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Bibliodiversity At The Centre: Decolonizing Open Access, Monica Berger

Publications and Research

The promise of open access for the global South has not been fully met. Publishing is dominated by Northern publishers who disadvantage Southern authors through platform capitalism and open access models requiring article processing charges to publish. The South can reclaim and decolonize open access, nurturing scholarly communities, by employing bibliodiversity, a sustainable, anticolonial ethos and practice developed in Latin America. Self-determination and locality are at the core of bibliodiversity which rejects the domination of international, English-language journal publishing. As articulated by the Jussieu Call, varied scholarly community-based, non-profit, and sustainable models for open access are integral to bibliodiversity as …

Pirnas As Modulators Of Disease Pathogenesis, Kayla J. Rayford, Ayorinde Cooley, Jelonia T. Rumph, Ashutosh Arun, Girish Rachakonda, Fernando Villalta, Maria F. Lima, Siddharth Pratap, Smita Misra, Pius N. Nde

Publications and Research

Advances in understanding disease pathogenesis correlates to modifications in gene expression within different tissues and organ systems. In depth knowledge about the dysregulation of gene expression profiles is fundamental to fully uncover mechanisms in disease development and changes in host homeostasis. The body of knowledge surrounding mammalian regulatory elements, specifically regulators of chromatin structure, transcriptional and translational activation, has considerably surged within the past decade. A set of key regulators whose function still needs to be fully elucidated are small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs). Due to their broad range of unfolding functions in the regulation of gene expression during transcription and …

Superfluid Swimmers, German Kolmakov, Igor S. Aranson

Publications and Research

The propulsion of living microorganisms ultimately relies on viscous drag for body-fluid interactions. The self-locomotion in superfluids such as ⁴He is deemed impossible due to the apparent lack of viscous resistance. Here, we investigate the self-propulsion of a Janus (two-face) light-absorbing particle suspended in superfluid helium ⁴He (He-II). The particle is energized by the heat flux due to the absorption of light from an external source. We show that a quantum mechanical propulsion force originates due to the transformation of the superfluid to a normal fluid on the heated particle face. The theoretical analysis is supported by the …

Effects Of Structural Isomers Of Spermine On The Higher-Order Structure Of Dna And Gene Expression, Tomoki Kitagawa, Takashi Nishio, Yuko Yoshikawa, Naoki Umezawa, Tsunehiko Higuchi, Chwen-Yang Shew, Takahiro Kenmotsu, Kenichi Yoshikawa

Publications and Research

Polyamines are involved in various biological functions, including cell proliferation, differentiation, gene regulation, etc. Recently, it was found that polyamines exhibit biphasic effects on gene expression: promotion and inhibition at low and high concentrations, respectively. Here, we compared the effects of three naturally occurring tetravalent polyamines, spermine (SPM), thermospermine (TSPM), and N4-aminopropylspermidine (BSPD). Based on the single DNA observation with fluorescence microscopy together with measurements by atomic force microscopy revealed that these polyamines induce shrinkage and then compaction of DNA molecules, at low and high concentrations, respectively. We also performed the observation to evaluate the effects of these polyamine isomers …

Spe-29 - Voice & Articulation (Intro Assignment), Laura Spinu

Open Educational Resources

This assignment is asking students to collaboratively create a database of "good" and "bad" voices for subsequent analysis.

Spe-29 - Voice & Articulation (Advanced Assignment), Laura Spinu

Open Educational Resources

This two-part assignment introduces students to spectrogram reading by asking them (1) to explore a set of spectrograms representing the days of the week, and then (2) record their own spectrogram and add a picture of it to a common "Mystery Spectrograms" folder for use in a subsequent assignment (and also in classroom activities).

