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Engineering The Genetic Code And The Ribosome To Expand The Chemical Palette Of Living Systems, Felix Radford

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

There has been significant progress in the field of synthetic biology to develop modular tools with which to achieve greater ability to probe, manipulate and predict biological phenomena. Genetic code expansion aims to engineer genomes and the translation apparatus to enable site-specific incorporation of nonstandard amino acids (nsAAs) into proteins. However, the ability of living systems to incorporate multiple instances of nsAAs or even abiological monomers that are not L-α-amino acids into biopolymers is severely limited. Improved aminoacyl tRNA synthetase (aaRS) and tRNA pairs that are orthogonal to the native translation system, and new genomically recoded organisms (GROs) with open …

Quantitative Super-Resolution Microscopy, Andrew Barentine

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

The diffraction limit fundamentally restricts the achievable resolution of conventional microscopes, however it can be circumvented if only a subset of fluorophores within a given diffraction-limited volume are simultaneously emitting. Such super-resolution methods routinely achieve tens of nanometer resolution in whole (if not living) cells. However, being relatively young, these techniques still struggle with providing robust, quantitative, and statistically powerful data in a routine manner. Accurate quantification of subcellular features requires an estimate of the achieved spatial resolution, but traditional methods of measuring it do not cope well with these techniques. Effects subject to biological variability additionally require increased population …

The Spirit Of Education: Politics And Pedagogy In Plato, Rousseau, Dewey And Freire, Stephanie Almeida Nevin

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Education has long been romanticized by political thinkers for its supposed power to shape ideal selves and societies. This dissertation examines the history of political thought on education and contends that citizens are principally educated through socialization by law, culture, and institutions. Revealing the limits of utilitarian visions of education as subject formation, this dissertation ultimately argues against the excessive idealization of education as a means of realizing individual and collective projects of becoming. It argues for a revaluation of education as a truth-seeking activity for all ages.In “Molding Citizens: Plato’s Question,” I offer a rereading of Plato’s body of …

Anymore Once More: Geographical And Syntactic Distribution, Laurence R. Horn

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

Occurrences of non-polarity anymore (NPAM) or so-called “positive anymore” with the approximate meaning of ‘nowadays’ have long been collected by North American dialectologists. The name of the construction is misleading, however, since mainstream anymore, as a garden-variety negative polarity item, is acceptable (like ever or anyone) in a range of grammatically “positive” but downward entailing environments. After touching on the semantic characterization of mainstream and non-polarity anymore and the “stigma enigma” presented by the variable social diagnosis of the construction by those familiar and unfamiliar with it, we present the results a study of the grammatical and …

Ypfs Lessons Learned Oral History Project: An Interview With Diane Thompson, Diane Thompson, Mary Anne Chute Lynch

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No abstract provided.

Foundations Of Demand Estimation, Steven T. Berry, Philip A. Haile

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Demand elasticities and other features of demand are critical determinants of the answers to most positive and normative questions about market power or the functioning of markets in practice. As a result, reliable demand estimation is an essential input to many types of research in Industrial Organization and other fields of economics. This chapter presents a discussion of some foundational issues in demand estimation. We focus on the distinctive challenges of demand estimation and strategies one can use to overcome them. We cover core models, alternative data settings, common estimation approaches, the role and choice of instruments, and nonparametric identification.

The Stories Behind The Stories Mediation Of Narratives In David’S Story, Naima Kalra Gupta

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

The Truth and Reconciliation Committee was set up in the aftermath of apartheid to bring to the surface human rights abuses that took place in the apartheid era, through witness testimony and recount- ing of trauma. The TRC undoubtedly brought to the forefront the challenges of narrating and the reasons for remembering a contested and traumatic past. It is impossible to read David’s Story, which shifts temporally between Griqua efforts for self-determination and the South African liberation movement and foregrounds the act of telling, without taking into account the ambitious project of the TRC. This paper examines how history is …

Examining The Viability Of Computational Psychiatry: Approaches Into The Future, Mitchell Ostrow

