http://hdl.handle.net/1811/134 2013-05-23T05:01:10Z http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54901 Visitors Only? New Orleans’ Tourism Industry and the Construction of Space in the City Nosse-Leirer, Emily This paper addresses a major focus of urban studies: the politics of local economic development in the US city. It does so through a case study of New Orleans and its tourism industry. Specifically, it examines development based on tourism by analyzing it within the context of the industry's drive to create an "authentic New Orleans experience." This then creates a situation in which the industry becomes involved in the neighborhoods and wage relations in the city. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Nosse-Leirer, Emily http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54803 The Role of Gonadal Sex Steroids in Neuroplasticity of Brains of Male Peromyscus leucopus Subjected to Different Photoperiods Kara, Ruder Individuals of mammalian species inhabiting non-tropical regions undergo seasonal brain and behavioral changes in response to the annual cycle of changing photoperiod (h of light/ day). In one such species, white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus), short-days are correlated with reduced hippocampal volume and function (e.g., spatial learning and memory), decreased reproductive function, and decreased gonadal steroid hormone concentrations. Reproduction and hippocampal functions are energetically expensive, so decreasing these processes may be adaptive to conserve energy for winter survival. Decreased androgen concentrations may drive the short-day regression of hippocampal size and function. If gonadal steroids drive the long-day increase in hippocampal function, then gonadal steroid replacement should improve learning and memory in short days. We subjected gonadectomized adult male Peromyscus leucopus to either short- or long-photoperiods, and treated them either with testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), estradiol (E), or cholesterol to test the effects of T, or the primary androgenic and estrogenic T metabolites (DHT and E, respectively) on photoperiodic changes in spatial learning and memory using the Barnes maze. The effects of E and T were opposite depending on photoperiod; E enhanced spatial ability in long days, whereas T enhanced spatial performance in short days. During the memory probe trial, the errors and latency were similarly dependent on both photoperiod and the treatment of E or T. T and DHT reduced latency and errors in short days, and E reduced latency and errors in long days. This suggests that gonadal steroid enhancement of hippocampal function in long days is mediated by estrogen receptors, whereas short-day enhancements are mediated by androgen receptors. Sex steroids have been implicated in affecting hippocampal function across mammalian species, including humans, and these findings demonstrate that an environmental factor, namely day length, can influence the way in which these sex steroids affect hippocampal function and behavior. Alkire Award; Arts and Sciences Scholarship 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Kara, Ruder http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54801 Multivariate Analysis of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in Mice using Principal Component Analysis and Gaussian Mixture Model Nayal, Olla Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) microspectroscopy enables high spatial resolution biochemical analysis and imaging of tissue. This research utilizes principal component analysis (PCA) and Gaussian mixture models (GMM) to analyze murine abdominal aorta samples of both healthy and diseased tissue with an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) present. The samples were mounted onto glass slides and analyzed via reflectance FT-IR microspectroscopy. The spectra collected per sample numbered in the thousands, with hundreds of data points contained within a spectrum. The size of the hyperspectral data sets and their continuous nature require analysis by robust multivariate techniques like PCA. PCA is widely used to reduce multivariate data into a few dimensions (PCs) that incorporate most of the variance in the data. For more effective analysis of the tissue, GMM was used following PCA to separate tissue spectra from spectra of the glass slide. GMM is an unsupervised clustering technique that assumes a finite number of Gaussian distributions within a data set. Prior application of PCA was found to be critical to successful GMM clustering of the data for removal of background data. GMM clustering was subsequently applied to isolated tissue spectra preprocessed with PCA for various infrared regions to determine which bands were useful for distinguishing healthy and diseased samples. PC 2 provided more accurate clustering of tissue spectra into 2 classes of diseased and healthy. The technique advanced by this research is useful for determining infrared bands useful for distinguishing healthy arterial tissue and tissue affected by AAA. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Nayal, Olla http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54800 "I Get It, I Totally Get It": Narrating Mental Health Care in Appalachia Craycraft, Sarah Utilization of mental health care services by rural populations falls well below the rate of treatment sought by individuals living in urban areas, despite a similar prevalence rate of mental illness existing between the two. Forty two percent of Appalachia’s population is rural, and over one third of Ohio’s counties are considered part of the Appalachian region. My research examines narratives I collected from three mental health care professionals living and working in rural Appalachia in order to better understand how narrative is a part of delivering social services and how the Appalachian identity interacts with and shapes the delivery of these services. My analysis identifies structural patterns and motifs that stick out in the narratives and discusses how these elements of storytelling work to provide insight into rural mental health care. I found that my narrators were apt to position themselves both as intervening on behalf of their clients and as positive forces in the lives of those they work with. They also demonstrate similar connections in identifying as Appalachians, a connection which brings meaning to their work and serves as motivation for continuing their work in a specific geographic area. Structurally speaking, these narratives accomplish the basic goal of placing emphasis on content-specific elements and flaws in the mental health care system, like transportation issues and prescription drug abuse, as demonstrated through reported speech, characterization, and repetition. Overall, these stories explore ongoing issues that exist in rural mental health care and how living with mental illness is changed, complicated by, and shaped by the Appalachian identity. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Craycraft, Sarah http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54799 Diffusion Monte Carlo Approaches to the Study of the Rotationally Excited States of H3+ and H2D+ Wellen, Bethany A. Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) has been shown to be a successful technique for treating the quantum zero-point effects of floppy molecules and clusters. Here, we report the results of our fixed-node DMC methodology when applied to the model systems H3+ and H2D+. The fixed-node approach has been developed to account for the nodes in the wave functions of rotationally excited states. The accuracy of our fixed-node DMC studies will be examined and compared with other methods. In particular, a comparison with converged variational calculations provides the most thorough test of the effectiveness of our methodology over a large range of quantum states. The fixed-node DMC methodology produces more accurate energetic calculations than evaluations using a rigid rotor model of the excited states of fluxional molecules. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Wellen, Bethany A. http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54798 An Autosegmental Analysis of Verbal Tone in Mushunguli Pillion, Elizabeth Mushunguli is a Bantu language spoken in southern Somalia by a population of around 20,000 people. This study attempts to explain the underlying morphological and phonological processes that contribute to the tone found in some verbal forms of this language. This study was conducted through interviews and elicitations with Mohamed R., a speaker from Mogambo, Somalia currently living in Columbus, Ohio. These interviews were recorded using an Edirol recorder and were subsequently transcribed. The interviews were conducted weekly during the academic year over the course of 4 quarters from January 2011 to June 2012, with additional sessions during the 2012-2013 academic year. Chapter 1 of the thesis gives an overview of the phonological inventory of the language. In addition, it introduces the basic morphological structures seen throughout the thesis specific to verbs, along with the tonal inventory of the language. It also gives a brief introduction to Autosegmental Phonology, the phonological framework used to analyze the language. Chapter 2 explains the tonal patterns of the present, past and future tenses stemming from analysis of the subject (person, number) and temporal distance prefix, in addition to tonal phonological rules that can be derived from these tenses. Present tense is characterized by a penultimate tone assignment rule, in combination with toneless 1st and 2nd person subject markers and high toned 3rd person subject markers. Past tense consists of an antepenultimate tone assignment rule, in combination with toneless singular subject markers and high toned plural subject markers. Future tense shows consistency across the paradigm and displays a penultimate high despite differences in subject prefix. