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Biomedical Ethics And Responsible Conduct Of Research, Katherine Mendis

Open Educational Resources

This course is an introduction to the moral challenges that arise in the design and execution of biomedical research and the development of medical interventions. A historical review segues into detailed examination of key ethical concepts and principles, as well as topics of particular concern. At the culmination of the semester, students apply their knowledge of research ethics to an ethical analysis of their MTM BioDesign projects.

An Exploration Of Protein And Dna Components In Fingerprint Residue, Ashley Borrego

Student Theses

The main focus of this project was to investigate the protein and DNA components in both sebaceous and eccrine fingerprints. This study investigated the relative content of DNA and proteins in eccrine fingerprints to sebaceous fingerprints. All volunteers were instructed to wash and dry their hands prior to depositing parallel thumbprints. Twenty volunteers were instructed to touch their face to produce sebaceous prints, and 5 volunteers were instructed to wear gloves over a heat source to produce sweaty or eccrine prints. Microscopy was used to score the cellular debris of the right fingerprint on a scale of 1-4 based on …

A Comparison Of Individual Learning And Social Learning In Zebrafish Through An Ethorobotics Approach, Yanpeng Yang, Romain J. G. Clément, Stefano Ghirlanda, Maurizio Porfiri

Publications and Research

Social learning is ubiquitous across the animal kingdom, where animals learn from group members about predators, foraging strategies, and so on. Despite its prevalence and adaptive benefits, our understanding of social learning is far from complete. Here, we study observational learning in zebrafish, a popular animal model in neuroscience. Toward fine control of experimental variables and high consistency across trials, we developed a novel robotics-based experimental test paradigm, in which a robotic replica demonstrated to live subjects the correct door to join a group of conspecifics. We performed two experimental conditions. In the individual training condition, subjects learned the correct …

Bioluminescent Flashes Drive Nighttime Schooling Behavior And Synchronized Swimming Dynamics In Flashlight Fish, David F. Gruber, Brennan T. Phillips, Rory O'Brien, Vivek Boominathan, Ashok Veeraraghavan, Ganesh Vasan, Peter O'Brien, Vincent A. Pieribone, John S. Sparks

Publications and Research

Schooling fishes, like flocking birds and swarming insects, display remarkable behavioral coordination. While over 25% of fish species exhibit schooling behavior, nighttime schooling has rarely been observed or reported. This is due to vision being the primary modality for schooling, which is corroborated by the fact that most fish schools disperse at critically low light levels. Here we report on a large aggregation of the bioluminescent flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron that exhibited nighttime schooling behavior during multiple moon phases, including the new moon. Data were recorded with a suite of low-light imaging devices, including a high-speed, high-resolution scientific complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor …

Comparison Of Play Frequency In Four Sympatric Monkey Species In Kibale National Park, Uganda, Sara G. Lucci

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes play in red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus), grey-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena), black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza), and redtail monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) to test Instinct-Practice Theory. Solitary locomotor play was different among the species. Rough-and-tumble play was different between male and female redtail monkeys. These results partially support Instinct-Practice Theory.

Taming The Beast: Heathcliff As Dog In Wuthering Heights, Anna Cittadino

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the human/animal distinction in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, focusing specifically on the animal within Heathcliff, and the way this animal undermines his ability to be human as a result of the violence and abandonment he endured in childhood.

Adult And Juvenile Rats Differentially Express Mpfc Glua2 Following Traumatic Memory Retrieval, Edgar Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

To advance our understanding of how traumatic memories are modulated between adults and juveniles, we characterize the AMPAr subunits, GluA1, GluA2, GluA3 in the mPFC of rodents following traumatic memory retrieval.

GluA2 was differentially expressed in adults but not juveniles rats. There were no changes in GluA1 or GluA3 expression

The Effect Of Dopamine Blockade On Sensorimotor Gating In Social Phenotypes Of The African Cichlid Fish Astatotilapia Burtoni, Raymond A. Turco

Theses and Dissertations

We asked if blocking dopamine could improve implicit sensory gating deficits in a socially-defeated fish of a naturally-agonistic species. This study investigated the effects of dopamine D2R receptor antagonist metoclopramide on sensorimotor gating using a prepulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm in social phenotypes of male A. burtoni African cichlid fish.