NOTE: by the time this assignment is introduced, the students have already learned how to record themselves and save sound files using the Praat software for acoustic analysis. If they are not familiar with the procedure, this tutorial will help:

Making a recording in PRAAT

The Neural Correlates Of Cued Reward Omission, Jessica A. Mollick, Luke J. Change, Anjali Krishnan, Thomas E. Hazy, Kai A. Krueger, Guido K. W. Frank, Tor D. Wager, Randall C. O'Reilly

Publications and Research

Compared to our understanding of positive prediction error signals occurring due to unexpected reward outcomes, less is known about the neural circuitry in humans that drives negative prediction errors during omission of expected rewards. While classical learning theories such as Rescorla–Wagner or temporal difference learning suggest that both types of prediction errors result from a simple subtraction, there has been recent evidence suggesting that different brain regions provide input to dopamine neurons which contributes to specific components of this prediction error computation. Here, we focus on the brain regions responding to negative prediction error signals, which has been well-established in …

A Bisphosphonate With A Low Hydroxyapatite Binding Affinity Prevents Bone Loss In Mice After Ovariectomy And Reverses Rapidly With Treatment Cessation, Abigail A. Coffman, Jelena Basta-Pljakic, Rosa M. Guerra, Frank H. Ebetino, Mark W. Lundy, Robert J. Majeska, Mitchell B. Schaffler

Publications and Research

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are a mainstay of osteoporosis treatment; however, concerns about bone health based on oversuppression of remodeling remain. Long-term bone remodeling suppression adversely affects bone material properties with microdamage accumulation and reduced fracture toughness in animals and increases in matrix mineralization and atypical femur fractures in patients. Although a “drug holiday” from BPs to restore remodeling and improve bone quality seems reasonable, clinical BPs have long functional half-lives because of their high hydroxyapatite (HAP) binding affinities. This places a practical limit on the reversibility and effectiveness of a drug holiday. BPs with low HAP affinity and strong osteoclast inhibition …

T-Moca: A Valid Phone Screen For Cognitive Impairment In Diverse Community Samples, Mindy J. Katz, Cuiling Wang, Caroline O. Nester, Carol A. Derby, Molly E. Zimmerman, Richard B. Lipton, Martin J. Sliwinski, Laura A. Rabin

Publications and Research

Introduction: There is an urgent need to validate telephone versions of widely used general cognitive measures, such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (T-MoCA), for remote assessments.

Methods: In the Einstein Aging Study, a diverse community cohort (n = 428; mean age = 78.1; 66% female; 54% non-White), equivalence testing was used to examine concordance between the T-MoCA and the corresponding in-person MoCA assess- ment. Receiver operating characteristic analyses examined the diagnostic ability to dis- criminate between mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition. Conversion meth- ods from T-MoCA to the MoCA are presented.

Results: Education, race/ethnicity, gender, age, self-reported cognitive concerns, …

Using Verb Extension To Gauge Children’S Verb Meaning Construals: The Case Of Chinese, Weiyi Ma, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Lulu Song, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek

Publications and Research

Verb extension is a crucial gauge of the acquisition of verb meaning. In English, studies suggest that young children show conservative extension. An important test of whether an early conservative extension is a general phenomenon or a function of the input language is made possible by Chinese, a language in which verbs are more frequent and acquired earlier. This study tested whether 3-year-old Chinese children extended a group of familiar verbs that specify various ways to carry objects. Shown videos that portrayed typical, mid-typical, or atypical carrying actions (as verified by Chinese adults), children were asked to judge whether they …

How Drawing To Distract Improves Mood In Children, Jennifer E. Drake

Publications and Research

Previous research has shown that drawing improves short-term mood in children when used to distract from rather than express negative thoughts and feelings. The current study sought to examine (a) how drawing might elevate mood in children ages 6–12 by examining the role played by absorption, enjoyment, and perceived competence as well as entering an imaginary world; and (b) whether children spontaneously use drawing to distract from a sad mood. Across three studies, children were asked to think of a disappointing event. After a sad mood induction, they drew for 5 min. Mood was measured before and after the mood …

Molecular Speciation Of Size Fractionated Particulate Water-Soluble Organic Carbon By Two-Dimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (Nmr) Spectroscopy, Marie-Cecile Chalbot, Salma Siddiqui, Ilias G. Kavouras