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

As modern medicine becomes increasingly personalized, psychiatry lags behind, using poorly-understood drugs and therapies to treat mental disorders. With the advent of methods that capture large quantities of data, such as genome-wide analyses or fMRI, machine learning (ML) approaches have become prominent in neuroscience. This is promising for studying the brain’s function, but perhaps more importantly, these techniques can potentially predict the onset of disorder and treatment response. Experimental approaches that use naive machine learning algorithms have dominated research in computational psychiatry over the past decade. In a critical review and analysis, I argue that biologically realistic approaches will be …

A Dispersive Force Model Of Caribbean Island Biogeography, Anthony Sarkiss

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Framework-based models serve as an important tool to describe, predict and manage ecological systems. In this paper I construct one such model, a dispersive force model based on MacArthur and Wilson’s (1963) theory of island biogeography, in order to assess island species richness with varying climatic patterns. Specifically, I use island–mainland distance (d), insular area (A), a climatic dispersal parameter (f), and a climatic disturbance parameter (h) to calculate the insular species richness ratio at equilibrium. To test this model through hurricane impact on marine islands, it was executed with data from islands of the Dutch Caribbean. Future climatic conditions …

Monetary Policy Report September 2020, Sveriges Riksbank

Documents

No abstract provided.

Monetary Policy Report September 2021, Sveriges Riksbank

Documents

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Community Masking On Covid-19: A Cluster-Randomized Trial In Bangladesh, Jason Abaluck, Laura H. Kwong, Ashley Styczynski, Ashraful Haque, Md. Alamgir Kabir, Ellen Bates-Jeffries, Emily Crawford, Jade Benjamin-Chung, Salim Benhachmi, Shabib Raihan, Shadman Rahman, Neeti Zaman, Peter J. Winch, Md. Maqsud Hossain, Hasan Mahmud Reza, Stephen P. Luby, Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, Abdulla All Jaber, Shawkee Gulshan Momen, Faika Laz Bani, Aura Rahman, Tahrima Saiha Huq

Discussion Papers

Background: Mask usage remains low across many parts of the world during the COVID- 19 pandemic, and strategies to increase mask-wearing remain untested. Our objectives were to identify strategies that can persistently increase mask-wearing and assess the impact of increasing mask-wearing on symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Methods: We conducted a cluster-randomized trial of community-level mask promotion in rural Bangladesh from November 2020 to April 2021 (N=600 villages, N=342,126 adults). We cross-randomized mask promotion strategies at the village and household level, including cloth vs. surgical masks. All intervention arms received free masks, information on the importance of masking, role modeling by community …

Romania's Constitution Of 1991 With Amendments Through 2003, Government Of Romania

Documents

No abstract provided.

Questions And Answers On Special Drawing Rights, International Monetary Fund (Imf)

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No abstract provided.

Tail-Anchored Protein Insertion Under Er Stress Conditions: Calcium Is Key, Matthew Jordan, Malaiyalam Mariappan

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Tail-anchored (TA) membrane proteins are critical for protein translocation, intracellular trafficking, and programmed cell death. TA proteins contain hydrophobic transmembrane domains and traverse through the cytosol to post-translationally insert into cellular membranes. It is unclear how this post-translational insertion is affected by Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress. Here, we find that TA protein insertion is significantly reduced with ER stress inducer thapsigargin (Tg), a calcium pump inhibitor that blocks the import of calcium into the ER causing ER stress, but not when treated with other ER stress inducers. Interestingly, out data suggests that increased calcium in the cytosol may decrease TA …

Incomplete? Or Indefinite? Intuitionism On Gödel’S First Incompleteness Theorem, Quinn Crawford

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper analyzes two natural-looking arguments that seek to leverage Gödel’s first incompleteness theorem for and against intuitionism, concluding in both cases that the argument is unsound because it equivocates on the meaning of “proof,” which differs between formalism and intuitionism. I argue that this difference explains why “proof” has definite extension for the formalist but not for the intuitionist. Sections 1-3 summarize various philosophies of mathematics and Gödel’s result. Section 4 argues that, because the Gödel sentence of a formal system is provable to the intuitionist, they are neither aided nor attacked by Gödel’s first incompleteness theorem. Section 5 …

