This thesis investigates how and why luxury brand stores articulate, establish, and perpetuate luxury brand identity in the airport. Through the construction of luxury narratives, spaces, display, ...and services, the luxury sensory environments must be able to attract and engage airport passengers. This thesis discusses how the airport is considered transitory and unique, which means that the identity of luxury brands must remain stable and familiar, in an environment which has opportunities to diffuse luxury. Furthermore, the airport in contemporary consciousness is driven by notions of luxury, leisure, pleasure, and the exotic. They are places of possibility and desire, which drives the need for luxury experiences. This is the first study of its kind to explore how luxury branded spaces in the airport are constructed, and how through methods of the expression of luxury display, they renegotiate what luxury means to consumers. Previous research has failed to consider how the perception of luxury is influenced in unique transitory environments, such as the airport. International airports are now considered luxury shopping destinations in themselves. Since the first duty-free store was established in 1947 at Shannon airport in Ireland, retail in the airport has grown to seventy six billion dollars, and will reach one hundred and twelve billion dollars by 2025 (Adroit Research, 2019). Airport retail proves to be the most resilient global market, and globe travellers are four times more likely to spend on luxury purchases in the airport than in non-airport stores (Blue, 2019)1. Therefore, luxury brands have realised that they can provide a unique offering, experience, and sensory engagement within the airport environment, which act as a microcosm for the retail world. This thesis offers a set of recommendations for luxury brand practitioners, airport managers and academics in the realm of luxury, and suggests that for an airport luxury brand store to be deemed luxury and important, there are special measures which must be in place. These are window display, store interior design, and sensory experience, which help construct, articulate, and reposition luxury in the airport. This is important, because the airport is a distinct, non-place, transitory environment, which, due to historical associations with glamour, carries with it expectations of luxury experiences. Therefore, to raise levels of luxuriousness, spatial constructs must be in place. The results suggest that luxury in the airport must appear exclusive, at the same time inclusive, through the democratisation of the luxury experience. I reveal that the appearance of luxury brands in the airport has repositioned luxury as an accessible and democratic space to experience luxurious things.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a genetically complex autoimmune disease characterized by loss of immune tolerance to nuclear and cell surface antigens. Previous genome-wide association studies ...(GWAS) had modest sample sizes, reducing their scope and reliability. Our study comprised 7,219 cases and 15,991 controls of European ancestry, constituting a new GWAS, a meta-analysis with a published GWAS and a replication study. We have mapped 43 susceptibility loci, including ten new associations. Assisted by dense genome coverage, imputation provided evidence for missense variants underpinning associations in eight genes. Other likely causal genes were established by examining associated alleles for cis-acting eQTL effects in a range of ex vivo immune cells. We found an over-representation (n = 16) of transcription factors among SLE susceptibility genes. This finding supports the view that aberrantly regulated gene expression networks in multiple cell types in both the innate and adaptive immune response contribute to the risk of developing SLE.
Isoprene significantly contributes to organic aerosol in the southeastern United States where biogenic hydrocarbons mix with anthropogenic emissions. In this work, the Community Multiscale Air ...Quality model is updated to predict isoprene aerosol from epoxides produced under both high- and low-NO x conditions. The new aqueous aerosol pathways allow for explicit predictions of two key isoprene-derived species, 2-methyltetrols and 2-methylglyceric acid, that are more consistent with observations than estimates based on semivolatile partitioning. The new mechanism represents a significant source of organic carbon in the lower 2 km of the atmosphere and captures the abundance of 2-methyltetrols relative to organosulfates during the simulation period. For the parametrization considered here, a 25% reduction in SO x emissions effectively reduces isoprene aerosol, while a similar reduction in NO x leads to small increases in isoprene aerosol.