Exploring Innovation And Behavioral Flexibility In African Lions (Panthera Leo) And Snow Leopards (Panthera Uncia), Victoria L. O'Connor

Theses and Dissertations

Intelligence may have evolved to help animals problem-solve in their physical and/or social environments, which enables them to cope with changes in their environments. Humans can reduce wildlife conflict by understanding how species that face harsh environments assess a situation and alter their behavior. Tests for cognitive behavior aim to formulate clear behavioral criteria for inferring an animal’s mental processes. We designed a custom multi-access puzzle box (MAB) to present a simple and effective behavioral test for exploring innovation in two species, African lions (Panthera leo) and snow leopards (Panthera uncia). Despite being vastly underrepresented in …

Endothelial Iqgap1 Regulates Leukocyte Transmigration By Directing The Lbrc To The Site Of Diapedesis, David P. Sullivan, Prarthana J. Dalal, Fanny Jaulin, David B. Sacks, Geri Kreitzer, William A. Muller

Publications and Research

Transendothelial migration (TEM) of leukocytes across the endothelium is critical for inflammation. In the endothelium, TEM requires the coordination of membrane movements and cytoskeletal interactions, including, prominently, recruitment of the lateral border recycling compartment (LBRC). The scaffold protein IQGAP1 was recently identified in a screen for LBRC-interacting proteins. Knockdown of endothelial IQGAP1 disrupted the directed movement of the LBRC and substantially reduced leukocyte TEM. Expression of truncated IQGAP1 constructs demonstrated that the calponin homology domain is required for IQGAP1 localization to endothelial borders and that the IQ domain, on the same IQGAP1 polypeptide, is required for its function in TEM. …

Choline: Exploring The Growing Science On Its Benefits For Moms And Babies, Hunter W. Korsmo, Xinyin Jiang, Marie A. Caudill

Publications and Research

The importance of ensuring adequate choline intakes during pregnancy is increasingly recognized. Choline is critical for a number of physiological processes during the prenatal period with roles in membrane biosynthesis and tissue expansion, neurotransmission and brain development, and methyl group donation and gene expression. Studies in animals and humans have shown that supplementing the maternal diet with additional choline improves several pregnancy outcomes and protects against certain neural and metabolic insults. Most pregnant women in the U.S. are not achieving choline intake recommendations of 450 mg/day and would likely benefit from boosting their choline intakes through dietary and/or supplemental approaches.

The Gen Z Zombie: Ya Takes On The Undead, Jason Mccormick

Theses and Dissertations

After the terror attacks of 9/11, zombie stories experienced an unprecedented boom, or for some critics, a renaissance. Fears of mass death, infiltration by the Other, and life before and after the apocalyptic moment were played out through zombie stories. The longevity of the boom also saw the zombie myth move into strange new places including Young Adult novels, resulting in what I refer to as the “Gen Z zombie.”

In his discussion of the sympathetic zombie, Kyle William Bishop mentions YA zombie texts including Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth and Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies but groups …

The Scientific Romances Of Jules Verne And H.G. Wells: Imperialism Disguised As Progress In The Early Days Of Science Fiction, Timothy Ferris

Theses and Dissertations

Frequently in their respective oeuvres, Verne and Wells write in a rhetoric of conquest that almost always translates to discovering a more efficient means of taming wild, non-European environments. These goals extend not only to the lands that their protagonists explore, but also to human beings and other life that may populate them. Indeed, the underlying focus—the one that is masked behind the thrill and adventure of both Wells and Verne—is none other than the march of progress as understood by middle-class Europeans in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Progress can produce positivistic optimism, and it can also …

Do Psychopathic Traits Influence Distractibility By Empathy-Eliciting Pictures?, Priya M. Reji

Student Theses

Empathy is a crucial component in forming interpersonal connections, and reflects the ability to share and understand the feelings of others. Psychopathy is often associated with a reduced ability to feel and display empathetic concern towards other people. The Response Modulation Hypothesis argues that such individuals have an attentional deficit, which makes it difficult for them to shift focus between stimuli, thus individuals who have high scores on the interpersonal-affective factor of psychopathy have an increased ability to ignore emotional stimuli that are goal-irrelevant. The current study investigated whether psychopathic traits would influence distractibility on an emotional Stroop (eStroop) task. …

Is Animal Suffering Really All That Matters? The Move From Suffering To Vegetarianism, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

