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Wordsworth, Ruins, And The Dialectics Of Melancholia, Colin Dekeersgieter

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The concept of melancholia as it pertains to Romantic poets is often relegated to its simpler meaning of gloomy or depressed. This work provides an analysis of the motifs of melancholia in the work William Wordsworth as an allegory of the artist's relationship to their art. I am interested in melancholia as the tension between the melancholic's acute awareness of his temporal actuality and the grave desire for transcendence as a poet. Operating within this dialectic fractures Wordsworth's interiority as he struggles to ground himself in both realms. This dialectic is most often reconciled when the poet finds a …

Rapid Kinetics Of Iron Responsive Element (Ire) Rna/Iron Regulatory Protein 1 And Ire-Rna/Eif4f Complexes Respond Differently To Metal Ions, Mateen A. Khan, Jia Ma, William E. Walden, William C. Merrick, Elizabeth C. Theil, Dixie J. Goss

Publications and Research

Metal ion binding was previously shown to destabilize IRE-RNA/IRP1 equilibria and enhanced IRE-RNA/eIF4F equilibria. In order to understand the relative importance of kinetics and stability, we now report rapid rates of protein/RNA complex assembly and dissociation for two IRE-RNAs with IRP1, and quantitatively different metal ion response kinetics that coincide with the different iron responses in vivo. kon, for FRT IRE-RNA binding to IRP1 was eight times faster than ACO2 IRE-RNA. Mn2+ decreased kon and increased koff for IRP1 binding to both FRT and ACO2 IRE-RNA, with a larger effect for FRT IRE-RNA. In order to further understand IRE-mRNA regulation …

Comparing Hitler And Stalin: Certain Cultural Considerations, Phillip W. Weiss

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a great temptation to compare the Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. This is true for two reasons: first, the careers of both men converged at the same point in history, thus doubling the impact both made and second, because the names Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin have become metaphors for ideologies and crimes that today are reviled. The question then arises: who was worse, Hitler or Stalin? This project shows that there is no viable, credible, definitive, or final answer to this question, and that prevailing attitudes about Hitler and Stalin have become so ingrained in contemporary society …

A Chant Of Dilation: Walt Whitman, Phrenology, And The Language Of The Mind, Anton Borst

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A Chant of Dilation analyzes Walt Whitman's poetic engagement with two very modern ideas: the materiality of the mind and the discursive nature of science. During the antebellum period these ideas found expression in the popular science of phrenology, the theory that the mind was divided into various faculties physically located in different parts of the brain. This theory would find a ready audience in Whitman, a poet preoccupied with the body, the soul, and their connection. The writings and publications of premier American phrenologists Orson and Lorenzo Fowler, surveyed in this project, rhetorically mediated emerging conceptions of the brain-embodied …

A Method To Make A Craniotomy On The Ventral Skull Of Neonate Rodents, Adrián Rodríguez-Contreras, Lingyan Shi, Bingmei M. Fu

Publications and Research

The use of a craniotomy for in vivo experiments provides an opportunity to investigate the dynamics of diverse cellular processes in the mammalian brain in adulthood and during development. Although most in vivo approaches use a craniotomy to study brain regions located on the dorsal side, brainstem regions such as the pons, located on the ventral side remain relatively understudied. The main goal of this protocol is to facilitate access to ventral brainstem structures so that they can be studied in vivo using electrophysiological and imaging methods. This approach allows study of structural changes in long-range axons, patterns of electrical …

College Senate Minutes May 15, 2014, Bronx Community College Senate

BCC Governance Archives

Minutes for the meeting of the College Senate on May 15, 2014.