Turning Science Fiction Into Reality: Enhanced Motor Learning For Prosthetic Limbs, Makayla Conley

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

In science fiction, prosthetic limbs appear as seamless extensions of the human body that function as if the limbs were made of flesh and bone. With recent technological and scientific advancements, the prosthetic limbs of today are beginning to resemble those we once only imagined. Patients are now able to perform simple, everyday tasks like drinking from a glass of water. However, there are many limitations to this technology, including lack of fine motor movement, absence of reflexes, and missing sensory feedback from the prosthetic limb. These restrictions prohibit prosthetics patients from having the same experience as someone with a …

An Upstander Is A Person In Your Neighborhood: Children, Sesame Street, And Race In 2020, Gemma Yoo

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Educational children’s media, such as the program Sesame Street, may be the most accessible format for teaching young children about race and racism in the United States. Throughout its history, Sesame Street has attempted to confront racism through its diverse cast and, in the summer of 2020, by directly addressing the topic with children and families. However, both its passive representation and active discussion fall short of what is needed to confront systemic racism. This paper addresses Sesame Street’s past and present role as a leader in children’s educational media, and advocates that the program employ Critical Race Theory to …

The Morality Of Pronoun Flexibility: Connections Between Language And Cognitive Identity Alignment, Mafalda Von Alvensleben

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

The power of words we use to refer to one another is gaining recognition in contemporary socio-political discourse. Yet, interplay between language and complex cognitive processes, including moral judgments and identity formation, largely remains a subject of philosophical and theoretical debate. In order to begin examining the existence of such interactions empirically, this paper investigates the syntactic shift of the third person plural pronoun they/them to the third person singular, used to refer to gender non-binary/gender nonconforming individuals. Using grammaticality acceptance ratings and the Worthen 2016 moral attitudes test, administered under timed pressure, this study measures both intuitions surrounding the …

Access To Drinking Water And The Empowerment Of Women In The Southwest Coast Of Bangladesh: Intersections Of Gender, Class, And Space, Sunehra Subah

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

The low-lying southwest coast in Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable areas to the effects of climate change, with great water scarcity and high levels of arsenic and salinity. Women are the main accessors and users of water in this area due to their restriction to work in domestic spaces. Their gendered relationships to water in this area play a role in their empowerment and powerlessness. These relationships can be looked at through four examples of power: power over the body, power over mobility, power over decisions, and power over finances. It’s critical to consider the intersections of gender, …

Art As Protest: How Creative Activism Shaped “Black Lives Matter” In Richmond, Virginia, Anaheed Mobaraki

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Unrest spurred by the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States has flowed throughout the city of Richmond, Virginia. Unique forms of protest have proliferated across the city, encompassing several artistic tactics such as graffiti art, oral storytelling, graphic design, and movement art. This paper will explore the effectiveness of art as protest by analyzing its impacts on several foundational aspects of social movements. Combining my personal observations, scholarly literature, and research on other social movements, I have developed my own findings regarding the use of art in Richmond’s Black Lives Matter movement. I posit that …

Recognising The Pitfalls Of The Past: Community Health Workers In The Time Of Covid-19, Sam Brakarsh

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Since their formal inception in the 1960s, Community Health Worker (CHW) programs have been revered as a panacea by some and critiqued as a delusion by others (R. N. Labonte et al., 2017; R. Labonte & Saunders, 2015). CHW programs can yield up to a 10:1 return on investment, mobilising communities to take preventative actions to tackle some of the most overwhelming diseases of our time (Earth Institute at Columbia University, 2013; WHO, 2015). However, when carried out without appropriate support or integration into broader health systems, CHW programs cease to be comprehensive tools for resilient preventative health and, instead, …

The Run On Repo And Bank Stock Returns, Madison Battaglia

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

The run on the sale and repurchase market (“run on repo”) was at the nexus of the Financial Crisis of 2007- 2009. Up until now, the economics literature has not studied the effect of sale and repurchase agreement (“repo”) haircuts on bank stock returns using an empirical economic approach. I utilize private repo haircut data from 2007Q1-2009Q1 supplemented with bank stock returns, total reserve balances, and market rate of returns and risk-free rate of returns data to trace the path of crisis from repurchase agreements into a market that had no connection to housing. In linear model regressions, I find …