The animal liberation movement, among other goals, seeks an end to the use of animals for food. Philosophers who write against animal exploitation agree on the goal but differ in their approaches: Deontologists argue that rearing animals for food infringes animals’ inherent right to life. Utilitarians claim that discontinuing the use of animals for food will result in the maximization of utility. Virtue-oriented theorists argue that using animals for food is an unvirtuous practice. Despite their different approaches, arguments for vegetarianism or veganism have a common step. They move from the notion of suffering to the conclusion of vegetarianism or …

Calculating Set-Volume For The Limb Muscles With The Performance Of Multi-Joint Exercises: Implications For Resistance Training Prescription, Brad J. Schoenfeld, Jozo Grgic, Cody Haun, Takahiro Itagaki, Eric R. Helms

Publications and Research

Resistance training volume, determined by the number of sets performed (set-volume) is considered one of the key variables in promoting muscle hypertrophy. To better guide resistance exercise prescription for weekly per-muscle training volume, the purpose of this paper is to provide evidence-based considerations for set-volume ratios between multi-joint (MJ) and single-joint (SJ) exercises so that practitioners can better manage prescription of training volume in program design. We analyzed this topic from three primary areas of focus: (1) biomechanical and physiological factors; (2) acute research; and (3) longitudinal research. From a biomechanical and physiological standpoint, when considering force production of different …

Cc Chemokine Ccl1 Receptor Ccr8 Mediates Conversion Of Mesenchymal Stem Cells To Embryoid Bodies Expressing Foxp3+Ccr8+ Regulatory T Cells, Nasreen Haque, Tuteja Akaash, Niloufar Haque

Publications and Research

Embryoid bodies (EBs) are three dimensional aggregates of pluripotent stem cells primarily used to investigate morphogenesis and cell toxicity, are also attractive tools in regenerative medicine. While embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent cells (IPSCs) have been shown to form EBs in mouse, primate and humans, EB formation have not been previously demonstrated in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Here we show that rat MSCs form EBs; which express regulatory T cell (Treg) marker Foxp3 and CC chemokine CCL1 receptor CCR8. We show a novel method for formation of EBs from MSCs under stress and demonstrate that the induction of …

Music In The Big Apple, Stephen Jablonsky

Open Educational Resources

This is a textbook designed for a one-semester Music Appreciation course that focuses on New York City. It has an extensive introduction, covers the elements of music, reviews the history of music in NYC, discusses musical genres and musical venues, and introduces many of the leading composers and performers who were born or worked in NYC.

Affect & Race/(Blackness), Colin Patrick Ashley, Michelle Billies

Publications and Research

We question the question of affect and race as one that has already built itself upon blackness and anti-blackness, such that the question a priori for an affect theory seeking to address race, we argue, is that of black ontology. We first examine various works in affect theory that theorize race through new mechanisms of discourse, works that theorize interpersonal and emotive affects, and works that have contributed to a biopolitical understanding of race, affect, and assemblage. Delving deeper into a Deleuzian legacy of affect as capacity we assert that the theoretical works of afro-pessimism and black optimism (as black …

Incheon Chinatown: Cultural Heritage Of This Korea's First Chinatown, Wendy W. Tan

Publications and Research

Established around 1884, Incheon Chinatown is Korea’s first Chinatown. While it has been centuries’ old, it does not fall into a normal condition of old fashioned Chinese community. Rather, it has been highly acclaimed for its presentations of tourist attractions and cultural heritage. It has also been unfortunately labelled as a Chinatown without Chinese. The author has a keen interest in Chinatown development around the world, so a personal visit was made to experience how elements of ethnicity are in action in this Chinese community

The Ticker, July 1, 2019

The Ticker

The Ticker is the student newspaper of Baruch College. It has been published continuously since 1932, when the Baruch College campus was the School of Business and Civic Administration of the City College of New York.

Eece 351 Teaching Science In The Elementary School, Line A. Saint-Hilaire

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Review Essay: Pop Formalist: Ned Balbo And The Perseids, George Guida

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

“A” For Effort: Rewarding Effortful Retrieval Attempts Improves Learning From General Knowledge Errors In Women, Damon Abraham, Kateri Mcrae, Jennifer A. Mangels

Publications and Research

Previous research has shown that the prospect of attaining a reward can promote task engagement, up-regulate attention toward reward-relevant information, and facilitate enhanced encoding of new information into declarative memory. However, past research on reward-based enhancement of declarative memory has focused primarily on paradigms in which rewards are contingent upon accurate responses. Yet, findings from test-enhanced learning show that making errors can also be useful for learning if those errors represent effortful retrieval attempts and are followed by corrective feedback. Here, we used a challenging general knowledge task to examine the effects of explicitly rewarding retrieval effort, defined as a …

Is There Synergy Between Song Learning And Vocal Stimuli Discrimination Training?, Kenta Watanabe

Theses and Dissertations

Does auditory discrimination ability predict greater accuracy in imitating song? We investigated this question in zebra finch males by testing if the accuracy of vocal imitation of song syllables relates to auditory discrimination performance. The majority of birds improved on imitating their discriminated syllable pairs over non-discriminated syllable sets.