Towards Structural Systems Pharmacology To Study Complex Diseases And Personalized Medicine, Lei Xie, Xiaoxia Ge, Hepan Tan, Li Xie, Yinliang Zhang, Thomas Hart, Xiaowei Yang, Philip E. Bourne

Publications and Research

Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), whole genome sequencing, and high-throughput omics techniques have generated vast amounts of genotypic and molecular phenotypic data. However, these data have not yet been fully explored to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of drug discovery, which continues along a one-drug-one-target-one-disease paradigm. As a partial consequence, both the cost to launch a new drug and the attrition rate are increasing. Systems pharmacology and pharmacogenomics are emerging to exploit the available data and potentially reverse this trend, but, as we argue here, more is needed. To understand the impact of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors on drug action, …

Lehman Flips For Clickers, Rena Quinlan, Alyson Vogel

Bronx EdTech Showcase 2014

The clicker is a versatile, easy to use electronic multiple choice device that helps provide instant feedback on what students are learning. In both hybrid and on-site classes, clickers provide a way to rapidly collect an answer to a question from every student; an answer for which they are all individually accountable. In this session, Biological sciences lecturer Rena Quinlan will describe her use of clickers with large classes that help students achieve defined course outcomes.

Lesions Of Lateral Or Central Amygdala Abolish Aversive Pavlovian-To-Instrumental Transfer In Rats, Vincent D. Campese, Jeanny Kim, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz, Lashawn Pena, Joseph E. Ledoux, Christopher K. Cain

Publications and Research

Aversive Pavlovian conditioned stimuli (CSs) elicit defensive reactions (e.g., freezing) and motivate instrumental actions like active avoidance (AA). Pavlovian reactions require connections between the lateral (LA) and central (CeA) nuclei of the amygdala, whereas AA depends on LA and basal amygdala (BA). Thus, the neural circuits mediating conditioned reactions and motivation appear to diverge in the amygdala. However, AA is not ideal for studying conditioned motivation, because Pavlovian and instrumental learning are intermixed. Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) allows for the study of conditioned motivation in isolation. PIT refers to the ability of a Pavlovian CS to modulate a separately-trained instrumental action. …

Advocate, May 2014, Vol. [25], No. [5], Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

From the Editor’s Desk: Diversity at CUNY: Statistics vs. Reality (p. 3)

CUNY News in Brief: As Workers Grumble, a New Master (p. 5)

Letter to the Editor: Objections About Reparations (p. 6)

In Memoriam: Alas Enormes: Gabriel García Márquez, José Chevarry (p. 7)

Mentoring Future Faculty of Color: A Brief Conversation with Chris Eng and Melissa Phruksachart, Kristina Huang (p. 8)

Edifying Debate:

- Speech and Sanctions: Highlights from the CUNY Forum on the BDS Movement and Academic Freedom, Bill Mullen and Sherry Wolf (p. 10)

- Marching for Immigrants’ and Workers’ Rights, CUNY Internationalist Marxist …

Use Of A Modified Pogil Exercise To Teach Bacterial Transformation In A Microbiology Course, Elizabeth A. Mulligan

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Engaging Allied-Health Students With Virtual Learning Environment Using Course Management System Tutorial Site†, Andrew Nguyen, Mangala Tawde

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mafia Or Farmer? Coevolutionary Consequences Of Retaliation And Farming As Predator Strategies Upon Host Nests By Avian Brood Parasites, Mark E. Hauber

Publications and Research

Many host species of avian brood parasites have evolved to recognize and reject foreign eggs and chicks in the nest. Yet, other hosts accept and care for parasitic young, despite the fitness losses associated with raising non-kin. It has been suggested that nest predation upon host nests by brood parasites could select for coevolved acceptance by hosts, even when their cognitive and motor traits allow for the successful rejection of brood parasitism. Using a modeling approach, I analyzed the conditions that favor the evolution of two predatory strategies by parasites and the acceptance of parasitism in the presence of predatory …

Salient Distractors Can Induce Saccade Adaptation, Afsheen Khan, Sally A. Mcfadden, Mark Harwood, Josh Wallman

Publications and Research

When saccadic eye movements consistently fail to land on their intended target, saccade accuracy is maintained by gradually adapting the movement size of successive saccades. The proposed error signal for saccade adaptation has been based on the distance between where the eye lands and the visual target (retinal error). We studied whether the error signal could alternatively be based on the distance between the predicted and actual locus of attention after the saccade. Unlike conventional adaptation experiments that surreptitiously displace the target once a saccade is initiated towards it, we instead attempted to draw attention away from the target by …