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Pillion, Elizabeth http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54797 Perception of Race and Utilization of Healthcare Chaitoff, Alexander While several academic disciplines have begun to realize that individuals’ views of their racial makeup and social situation can have an effect on many of their actions, little work has been done to understand how characteristics of one’s racial group identity can specifically affect healthcare utilization decisions and patterns. Using data from the 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from across five states (n=25,750) as well as an online survey designed to better understand how perception of race can impact healthcare institution choices (n=300), this study explored how frequency of thoughts of race, racial group centrality, knowledge of past and current health disparities, trust in the healthcare system, and previous health-related discriminatory experiences may impact decisions to utilize healthcare. A racially stratified analysis of data extracted from the 2004 BRFSS data set, after adjusting for variables such as income, education level, and health care coverage, showed that the number of doctor visits was not impacted by frequency of thoughts of race in Whites, showed that a borderline significant relationship existed between the variables for Hispanic individuals, and showed that a significant relationship existed between the variables for Black individuals. Additionally, a statistically significant relationship was specifically discovered in Blacks with the poorest self-rated mental and general health status. A racially stratified analysis of the first experimental treatment within the online survey indicated that Blacks were more likely to have a preference for a hospital advertisement featuring Black healthcare workers, which was moderated by black centrality, trust in the healthcare system, belief that the Tuskegee Experiment could happen again, and belief that racial health disparities currently exist. No such statistically significant relationship was found for Whites. In analysis of the second experimental treatment in the online survey, no relationship was found for either race with regard to physician preference by racialized name. General trends from the survey indicate that both Blacks and Whites were equally as likely to have had a discriminatory healthcare experience and to have a similar level of trust in the healthcare system; however, Blacks were much more likely that Whites to believe that racial health disparities exist, to be knowledgeable about current health disparities, to have knowledge of the Tuskegee Experiment, and to believe that something like the Tuskegee Experiment could happen again. These results suggest that racial identity and perception of past and present mistreatment and disparities are important components in the health decision-making process for Black Americans but not necessarily for White Americans. This also suggests that more attention should be given to exploring how one’s identification with his or her race may influence the care he or she chooses to seek in the hopes of identifying policy and programming options that may equalize health access and outcomes across races. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Chaitoff, Alexander http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54796 The Impact of Palliative Care on Bereaved Family Members Weiskittle, Rachel Experiencing a loved one’s death in a hospital can be especially distressing. Research has not yet explored which specific hospital experiences contribute to family member psychological distress. To address this gap in the literature, the goals of this project were to (1) to investigate whether palliative care helps decrease depression, PTSD, and complicated grief in family members of chronically ill patients, and (2) to investigate if the issues most distressing to family members during their last hospital stay were addressed by health care providers. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Weiskittle, Rachel http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54794 Musical Imaginary, Identity and Representation: The Case of Gentleman the German Reggae Luminary Ali, Raghe This paper attempts to examine the mediation's and negotiations that occur when the Other appropriates a particularly parochial cultural expression. The paper pays attention to the multiple scholarly approaches towards understanding the musical imaginary. In particular I take interest in an approach that articulates an aesthetic component that emerges from the socio-cultural ground. In other words, what negotiations occur when a white male German co-opts a cultural expression that is deeply invested in identity politics. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Ali, Raghe http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54793 The Tea Party: Pure Ideology or Economic Dissatisfaction? Rehg, Marie The Tea Party proved to be a serious political force in the 2010 midterm elections. Although well-mobilized, the Tea Party remained a decentralized movement manifesting only a few general themes. Tea Party supporters in 2010 shared a negative view of the economy and the current conditions in Washington, disliked the Affordable Care Act, and wanted a smaller, more limited role for the government. Previous research has shown that the outcome of the 2010 midterm elections was consistent with the theory of incumbent parties being voted out of office when the popular sentiment about the economy is negative. This project seeks to expand on that theory and identify common factors in districts electing freshman Tea Party members which may have led to greater mobilization and support for the movement, particularly economic factors. This will facilitate a better understanding of the factors directly influencing the voters who were the strongest supporters of the Tea Party, and attempt to identify some of the potential causes of the movement. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Rehg, Marie http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54792 Stability and Exfoliation of Germanane: A Germanium Graphane Analogue Bianco, Elisabeth Graphene's success has shown that it is not only possible to create stable, single-atom thick sheets from a crystalline solid, but that these materials have fundamentally different properties than the parent material. We have synthesized for the first time, mm-scale crystals of a hydrogen-terminated germanium multilayered graphane analogue (germanane, GeH) from the topochemical deintercalation of CaGe2. This layered van der Waals solid is analogous to multilayered graphane (CH). The surface layer of GeH only slowly oxidizes in air over the span of 5 months, while the underlying layers are resilient to oxidation based on X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements. The GeH is thermally stable up to 75 oC, however, above this temperature amorphization and dehydrogenation begin to occur. These sheets can be mechanically exfoliated as single and few layers onto SiO2/Si surfaces. This material represents a new class of covalently terminated graphane analogues and has great potential for a wide range of optoelectronic and sensing applications, especially since theory predicts a direct band gap of 1.53 eV and an electron mobility ~five times higher than that of bulk Ge. 2012 NDConnect National Research Competition in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, 1st Place Poster; 2012 Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, 2nd Place Poster: Math and Physical Sciences division 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Bianco, Elisabeth http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54791 Mobility of Herds under Contract: A Study of Herd Distribution in the Far North Region of Cameroon Handa, Sara Pastoralism, the practice of raising herd animals, is a wide spread phenomena in sub-Saharan Africa. It is an important economic sector in Cameroon, located in West-Central Africa. There are many forms of herding present in Cameroon, in this study two forms of herd ownership are examined in length. The two types of herd ownership are subsistence herds (independent) and absentee owned herds (under contract). Subsistence herds are owned and maintained by a family or an individual, while absentee owned herds are owned by one party and looked after by another. In the last decades there has been a shift in animal ownership across sub-Saharan Africa from independent ownership to absentee ownership. Prior research on pastoralism suggests that the mobility of absentee owned herds is reduced compared to their independent counterparts and that this lack of mobility has negative consequences for the state of rangelands. This study examines these claims using a combination of spatial and statistical analysis of pastoral mobility data and remote sensing data. Examination of the data indicates that the hired herds are no less mobile than the independent herds, and there are few differences in the distribution of contract and subsistence herds. Thus the preliminary findings suggest that the increase in absentee ownership is not affecting the movement of herds in the Far North Region of Cameroon. 4th Place Denman Undergraduate Research Forum 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Handa, Sara http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54790 The Problem of Hell: Historical Revisionism in the Evangelical Christian Movement Stephens, Tamira Beth American Evangelical Christians have created and used a specific history of the doctrine of hell in order to create and maintain their identities and boundaries. This project seeks to understand the modern Evangelical appropriation of the history of the doctrine of hell, arguing that the common understanding of hell as being uncontested and homogenous Christian doctrine is an un-nuanced argument, and one that does not do justice to the historical record. The project also investigates the specific reasons why this historical construction of hell has been created, and what happens when the history of hell is openly questioned in Evangelicalism. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Stephens, Tamira Beth http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54789 The Role of egl-38/Pax in a C. elegans Hindgut Infection Kaumeyer, Benjamin Pax genes encode transcription factors that help to control developmentally important events such as cell fate specification and organ formation in both C. elegans and humans. The C. elegans gene egl-38 is an ortholog of Pax2/5/8 and is important in the development of the C. elegans hindgut. The hindgut can be colonized by a coryneform bacteria M. nematophilum resulting in swelling of the hindgut. Interestingly, C. elegans with a non-null hypomorphic allele of egl-38(n578) show a greatly reduced swelling response upon exposure to M. nematophilum. Furthermore, when these animals are stained with SYTO 13 to