In Search Of China’S First Library: Materials, Housing And Arrangement, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

Historically, the origin of libraries has an intimate association with written records supporting administrative or ritual functions at the palace or temple. This article attempts to discuss the possibility of the existence of China’s first library in the Shang dynasty (c.1570-1045 BCE) during the beginning of the formative period of Chinese civilization. The article analyzes and synthesizes both paleographical and archaeological evidence from the perspective of available materials, houses, and arrangement, which answers the questions of what the books were made of, where they were stored, and how they were arranged. The article ends with a conclusion that there is …

Preclinical Evaluation Of An Unconventional Ruthenium‐Gold‐ Based Chemotherapeutic: Rance‐1, In Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma, Benelita Elie, Karen Hubbard, Yuriy Pechenyy, Buddhadev Layek, Swayam Prabha, Maria Contel

Publications and Research

Background: There are few effective treatments for patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC). Recent findings indicate that ruthenium‐gold containing compounds exhibit significant antitumor efficacy against CCRCC in vitro affecting cell viability as well as angiogenesis and markers driving those 2 phenomena. However, no in vivo preclinical evaluation of this class of compounds has been reported.

Methods: Following the dose‐finding pharmacokinetic determination, NOD. CB17‐Prkdc SCID/J mice bearing xenograft CCRCC Caki‐1 tumors were treated in an intervention trial for 21 days at 10 mg/kg/72h of RANCE‐1. At the end of the trial, tumor samples were analyzed for histopathological and …

Exploring Pedagogies To Elevate Inquiry: Teaching Action Research In The Third Space, Sara B. Woolf

Publications and Research

This study chronicles a semester long inquiry focused on the impacts of pedagogical strategies informed by the tenets of third space theory on my own practices and understanding of students’ learning outcomes in an action research course. As I applied new instructional strategies to promote discourse and critical inquiry, I reflexively explored how these approaches enhanced my impacts on students’ learning and praxis of action research. This paper first provides a brief introduction to third space theory and then describes how I infused this framework into my course approach, the different types of data collected and analyzed to gauge the …

A Field Procedure To Screen Soil For Hazardous Lead, Franziska C. Landers, Anna Paltseva, Jennifer M. Sobolewski, Zhongqi Cheng, Tyler K. Ellis, Brian J. Mailloux, Alexander Van Geen

Publications and Research

Soils retain lead contamination from possible sources such as mining, smelting, battery recycling, waste incineration, leaded gasoline, and crumbling paint. Such contamination is often concentrated in toxic hot spots that need to be identified locally. To address this need, a simple field procedure was designed to screen soil for hazardous Pb for use by the general public. The procedure is a modification of the in vitro soil Pb extraction described by Drexler and Brattin (Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess. 2007, 13, 383) and EPA Method 1340, and uses a 0.4 M glycine solution at pH 1.5. A higher soil-to-solution ratio of …

Activation Of Lxr Receptors And Inhibition Of Trap1 Causes Synthetic Lethality In Solid Tumors, Trang Thi Thu Nguyen, Chiaki Tsuge Ishida, Enyuan Shang, Chang Shu, Elena Bianchetti, Georg Karpel-Massler, Markus D. Siegelin

Publications and Research

Cholesterol is a pivotal factor for cancer cells to entertain their relentless growth. In this case, we provide a novel strategy to inhibit tumor growth by simultaneous activation of liver-X-receptors and interference with Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-associated Protein 1 (TRAP1). Informed by a transcriptomic and subsequent gene set enrichment analysis, we demonstrate that inhibition of TRAP1 results in suppression of the cholesterol synthesis pathway in stem-like and established glioblastoma (GBM) cells by destabilizing the transcription factor SREBP2. Notably, TRAP1 inhibition induced cell death, which was rescued by cholesterol and mevalonate. Activation of liver X receptor (LXR) by a clinically validated …