In breast cancer, humoral immune responses may contribute to clinical outcomes, especially in more immunogenic subtypes. Here, we investigated B lymphocyte subsets, immunoglobulin expression, and ...clonal features in breast tumors, focusing on aggressive triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC). In samples from patients with TNBC and healthy volunteers, circulating and tumor-infiltrating B lymphocytes (TIL-B) were evaluated. CD20
CD27
IgD
isotype-switched B lymphocytes were increased in tumors, compared with matched blood. TIL-B frequently formed stromal clusters with T lymphocytes and engaged in bidirectional functional cross-talk, consistent with gene signatures associated with lymphoid assembly, costimulation, cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions, cytotoxic T-cell activation, and T-cell-dependent B-cell activation. TIL-B-upregulated B-cell receptor (BCR) pathway molecules FOS and JUN, germinal center chemokine regulator RGS1, activation marker CD69, and TNFα signal transduction via NFκB, suggesting BCR-immune complex formation. Expression of genes associated with B lymphocyte recruitment and lymphoid assembly, including CXCL13, CXCR4, and DC-LAMP, was elevated in TNBC compared with other subtypes and normal breast. TIL-B-rich tumors showed expansion of IgG but not IgA isotypes, and IgG isotype switching positively associated with survival outcomes in TNBC. Clonal expansion was biased toward IgG, showing expansive clonal families with specific variable region gene combinations and narrow repertoires. Stronger positive selection pressure was present in the complementarity determining regions of IgG compared with their clonally related IgA in tumor samples. Overall, class-switched B lymphocyte lineage traits were conspicuous in TNBC, associated with improved clinical outcomes, and conferred IgG-biased, clonally expanded, and likely antigen-driven humoral responses. SIGNIFICANCE: Tumor-infiltrating B lymphocytes assemble in clusters, undergoing B-cell receptor-driven activation, proliferation, and isotype switching. Clonally expanded, IgG isotype-biased humoral immunity associates with favorable prognosis primarily in triple-negative breast cancers.
A key aspect to finding an efficacious human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine is the optimization of vaccine schedules that can mediate the efficient maturation of protective immune responses. In ...the present study, we investigated the effect of alternate booster regimens on the immune responses to a candidate HIV-1 clade C CN54gp140 envelope protein, which was coadministered with the TLR4-agonist glucopyranosyl lipid A-aqueous formulation. Twelve study participants received a common three-dose intramuscular priming series followed by a final booster at either 6 or 12 months. The two homologous prime-boost regimens were well tolerated and induced CN54gp140-specific responses that were observed in both the systemic and mucosal compartments. Levels of vaccine-induced IgG-subclass antibodies correlated significantly with FcγR engagement, and both vaccine regimens were associated with strikingly similar patterns in antibody titer and FcγR-binding profiles. In both groups, identical changes in the antigen (Ag)-specific IgG-subclass fingerprint, leading to a decrease in IgG1 and an increase in IgG4 levels, were modulated by booster injections. Here, the dissection of immune profiles further supports the notion that prime-boost strategies are essential for the induction of diverse Ag-specific HIV-1 responses. The results reported here clearly demonstrate that identical responses were effectively and safely induced by both vaccine regimens, indicating that an accelerated 6-month regimen could be employed for the rapid induction of immune responses against CN54gp140 with no apparent impact on the overall quality of the induced immune response. (This study has been registered at http://ClinicalTrials.gov under registration no. NCT01966900.).
BACKGROUND: Single-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, if efficacious, would be tremendously advantageous, simplifying implementation and decreasing costs. METHODS: We performed a ...randomized, multicenter, double-blind, controlled trial of single-dose nonavalent (HPV 16/18/31/33/45/52/58/6/11 infection) or bivalent (HPV 16/18 infection) HPV vaccination compared with meningococcal vaccination among Kenyan women 15 to 20 years of age. Enrollment and 6-monthly cervical swabs and a month 3 vaginal swab were tested for HPV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Enrollment sera were tested for HPV antibodies. The modified intent-to-treat (mITT) cohort comprised participants who had an HPV antibody-negative result at enrollment and an HPV DNA-negative result at enrollment and month 3. The primary outcome was incident persistent vaccine-type HPV infection by month 18. RESULTS: Between December 2018 and June 2021, 2275 women were randomly assigned and followed. A total of 758 participants received the nonavalent HPV vaccine, 760 received the bivalent HPV vaccine, and 757 received the meningococcal vaccine; retention was 98%. Thirty-eight incident persistent infections were detected in the HPV 16/18 mITT cohort: one each among participants assigned to the bivalent and nonavalent groups and 36 among those assigned to the meningococcal group. Nonavalent vaccine efficacy (VE) was 97.5% (95% confidence interval CI, 81.7 to 99.7%; P≤0.0001), and bivalent VE was 97.5% (95% CI, 81.6 to 99.7%; P≤0.0001). Thirty-three incident persistent infections were detected in the HPV 16/18/31/33/45/52/58 mITT cohort: four in the nonavalent group and 29 in the meningococcal group. Nonavalent VE for HPV 16/18/31/33/45/52/58 was 88.9% (95% CI, 68.5 to 96.1; P<0.0001). The rate of serious adverse events was 4.5% to 5.2% by group. CONCLUSIONS: Over the 18-month timeframe we studied, single-dose bivalent and nonavalent HPV vaccines were each highly effective in preventing incident persistent oncogenic HPV infection, similar to multidose regimens. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the University of Washington; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03675256.)