The Antigenic Determinant That Defines Thymic Nurse Cells Is Expressed By Thymic Epithelial Progenitor Cells, Rajendra V. E. Chilukuri, Viral K. Patel, Marcia Martinez, Jerry C. Guyden, Michael D. Samms

Publications and Research

Stromal thymic epithelial cells with the multicellular structure unique to thymic nurse cells (TNCs) express the pH91 antigen on their cell surfaces. The multicellular TNC-complexes develop through an intimate association between αβTCR+CD4+CD8+ thymocytes and pH91-expressing cortical epithelial cells. TNCs participate in MHC-restriction and exhibit epithelial cell progenitor characteristics. In this report, we show that as early as E11.5 stage of thymus development, the pH91 antigen is expressed in association with K8, K5, Foxn1, and p63. The expression of these epithelial progenitor markers along with the pH91 antigen persists throughout thymic development in the murine thymus. At E13.5, pH91+ cells express …

Host Responses To Interspecific Brood Parasitism: A By-Product Of Adaptations To Conspecific Parasitism?, Peter Samas, Mark E. Hauber, Phillip Cassey, Tomáš Grim

Publications and Research

Background: Why have birds evolved the ability to reject eggs? Typically, foreign egg discrimination is interpreted as evidence that interspecific brood parasitism (IP) has selected for the host’s ability to recognize and eliminate foreign eggs. Fewer studies explore the alternative hypothesis that rejection of interspecific eggs is a by-product of host defenses, evolved against conspecific parasitism (CP). We performed a large scale study with replication across taxa (two congeneric Turdus thrushes), space (populations), time (breeding seasons), and treatments (three types of experimental eggs), using a consistent design of egg rejection experiments (n = 1057 nests; including controls), in areas with …

Accelerated Repair Of Demyelinated Cns Lesions In The Absence Of Non-Muscle Myosin Iib, Tomasz Rusielewicz, Jennifer Nam, Evangelos Damanakis, Gareth R. John, Cedric S. Raine, Carmen V. Melendez-Vasquez

Publications and Research

The oligodendrocyte (OL), the myelinating cell of the central nervous system, undergoes dramatic changes in the organization of its cytoskeleton as it differentiates from a precursor (oligodendrocyte precursor cells) to a myelin-forming cell. These changes include an increase in its branching cell processes, a phenomenon necessary for OL to myelinate multiple axon segments. We have previously shown that levels and activity of non-muscle myosin II (NMII), a regulator of cytoskeletal contractility, decrease as a function of differentiation and that inhibition of NMII increases branching and myelination of OL in coculture with neurons. We have also found that mixed glial cell …

Whole Shoot Mineral Partitioning And Accumulation In Pea (Pisum Sativum), Renuka P. Sankaran, Michael A. Grusak

Publications and Research

Several grain legumes are staple food crops that are important sources of minerals for humans; unfortunately, our knowledge is incomplete with respect to the mechanisms of translocation of these minerals to the vegetative tissues and loading into seeds. Understanding the mechanism and partitioning of minerals in pea could help in developing cultivars with high mineral density. A mineral partitioning study was conducted in pea to assess whole-plant growth and mineral content and the potential source-sink remobilization of different minerals, especially during seed development. Shoot and root mineral content increased for all the minerals, although tissue-specific partitioning differed between the minerals. …

Is Representativeness The Right Question?, C Mary Schooling, Heidi E. Jones

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Determinants Of Symptomatic Vulvovaginal Candidiasis Among Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infected Women In Rural Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, Teke Apalata, William H. Carr, Willem A. Sturm, Benjamin Longo-Mbenza, Prashini

Publications and Research

Introduction. We sought to determine the association between HIV-induced immunosuppression, virologic correlates, and vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC). Methods. This is a retrospective cohort study, where HIV infected and uninfected women were studied with VVC being the primary outcome. Ninety-seven HIV-infected and 101 HIV-uninfected women were enrolled between June and December 2011. Cases of VVC were confirmed. HIV RNA load was determined by RT-PCR and CD4 counts were obtained from medical records. Results. Fifty-two of 97 (53.6%) HIV-infected and 38/101 (37.6%) HIV-uninfected women were diagnosed with VVC (P = 0.032). The relative risk for VVC amongst HIV-infected patients was 1.53 (95% CI: …

