the help of a variational approximation. In particular, a species of hybrid solitons, intermediate between the site- and bond-centered types of the localized states (with no counterpart in the 1D model), is analyzed in 2D and 3D lattices. We also discuss the mobility of multi-dimensional discrete solitons that can be set in motion by lending them kinetic energy exceeding the appropriately defined Peierls-Nabarro barrier; however, they eventually come to a halt, due to radiation loss. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


All-loop infrared-divergent behavior of most-subleading-color gauge-theory amplitudes

Date: 2013-04-19

Creator: Stephen G. Naculich, Horatiu Nastase, Howard J. Schnitzer

Access: Open access

The infrared singularities of gravitational amplitudes are one-loop exact, in that higher-loop divergences are characterized by the exponential of the one-loop divergence. We show that the contributions to SU(N) gauge-theory amplitudes that are mostsubleading in the 1/N expansion are also one-loop exact, provided that the dipole conjecture holds. Possible corrections to the dipole conjecture, beginning at three loops, could violate one-loop-exactness, though would still maintain the absence of collinear divergences. We also demonstrate a relation between L-loop four-point N = 8 supergravity and mostsubleading-color N = 4 SYM amplitudes that holds for the two leading IR divergences, (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.), but breaks down at (Formula presented.).


Color-factor symmetry and BCJ relations for QCD amplitudes

Date: 2016-11-01

Creator: Robert W. Brown, Stephen G. Naculich

Access: Open access

Tree-level n-point gauge-theory amplitudes with n − 2k gluons and k pairs of (massless or massive) particles in the fundamental (or other) representation of the gauge group are invariant under a set of symmetries that act as momentum-dependent shifts on the color factors in the cubic decomposition of the amplitude. These symmetries lead to gauge-invariant constraints on the kinematic numerators. They also directly imply the BCJ relations among the Melia-basis primitive amplitudes previously obtained by Johansson and Ochirov.


Feasibility and acceptability of an online mindfulness-based group intervention for adults with tic disorders

Date: 2021-12-01

Creator: Hannah E. Reese, W. Alan Brown, Berta J. Summers, Jin Shin, Grace, Wheeler, Sabine Wilhelm

Access: Open access

Abstract: Background: Preliminary research suggests that a mindfulness-based treatment approach may be beneficial for adults with tic disorders. In the present study, we report on the feasibility, acceptability, safety, and symptomatic effect of a novel online mindfulness-based group intervention for adults with Tourette syndrome or persistent tic disorder. Data from this study will directly inform the conduct of a funded randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of this intervention to another active psychological intervention. Methods: One cohort of adults with Tourette syndrome participated in an 8-week online mindfulness-based group intervention. Measures of feasibility, acceptability, and safety were administered throughout and at posttreatment. Self-reported measures of mindfulness and clinician-rated measures of tic severity and impairment were administered at baseline and posttreatment. Results: Data on refusal, dropout rate, attendance, participant satisfaction, and safety suggest that this is a feasible and acceptable intervention. However, participant adherence to home practice was lower than anticipated. Mindfulness, tic severity, and tic-related impairment only modestly improved from baseline to posttreatment. Qualitative analysis of participant feedback revealed aspects of the intervention that were most helpful and also areas for improvement. Conclusions: Data suggest that although this is a feasible and acceptable intervention, it should be modified to enhance participant adherence, more successfully engage the target mechanism, and optimize outcomes. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov registration #NCT03525626. Registered on 24 April 2018


Traveling waves in 2D hexagonal granular crystal lattices

Date: 2014-01-01

Creator: A. Leonard, C. Chong, P. G. Kevrekidis, C. Daraio

Access: Open access

This study describes the dynamic response of a two-dimensional hexagonal packing of uncompressed stainless steel spheres excited by localized impulsive loadings. The dynamics of the system are modeled using the Hertzian normal contact law. After the initial impact strikes the system, a characteristic wave structure emerges and continuously decays as it propagates through the lattice. Using an extension of the binary collision approximation for one-dimensional chains, we predict its decay rate, which compares well with numerical simulations and experimental data. While the hexagonal lattice does not support constant speed traveling waves, we provide scaling relations that characterize the directional power law decay of the wave velocity for various angles of impact. Lastly, we discuss the effects of weak disorder on the directional amplitude decay rates. © 2014 The Author(s).


Civil Society under the Law ‘On Foreign Agents’: NGO Strategies and Network Transformation

Date: 2018-04-21

Creator: Maria Tysiachniouk, Svetlana Tulaeva, Laura A. Henry

Access: Open access

This essay analyses how the ‘foreign agent’ law has been interpreted and implemented by the Russian authorities and examines diverse NGO survival strategies in response to the ‘foreign agent’ label. The foreign agent law has disrupted and transformed resource mobilisation strategies and transnational NGO networks. Based on qualitative research on environmental NGOs, we offer a typology of NGO responses to the foreign agent law, providing examples to show how the organisations attempt to ensure their survival.


Global divergence of the human follicle mite Demodex folliculorum: Persistent associations between host ancestry and mite lineages

Date: 2015-12-29

Creator: Michael F. Palopoli, Daniel J. Fergus, Samuel Minot, Dorothy T. Pei, W. Brian, Simison, Iria Fernandez-Silva, Megan S. Thoemmes, Robert R. Dunn, Michelle Trautwein

Access: Open access

Microscopic mites of the genus Demodex live within the hair follicles of mammals and are ubiquitous symbionts of humans, but little molecular work has been done to understand their genetic diversity or transmission. Here we sampled mite DNA from 70 human hosts of diverse geographic ancestries and analyzed 241 sequences from the mitochondrial genome of the species Demodex folliculorum. Phylogenetic analyses recovered multiple deep lineages including a globally distributed lineage common among hosts of European ancestry and three lineages that primarily include hosts of Asian, African, and Latin American ancestry. To a great extent, the ancestral geography of hosts predicted the lineages of mites found on them; 27% of the total molecular variance segregated according to the regional ancestries of hosts. We found that D. folliculorum populations are stable on an individual over the course of years and that some Asian and African American hosts maintain specific mite lineages over the course of years or generations outside their geographic region of birth or ancestry. D. folliculorum haplotypes were much more likely to be shared within families and between spouses than between unrelated individuals, indicating that transmission requires close contact. Dating analyses indicated that D. folliculorum origins may predate modern humans. Overall, D. folliculorum evolution reflects ancient human population divergences, is consistent with an out-of-Africa dispersal hypothesis, and presents an excellent model system for further understanding the history of human movement.