Tabula Rasa: Mechanism, Intelligence, And The Blank Slate In Computing And Urbanism, Claire Gorman

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Exhibiting Text As A Spatial Object In The Beijing Lu Xun Museum, Formosa Deppman

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Lu Xun preserves a certain complexity and reflectivity in his writings that avoid overly simplistic interpretations. But what happens when a text is taken out of its literary context and exhibited as visual art? By examining the two cases of the Beijing Lu Xun Museum and the Former Residence of Lu Xun, we observe different inversion of meanings that allow for new forms of heterogeneity to be played out in a spatial realm. The text-focused curative style of the Beijing Lu Xun Museum decontextualizes Lu Xun’s quotes to create more generalizable meanings for viewers. The Former Residence of Lu Xun …

Altering Sensory Learning By Chronic Inactivation Of Vip Interneurons, Christopher Alba, Hannah Selwyn, Katie Ferguson, Jessica Cardin

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-expressing interneurons (VIP-INs) play a key role in the regulation of cortical circuits and are implicated in perceptual function and psychiatric disease. However, their role in perceptual augmentation and learning remains understudied. We performed chronic, localized ablation of VIP-INs in the primary visual cortex of adult mice using caspase-induced apoptosis to better understand how VIP-INs contribute to visual perception and the ability to learn a visual detection task. We find that chronic VIP-IN ablation does not affect naïve performance on a full-screen visual contrast detection task. However, mice with suppressed levels of VIP-INs achieved their final expert state …

Children's Reasoning About In-Group And Out-Group Obligations, Karli Cecil, Julia Marshall, Paul Bloom

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

We examined whether children (ages 4-9 years) show in-group bias in expectations to help others as well as obligations to help others. We showed participants vignettes featuring two novel groups and a variety of scenarios where one character is in need and another is a bystander who notices this. Younger children did not show in-group bias in terms of expectations to help others, but an in-group bias was present in older children. For obligations, however, we did not find an interaction between age and group: children think you have to help in-group members more than out-group members, regardless of age. …

Operationalizing Culture: Refugees, Migration, And Mental Health In The Wake Of The Vietnam War, Helena Bui

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

!e end of the Vietnam War led to the migration of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees to the United States a"er political and economic upheaval. As another result, the refugees’ years of warfare, trauma, death, and injury began to manifest as unprecedented mental health issues that American physicians and researchers sought to understand. In this paper, I argue that American medical professionals— in good faith—operationalized [Vietnamese] culture to help themselves and their colleagues understand the mental health issues of Vietnamese refugees. Yet this operationalization acted as a double-edged sword. Viewing Western mental health discourse through the lens of Vietnamese …

Argo: Cia Influence And American Jingoism, Andrea De Oliveira

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

“Argo: CIA Influence and American Jingoism” focuses on the ways in which CIA involvement in the production and publicity of Ben Affleck’s Argo (2012) yielded a biased representation of the Iranian public. Throughout the film, Affleck pictures Iranians as aggressive and deindividualized, spreading the trope of the Middle Eastern fanatic to viewers worldwide. While villainizing the Iranian public, Argo undermines a fraught history of United States intervention in Iran. Although Affleck takes several liberties in cinematizing the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Argo masquerades as a historical authority, peppered with markers of authenticity such as newsreel footage. I argue that the film …

A Midsummer Night’S Vr: An Exploration Of Virtual Reality Theater, Paige Hann, Nathan Roberts

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Virtual reality (VR) is a medium predicated on immersivity. It therefore has implications for a similarly immersive field – live theater. The benefits of live theater are numerous. However, not everyone has the same access to theater for a variety of reasons, including cost and mental and physical health. Could VR serve as a legitimate alternative to live theater? Investigating this question, we utilized the resources of the Yale’s CCAM to create a virtual reality adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Research shows that our brains process VR differently from either real-world stimulus or two-dimensional monitors. VR …