Prepregnancy Low-Carbohydrate Dietary Pattern And Risk Of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Prospective Cohort Study, Wei Bao, Katherine Bowers, Deirdre K. Tobias, Sjurdur F. Olsen, Jorge Chavarro, Allan Vaag, Michele Kiely, Cuilin Zhang

Publications and Research

Background: Low-carbohydrate diets (LCDs) have been vastly popular for weight loss. The association between a low-carbohydrate dietary pattern and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) remains unknown.

Objective: We aimed to prospectively examine the association of 3 prepregnancy low-carbohydrate dietary patterns with risk of GDM.

Design: We included 21,411 singleton pregnancies in the Nurses’ Health Study II. Prepregnancy LCD scores were calculated from validated food-frequency questionnaires, including an overall LCD score on the basis of intakes of carbohydrate, total protein, and total fat; an animal LCD score on the basis of intakes of carbohydrate, animal protein, and animal …

Sample Limited Characterization Of A Novel Disulfide- Rich Venom Peptide Toxin From Terebrid Marine Snail Terebra Variegata, Prachi Anand, Alexandre Grigoryan, Mohammed H. Bhuiyan, Beatrix Ueberheide, Victoria Russell, Jose Quiñonez, Patrick Moy, Brian T. Chait, Sébastien F. Poget, Mandë Holford

Publications and Research

Disulfide-rich peptide toxins found in the secretions of venomous organisms such as snakes, spiders, scorpions, leeches, and marine snails are highly efficient and effective tools for novel therapeutic drug development. Venom peptide toxins have been used extensively to characterize ion channels in the nervous system and platelet aggregation in haemostatic systems. A significant hurdle in characterizing disulfide-rich peptide toxins from venomous animals is obtaining significant quantities needed for sequence and structural analyses. Presented here is a strategy for the structural characterization of venom peptide toxins from sample limited (4 ng) specimens via direct mass spectrometry sequencing, chemical synthesis and NMR …

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Coop Board's Borg Queen: A Sf/Memoir, Marleen S. Barr

Publications and Research

This is a short story.

Inhibition Of Fatty Acid Binding Proteins Elevates Brain Anandamide Levels And Produces Analgesia, Martin Kaczocha, Mario J. Rebecchi, Brian P. Ralph, Yu-Han Gary Teng, William T. Berger, William Galbavy, Matthew W. Elmes, Sherrye T. Glaser, Liqun Wang, Robert C. Rizzo, Dale G. Deutsch, Iwao Ojima

Publications and Research

The endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) is an antinociceptive lipid that is inactivated through cellular uptake and subsequent catabolism by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). Fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) are intracellular carriers that deliver AEA and related N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) to FAAH for hydrolysis. The mammalian brain expresses three FABP subtypes: FABP3, FABP5, and FABP7. Recent work from our group has revealed that pharmacological inhibition of FABPs reduces inflammatory pain in mice. The goal of the current work was to explore the effects of FABP inhibition upon nociception in diverse models of pain. We developed inhibitors with differential affinities for FABPs to …

A Cross-Sectional Study Of Well Water Arsenic And Child Iq In Maine Schoolchildren, Gail A. Wasserman, Xinhua Liu, Nancy J. Loiacono, Jennie Kline, Pam Factor-Litvak, Alexander Van Geen, Jacob L. Mey, Diane Levy, Richard Abramson, Amy Schwartz, Joseph H. Graziano

Publications and Research

Background In recent studies in Bangladesh and elsewhere, exposure to arsenic (As) via drinking water is negatively associated with performance-related aspects of child intelligence (e.g., Perceptual Reasoning, Working Memory) after adjustment for social factors. Because findings are not easily generalizable to the US, we examine this relation in a US population. Methods In 272 children in grades 3–5 from three Maine school districts, we examine associations between drinking water As (WAs) and intelligence (WISC-IV). Results On average, children had resided in their current home for 7.3 years (approximately 75% of their lives). In unadjusted analyses, household well WAs is associated …