MYC and NOTCH are major oncogenic drivers in T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL), yet additional collaborating genetic lesions likely collaborate to induce frank malignancy. To identify these ...factors, a large-scale transgenic screen was completed where 38 amplified and over-expressed genes found in human T-ALL were assessed for accelerating leukemia onset in the zebrafish transgenic model. From this analysis, Thymocyte selection-associated homeobox protein (TOX) synergized with both MYC and NOTCH to induce T-ALL. TOX is dynamically regulated in T cell development with peak expression occurring when thymocytes are actively undergoing T cell receptor (TCR) recombination. TOX is best known for regulating the specification of the mature CD4+ T cells. Despite TOX being genomically amplified in a subset of human and mouse T-ALL and being overexpressed in 100% of human T-ALL, a role for TOX in regulating leukemogenesis has not been reported. Characterization of zebrafish T-ALLs revealed that TOX expands the overall number of malignant T-ALL clones and promoted genomic instability as assessed by changes in DNA content. To identify TOX binding partners, antibody immunoprecipitation studies were performed followed by Tandem Mass Spectrometry. TOX was found to interact with KU70/KU80 but not other DNA repair enzymes including LigaseIV, DNA-PKC, or XRCC4. These results were verified by Western blot analysis and reciprocal immunoprecipitation studies using antibodies specific to KU70/KU80 both in the absence and presence of DNAseI treatment. Given that TOX elevated genomic instability in the zebrafish model and bound specifically to KU70/KU80 – the initiating factors required for Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ) repair - we hypothesized that TOX is a negative regulator of double-strand break repair. Fluorescent repair assays were completed in 3T3 fibroblasts and confirmed that TOX inhibits Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ). Both the nuclear localization signal and HMG-box were required for the ability of TOX to inhibit double-strand break repair. Dynamic real-time imaging studies confirmed that TOX suppresses recruitment of fluorescent-tagged KU70 to DNA breaks. Importantly, TOX loss of function increased NHEJ in human T-ALL cells and reduced time to DNA repair as assessed by fluorescent Traffic Light Reporter assays and quantitative assessment of 53BP1 and γH2A.X foci resolution following irradiation. Given the prominent role TOX has in T cell development and its coordinated regulation during active TCRβ and TCRα rearrangement, it is likely that the normal function of TOX is to transiently suppress the NHEJ pathway during Recombination-Activating Gene (RAG)-mediated recombination. Prolonging the time to DNA repair would likely facilitate long-range repair across VDJ segments. In the setting of T-ALL, TOX is aberrantly re-activated, thereby suppressing KU70/KU80 function to promote genomic instability and ultimately elevating rates at which acquired mutations and rearrangements are amassed in developing pre-malignant T cells.
No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Graduate Peer Teaching Consultants Pinder-Grover, Tershia; Wright, Mary C.; Meizlish, Deborah S.
Advancing the Culture of Teaching on Campus,
2011
Book Chapter
In this chapter, the authors situate an approach to PTC programs in the context of similar programs nationwide, discuss the institutional considerations that led to the development of these programs, ...provide an overview of how these programs are run, and present evaluation data regarding the impact these programs have on the TAs and the PTCs themselves. Today, the central PTC program employs 14 graduate consultants from 13 different UM departments while the engineering PTC adds another 10 consultants from across 12 College of Engineering (CoE) departments. All graduate students who receive an MSF from Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) are surveyed regarding their satisfaction with the process, the changes they have made as a result of the feedback, and whether they would recommend the MSF to others. CRLT has also assessed the extended impact that involvement in the GTC and EGSM programs has had on the PTCs themselves.
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