Publications and Research

Particulate matter is associated with increased morbidity and mortality; its effects depend on particle size and chemical content. It is important to understand the composition and resultant toxicological profile of particulate organic compounds, the largest and most complex fraction of particulate matter. The objective of the study was to delineate the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral fingerprint of the biologically relevant water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) fraction of size fractionated urban aerosol. A combination of one and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy methods was used. The size distribution of particle mass, water-soluble extract, non-exchangeable organic hydrogen functional types and specific biomarkers such as …

Incentivizing Injustice: Why No High-Level Executive Prosecutions From The Financial Crisis?, Sari Krieger Rivera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

More than ten years after the financial crisis of 2008, which sparked America’s Great Recession, many citizens are still asking why no high-level bank executives were prosecuted for criminal fraud. This question becomes even more perplexing when they remember that many powerful executives did face jail time during the Enron-era accounting scandals of the early 2000s and the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s. This sense of injustice Americans felt in the wake of the biggest economic disaster of their lifetimes has had reverberating political consequences, such as populist movements like Occupy Wall Street and populist political campaigns …

Anti-Cancer Effects By Interleukin 24, Xuelin Zhong

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cancers develop as some cells acquire the ability, either by exogenous stimulation or by spontaneous mutation, to keep growing despite normal restraints. Up-regulating translation of oncogenes involved in cell proliferation and tumor development and down-regulating translation of tumor-suppressors that normally suppress tumor development are two most common mechanisms by which cancers develop. Therefore, it is crucial to study how these proteins get either up-regulated or down-regulated at translational level.

The eukaryotic translation initiation factor, which is composed of subunits such as eIF4A, eIF4G and eIF4E, is one of the key factors that contribute to efficient translation initiation. Interleukin 24 (IL-24), …

Cell Cycle Progression Effects Of Albumin, Sharmeen Uddin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Progression through G₁ phase of the cell cycle is controlled largely by growth factors in early G₁ and by nutrients in late G₁ indicating sufficient raw material for cell division. We previously mapped a late G₁ cell cycle checkpoint for lipids upstream from a mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1)-mediated checkpoint and downstream from a mid-G₁ checkpoint known as the Restriction point. We therefore investigated a role for lipids in progression through late G₁ into S-phase. Quiescent BJ-hTERT human fibroblasts primed back into G1 with FBS treatment, were treated with a mixture of …

Class Act: Symbolic Revolution And The Meaning Of College In Prison, Ruth E. Delaney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The United States has gone through two transformations in the meaning of higher education in prison and the value of access for people in prison in the last 50 years and is now moving towards a third. The establishment of Pell grants in 1972 allowed for widespread access to higher education in prison, while the removal of those grants in 1994 effectively ended access. Federal policy makers are now poised to restore access to Pell grants to a broad swath of people in prison (Green, 2019; Krieghbaum, April 22, 2019; Krieghbaum, October 11, 2019). In this paper, I interpret the …

Lobster Palaces In Times Square: The Public Stage Where America Discovered Itself Through Play And Leisure, Lydia E. Ravnikar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Between 1870 and 1920, the period known as the Gilded Age, New York City became the acknowledged national leader in finance, manufacturing, technology, and entertainment. As the country’s leader, it attracted both new millionaires who wanted to validate their social importance in an attempt to rid themselves of a small-town past and immigrants, who were searching for better opportunities. However, to New York’s elite society, the Four Hundred, led by Mrs. Astor, both groups were not welcomed. While the immigrants proved easier to control physically, the new millionaires, however, were indeed a legitimate threat. With this real threat including pressure …