Diy Urbanism As An Environmental Justice Strategy: The Case Study Of Time's Up! 1987-2012, Benjamin C. Shepard

Publications and Research

Time's Up! is a New York environmental group which promotes nonpolluting transportation and sustainable solutions to an urban problems. Over the last twenty-five years, the group has taken a do-it-yourself approach to an environmental activism, bridging neighborhood, global justice, and occupy movements. With roots in the squatter movement in New York, Time's Up! has built its own distinct brand of DIY urbanism to fight for community gardens, support group bike rides, and create sustainable approaches to an urban living. While the group makes use of a wide range of approaches to reclaim public space, direct action is its guiding principle. …

Techne Issue 01, Ting Chin, Jason Montgomery

TECHNE

The first issue of TECHNE, an annual publication of student work from the Department of Architecture at the New York City College of Technology. Edited by faculty members Ting Chin and Jason Montgomery, this issue includes contributions from Dean Kevin Hom, Shelley E. Smith, Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, Wendel Edwards, Claudia Hernandez-Feiks, Tim Maldonado, Harold Morales, Anthony Clemente, Patricia Paredes, Gareth Enahoro, Janil Castillo, Lia Dikigoropoulou, Andrea Garrido, Mario Alulema, Tasnuva Ahmed, Jasmine Cato, Marco Dwyer, Elvis Williams, Jean Louis Steevenson, James Rigley, Laura Calle, Moshin Alam, Carlos Mo Wu, Alondra Ramos, Tomasz Piasecki, Ekaterina Sanko, Diego Vega, Tim Maldonado, …

Functionally Distinct Pi 3-Kinase Pathways Regulate Myelination In The Peripheral Nervous System, Bradley A. Heller, Monica Ghidinelli, Jakob Voelkl, Steven Einheber, Ryan Smith, Ethan Grund, Grant Morahan, David Chandler, Luba Kalaydjieva, Filippo Giancotti, Rosalind H. King, Aniko Naray Fejes-Toth, Gerard Fejes-Toth, Maria Laura Feltri, Florian Lang, James L. Salzer

Publications and Research

Functionally and spatially distinct PI 3-K pathways act either early to promote myelination downstream of axonal Neuregulin1 or late to inhibit myelination downstream of α6β4 integrin and Sgk1.

Between Amyloids And Aggregation Lies A Connection With Strength And Adhesion, Peter N. Lipke, Caleen Ramsook, Melissa C. Garcia-Sherman, Desmond N. Jackson, Cho X. J. Chan, Michael Bois, Stephen A. Klotz

Publications and Research

We tell of a journey that led to discovery of amyloids formed by yeast cell adhesins and their importance in biofilms and host immunity. We begin with the identification of the adhesin functional amyloid-forming sequences that mediate fiber formation in vitro. Atomic force microscopy and confocal microscopy show 2-dimensional amyloid “nanodomains” on the surface of cells that are activated for adhesion. These nanodomains are arrays of adhesin molecules that bind multivalent ligands with high avidity. Nanodomains form when adhesin molecules are stretched in the AFM or under laminar flow. Treatment with antiamyloid perturbants or mutation of the amyloid sequence prevents …

An Enzymatic Method To Process Decomposed Non-Human Bone For Forensic Dna Analysis, Richard Li, Melissa Gaud, Smriti Nair

Publications and Research

Forensic analysis of DNA from non-human bones can be important in investigating a variety of forensic cases. However, decomposed bone is difficult to process for isolating DNA. In this study, a previously established enzymatic method was utilized to process bone samples that simulate decomposed specimens. Our results demonstrated that this enzymatic processing method is effective for removing decomposed soft tissues and outer surface materials such as mineralized bone connective tissue of bone fragment samples. Our data suggested that this method can be used in the initial sample preparation for cleaning the outer surface of decomposed non-human skeletal fragments. This study …