Yes or no is perhaps the most common answer we provide each day. Indeed, binary answers to well structured questions are the building blocks of our knowledge. I started my research career in drafting such answers in various circumstances within…

The use of concepts underlies the most basic cognitive processes. Consequently, psychologists have long been interested in understanding the behavioral and neural correlates of conceptual knowledge and its manipulation. This has led to a rich set of research results that…

This dissertation is a history of astronomy in three cultural locations in late Ottoman Egypt: the scholarly culture of Muslim ulama, the state institution of the Viceregal Observatory, and the Arabic press. Through an interwoven history of these cultures, the…

The
welfare
system
in
the
United
States
has
seen
great
changes
over
the
course
of
the
last
century,
moving
us
away
from
“charity”
and
towards
a
system
that
considers
cash
assistance
to
be
a
temporary,
support
system
as
people
get

During the twentieth century, tobacco farmers in rural North Carolina quietly changed the relationship between the government and citizen in America . Flue-cured tobacco growers produced not only the finest cigarette leaf, but also new systems of marketing, regulating, and…

Protein domain prediction is a key step in characterizing protein structure, function, and evolution. However, the genome of Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malignant malaria, remains poorly-annotated using standard approaches to domain prediction. We identified several general problems with…

Human cells are protected by cell-intrinsic mechanisms that specifically detect microbial pathogens and elicit innate immune response. Such activities are essential in restricting viral infections. Despite the extensive knowledge about cytoplasmic sensing processes, little is understood about the nuclear counterpart.…

Malaria and diarrhea are major causes of illness and death in Africa. These preventable diseases take the biggest toll on children, mostly due to lack of education and adequate resources in the home. The purpose of the reported research project…

This research explores the metabolic role of the gut microbiota in the global
obesity crisis and rising threat of global warming. Enteric microbiota in the rumen emit
methane as a by-product of metabolite degradation. Experiments – primarily on mice –

The antimicrobial effects of copper have been well established and may prove to be an effective means of reducing nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections. However, discussions surrounding the antimicrobial properties of copper-containing surfaces rarely address the effect of such materials on…