What Do You Think She’S Gonna Do With A Set Of Real Claws?: Gender, Race, And Sexuality In Onscreen Portrayals Of Women Werewolves, Ashleigh K. Williams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis analyzes 13 disparate portrayals of werewolfism in film and television as they relate to uncontrolled and uncontrollable femininity. A necessary component of this project is the visual assemblage: my findings are displayed in the format of a zine, in an attempt to capture the bright, furious, aggressive sensory experience of witnessing women becoming werewolves onscreen. Research questions include: How are conventionally masculine werewolf markers feminized in werewolf narratives? How are the women in these pieces of media ultimately punished for embodying creatures that aren’t feminine enough, or are too feminine in exactly the wrong ways? Many she-wolf centered …

The Seduction Of Pessimism: Eros, Failure, And The Novel, Tom Ribitzky

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In Plato’s Symposium, we get a pessimistic myth not only about love, but about the first experience of loss, in which we were once globular cosmic beings who were split in two by Zeus’s thunderbolts as punishment for not obeying the Olympian gods. Falling down to earth after the split, Zeus introduced eros out of pity for our condition. Our consolation was to find our other halves and hold on to them as a way of remembering what it was like when we were whole. But, as Allan Bloom notes:

…man’s condition soon worsened. In the beginning, their real …

Spaces Of Statecraft: How The Bureaucratic State Was Built On Manhattan’S Sidewalk, Brian J. Lee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Through an exploration of the rise in regulation of Manhattan’s largest public space, the sidewalk, Spaces of Statecraft explores the history and socio-spatial implications of the rise of bureaucratic states at a hyper local level. The thesis investigates a period of more than just an expansion of rules; it provides insight into an era of rapid change in perceptions and practices of statecraft in New York City. Uncovering and analyzing how battles over public space unfolded in Manhattan helps to explain the formation of the local state at the turn of the twentieth century.

The local state gave mobility priority …

The Hamite Must Die! The Legacy Of Colonial Ideology In Rwanda, Awa Princess E. Zadi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

April 07, 1994, will forever remain in the history of Rwanda, as it commemorates the beginning of the Rwandan genocide. In 100 days, an estimated 800,000 people, who were overwhelmingly Tutsi, lost their lives at the hand of their neighbors, friends, and families. Although the genocide occurred 26 years ago, there is still much debate surrounding the cause of this tragedy. While some scholars have suggested that the genocide was triggered by contemporary economic and political factors, this thesis is taking a post-colonial approach by bringing into context the colonial history of Rwanda. In the discussion of these colonial roots, …

Cognitive Changes Caused By Lps-Induced Neuroinflammation, Nancy De La Torre

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The brain performs cognitive processes finely orchestrated by timely precise action of neurons. Neurons functioning at their highest standard communicate with each other through perfectly functioning synapses. Microglia, as part of the immune system assist synaptic processing and have the ability to affect cognition. Indeed, microglia play a role in cognition. To investigate the link between microglia and cognition we utilized lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to pharmacologically activate microglia. LPS, normally present in the environment on the wall of Gram-negative bacteria is a pharmacological agent used to cause microglia activation in mice. LPS is a typical model to study changes induced by …

Video On Film: Video Essay, Videographic Criticism, And Digital Academic Publishing, Tian Leng

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the 2010s, an academic practice called “videographic criticism,” utilizing video essay creation and digital academic publishing, became a popular form of film criticism in the field of film studies. The emergence of such a videographic trend in academia and the existence of video essays in public video-sharing websites have made the task of justifying the scholarly values of video essays an urgent one. Through the analysis of the relationship between the video essay and the essay film, this study shows that the essayistic mode is crucial to distinguish videographic criticism from popular commentary. To understand the potentials of videographic …

Insights Into Leptopilina Spp. Immune-Suppressive Strategies Using Mixed-Omics And Molecular Approaches, Brian Wey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Host-parasite interactions influence the biology of each over the course of evolution. Parasite success allows for the passage of potent virulence strategies from generation to generation. Host success passes stronger immunity and resistance strategies to the following generations as well. Only by studying both partners within their natural contexts can we begin to understand the relationship between the two and how immune mechanisms and virulence strategies interact as a molecular arms race.

In this work, we focus on a natural host-parasite pair, the Drosophila-Leptopilina model. Leptopilina species are parasites of several fruit fly species, including Drosophila melanogaster. This model …

Third Harmonic Generation: A Method For Visualizing Myelin In The Murine Cerebral Cortex, Michael Redlich

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Here we present the use of Third Harmonic Generation (THG) for the label-free imaging of myelinated axons in the murine cerebral cortex. Myelin plays an important role in the processes of learning and disease. However, much of the myelin biology research thus far has focused on white matter tracts where myelin is more visible. Much is still unknown, particularly with regard to myelin in gray matter. First, we engage in THG microscopy using an optical parametric oscillator pumped by a titanium-sapphire laser to demonstrate the utility of the technique for imaging myelin in vivo. Second, we investigate the use of …

Mobile Practices And The Production And Curation Of Pottery: A View From The Ancient Southern Russian Steppe Using Portable Methods Of Investigation, Nicole A. Rose

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The southern Russian steppe is located in an intermediary position between the Caucasus, Lower Don and Lower Volga steppe, between which peoples, goods, and technologies often moved throughout prehistory, likely facilitated by small scale seasonal movements and occasional migrations by mobile pastoralists. Conducted in collaboration with the Steppe Archaeological Expedition of the State Historical Museum’s unfolding research on temporary pastoral camps in the Sal-Manych region of the Rostov oblast and Republic of Kalmykia, this dissertation focused on the production and curation of pottery in contexts associated with the emergence and subsequent development of mobile pastoralism from the late fifth millennium …

Using The Marcus Inverted Region And Artificial Cofactors To Create A Charge Separated State In De Novo Designed Proteins, Eskil Me Andersen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

To create an efficient de novo photosynthetic protein it is important to create long lived charge separated states. Achieving stable charge separation leads to an increase in the efficiency of the photosynthetic reaction which in turn leads to higher yields of end products, such as biofuels, electrical charge, or synthetic chemicals. In an attempt to create charge separated states in de novo proteins we hypothesized that we could engineer the free energy gaps in the proteins from excited primary donor (PD) to acceptor (A), and A back to ground state PD such that the forward electron transfer (ET) would be …

Is This My Body? A Manual On Navigating Child Masturbation Without Shame, Stephanie M. Amis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Children’s natural exploration of their bodies and sexual expression through masturbation is often considered to be taboo by many adults and caregivers. It is important that children are taught that they have the right to explore their own bodies, to express and experience any sexual developments that may be happening. A child can be innocent and still have the freedom to explore the biological processes of their sexuality. In early Christianity, 19th century physicians and some 20th century psychologists greatly influenced the negative attitudes around aspects of child sexuality such as masturbation that still thrive today. As far as child …

Marine Resource Specialization In Viking Age Iceland: Exploitation Of Seabirds And Fish On Hegranes In Skagafjörður, Grace M. Cesario

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation focuses on the zooarchaeology of four Viking Age sites on Hegranes, located in Skagafjörður, north Iceland, in order to understand the early economy of the region and place it in a broader context with other settlement sites across the island. This research helps to understand the ways the earliest people in Iceland provided for themselves through niche construction activities that included landscape domestication, animal husbandry, bird hunting, and fishing. It also looks at the zooarchaeological indicators of household autonomy to understand the early social and political landscape in Skagafjörður. At these sites, there is evidence for a specialized …

The Lodge In The Wilderness: Ecologies Of Contemplation In British Romantic Poetry, Sean M. Nolan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation argues that contemplation is often overlooked in studies of British Romantic poetry. By the late 1700s, changing commercial and agricultural practices, industrialism, secularization, and utilitarianism emphasizing industriousness coalesced to uproot established discourses of selfhood and leisure, and effected crises of individuation in Romantic poetry and poetics. Closely reading poems and writing about poetry composed between the 1780s and 1830s by William Cowper, George Crabbe, Robert Bloomfield, Charlotte Smith, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and John Stuart Mill, I probe the relationship between aesthetic, ethical, and emotional responses to depictions of toil, idleness, and leisure. I argue that ecologies …