visualize the presence of M. nematophilum, no colonization of the hindgut can be seen. However, the mechanism for how EGL-38 is able to mediate M. nematophilum sensitivity is unknown. I hypothesize that specific EGL-38 dependent genes mediate the sensitivity. To test this hypothesis, I am focusing on an O-acyltransferase membrane associated protein encoded by bus-1. bus-1 expression is reduced in egl-38(n578) animals and bus-1(e2678) null mutants also exhibit the same resistance to M. nematophilum observed in egl-38(n578). To test whether the M. nematophilum resistance of egl-38(n578) animals could be explained by reduced bus-1 expression, we cloned the bus-1 coding sequence downstream of an egl-38 independent promoter. egl-38(n578) animals with this rescue construct showed a greater proportion of M. nematophilum induced swollen hindguts compared to egl-38(n578) without the rescue construct. But these rescued egl-38(n578) animals showed a smaller proportion compared to rescued bus-1(e2678). These results suggest that reduced bus-1 expression in egl-38(n578) partially explains the infection resistance, but other genes regulated by EGL-38 also mediate hindgut pathogen interactions. I am using analysis of the bus-1 regulatory sequences to identify other EGL-38 dependent genes that help mediate the response in order to better understand developmental regulatory gene networks and host-pathogen interactions. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Kaumeyer, Benjamin http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54788 The Effect of Acetaminophen on Conformity Sulecki, Erika Why do certain individuals feel the pressure of social influence, and thus conform to their peers, more than others? Normative conformity postulates that it is due to individuals’ fears of being deviant from the group. Consistent with this hypothesis, neuroimaging studies have shown that greater conformity is associated with activity in brain areas that are involved in processing the emotional pain of social rejection. Since the physical pain-killer acetaminophen reduces activation in these brain areas as well as reduces hurt feeling associated with rejection, we sought to determine if acetaminophen also reduced conformity. If acetaminophen can reduce social pain, can it also lessen the submission to social pressure? This hypothesis was tested using a between-subjects design that compares the performance of an acetaminophen (test) group to the placebo (control) group on a commonly used social influence task (Berns et al., 2005). Participants are presented with two 3D shapes and asked to determine whether they are mirror images of each other or the same image merely rotated. Then, they are presented with the decision of their “peers” and asked again what kind of transformation is related between the two shapes. Although there were no significant differences in conformity between groups in the rotation judgment condition, there was a significant difference in the preference condition and several significant correlations within the survey data. There were no significant differences in conformity between the placebo and drug condition. A secondary hypothesis was to explore the degree to which collectivism, a psychological construct related to rejection sensitivity, was related to conformity. A significant positive correlation between dispositional sensitivity to rejection and collectivistic orientation was found. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Sulecki, Erika http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54787 Quantitative Method for Comparing Extracted False Color Images from 2D IR Microspectropic Data to Visual Light Images Sunday, Nicholas The purpose of this project was to find a quantitative approach to compare accuracies of visible light and computational images. The computational images that needed comparisons were from the output of a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) program in MATLAB® that was run to separate spectra of cross sections of normal aortic tissue and tissue affected by an aneurysm from background. GMM works by clustering spectral information into related groups for visualization. By using photo-editing software, it was possible to determine the exact number of pixels by extracting the number of pixels from the computation images and comparing them to the number of pixels from visible light images. From the data that was received, the principle components that were needed for best accuracy were determined. Principal component analysis (PCA) groups information into different orthogonal scores based on decreasing variance in the data. The validity of preprocessing with PCA in order to achieve the best accuracy for the separation of tissue from background was discovered. From the information gathered from this process, it was possible to make improvements in the choosing the most relevant PCAs and verify the improvements quantitatively. In this project, the different combination of principal components and how they affect GMM clustering were compared. The long-term goal of this project is to use spectra from FT-IR spectroscopy of biological analogs in order to obtain information about changes in the basal structure of tissue so that aneurysms may be detected early in their development. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Sunday, Nicholas http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54786 Role of PKCβ in Breast Cancer Palettas, Marilly The protein kinase C (PKC) family of serine/threonine protein kinases and their tumor-promoting role in cancer research has been studied for nearly three decades. Previous studies showed that the PKC gene plays a major role in signal transduction and regulation of gene expression, and identified PKC activators as tumor-promoting agents. The PKCβ isoenzyme, in particular, has been linked to various types of cancer through its association with blood vessel formation, which plays a principal role in tumor progression. While the PKC gene has been the focus of a multitude of studies, the mechanistic function of many of its isoforms is not yet wholly understood. This study focuses on gaining insight on the function of the PKCβ isoenzyme through the use of a genetic mouse model. We aim to determine a possible mechanism through which PKCβ promotes tumor growth. Furthermore, we seek to gain a better understanding as to whether the main role of PKCβ in tumor progression is cell-autonomous or whether it interacts with the tumor microenvironment. Ultimately, better mechanistic insight into the function of this tumor-promoting gene can lead to the development of more effective inhibitor treatments for cancer therapies. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Palettas, Marilly http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54785 Dissecting host-pathogen interactions of Caenorhabditis elegans and Agrobacterium tumefaciens Kiragu, Anthony DNA transformation is a common tool in genetic research and engineering. In the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, DNA transformation has primarily been through microinjection of the DNA into the syncytial gonad. This ensures the introduced DNA is passed down to the offspring. In an experiment to find alternative methods of genetic transformation, Agrobacterium tumefaciens was used as a candidate for the transfer of DNA from the bacteria to the eukaryotic cell nucleus. Agrobacterium is well known for its natural capability of trans-kingdom DNA transfer and can transform virtually any living cell. The bacterium has both transformation abilities and infection abilities. While we are working to develop the transformation abilities, we observed an unusual phenomenon in the intestine of worms cultured with the bacteria. Adult worms that were fed A. tumefaciens exhibited abnormal fluorescence in the intestinal cells. We are investigating it by setting up two experiments to study the viability and fluorescence difference between wild type and mutants deficient for any intestinal fluorescence. These experiments are designed to test whether the observed abnormal fluorescence results from induction or alteration of the pathway that mediates normal C. elegans intestinal autofluorescence, or whether another mechanism is involved. To test this hypothesis, a comparative experiment between wild-type worms and mutants for glo-1 (lacks autofluorescent and birefringent gut granules) and glo-4 (no autofluorescent granules in intestinal cells) genes was conducted. For worms cultured in A. tumefaciens, it is evident that the fluorescence observed is ancillary to the autofluorescence and present in glo mutants, and indication of causality. As the bacterium have virulent effects on the worms, we set up an experiment to define the level of fatality on the worms or resistance by the mutants. Wild type and mutants are being cultured with A. tumefaciens and Escherichia coli OP50 in this experiment. The long-term goal of this work is to better understand host pathogen interactions, and to optimize the use of Agrobacterium for DNA conjugation in C. elegans. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Kiragu, Anthony http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54784 Exploratory Spatial Analysis of West Nile Virus Disease (WNV) in Franklin County Abdalla, Mahmod This is a thesis research about the spread of West Nile Virus in Franklin County, Ohio for graduation with research distinction. Arthur Robinson award 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Abdalla, Mahmod http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54783 The Effects of Photo Retouching on the Perceived Attractiveness of Female Models Gordon, Matt Western culture tends to present media from a "male gaze," a viewpoint that displays women as objects to be judged on their beauty. Advertisements to men and women present the same image: one that men want to have, and one that women want to be in order to be desired by men. Photo retouching has long been considered a large part of creating the image of the ideal woman. This study looks at how large of an effect photo retouching has on increasing models' physical attractiveness. A survey administered to 106 men and 167 women shows no significant change in the perceived attractiveness, healthiness, weight or age of models in unedited and edited images. Furthermore, the survey reveals some interesting differences in how men and women perceive the attractiveness of models. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Gordon, Matt http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54782 The Rate and Characterization of Hybridization Between Wild-Type and Cultivated Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L) for Biofuel Use Lewis, Emily The introduction of new and widely planted cultivars for biofuels raises questions about their potential invasiveness compared to their wild-type counterparts. Switchgrass is a native, self-incompatible prairie grass that has been bred for biofuels and may be genetically engineered in the near future. Baseline information is needed about the rate of crop-wild hybridization to assess possible consequences of gene flow. In 2011 our research group established an experimental stand of 106 cultivar "pollen donors" at The Wilds, Cumberland, OH, surrounded by wild "pollen recipients" at distances ranging from 1-100 m away. The donors and recipients were derived from two distinct clones, each carrying two unique alleles at a specific SSR locus. I studied DNA from their seeds to see if they showed evidence of 1) hybridization as expected (due to self-incompatibility), 2) fertilization by unidentified switchgrass sources, or 3) self-fertilization. After optimizing my methods, I used capillary electrophoresis to genotype 8 F1 progeny from the donor plot, 16 progeny from wild recipients at each of three distances (1 m, 30 m, and 60 m), and 32 progeny from wild recipients growing 100 m away. I found that 100% of the offspring analyzed were heterozygous for the target SSR markers, confirming crop-wild hybridization at distances up to at least 100 m. I also found no evidence of self-fertilization or fertilization by another source of switchgrass. My results suggest that our research group can use seed set instead of costly DNA analyses to measure gene flow at this study site. In addition, the cultivar's ability to pollinate native switchgrass at distances of at least 100 m suggests that distance should carefully be considered before novel biofuel cultivars are planted in a new location or in field trials involving regulated transgenic switchgrass. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Lewis, Emily http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54781 Lifting the Veil on the Brontë Juvenilia: A Study of the Gondal Saga and Wuthering Heights Tara, Emily In 1848, before her death, Emily Brontë completed a novel that has transcended time and has become a staple of classic Victorian literature; that novel is Wuthering Heights. While many have read or have heard of this novel, the origination of the tale has been left to speculation and uncertainty. I hope to uncover some of the truth behind the novel's origination by comparing its plot, themes and characters to Emily's juvenilia poetry. The Gondal poetry, as it has come to be called, gives a greater insight into the framework for the novel, and through careful explication of specific passages, can be seen as a precursor to the popular gothic novel. While Wuthering Heights is a fictional story, I will give details that will explain that through studying the novel in relation to the juvenilia, it is more than possible that her writing contains elements of her personal life, environment and viewpoints. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Tara, Emily http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54779 Pretty with a Boyfriend Rogers, Sydney A creative nonfiction collection about my coming-of-age. Includes passages about my relationship with my mother and about my sexual awakening. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Rogers, Sydney http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54776 Hemingway, Trauma, and Power Novelli, Lauren This thesis explores the topic of Hemingway and his female characters as feminist. Examining For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, and The Garden of Eden, it is clear these women have survived a trauma that makes them feminist. Many believe Ernest Hemingway to be a misogynist in his writings, and through this thesis I worked to rethink the idea of Hemingway's female characters as weak. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Novelli, Lauren http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54774 How Do Students' Perceptions of Instructors' Interpersonal Goals Affect Students' Classroom Experience Hares, Rahaf A positive instructor-student relationship is highly important in any classroom. It determines the classroom experiences the student will have and contributes in many ways to the outcome of success the student will have. We investigated the effect of college instructors' compassionate and self-image goals for teaching and how student perceptions of these goals are relate to their classroom experiences. Students rated their best, worst, and most recent instructor and evaluated their instructors' goals and experiences in the classroom. We predicted that students reflecting on their best instructor were more likely to perceive compassionate goals than students reflecting on their worst instructor. We also predicted that students would report greater enjoyment, and more positive attitudes when rating instructors with compassionate goals compared to instructors with self-image goals. Results showed support for our hypotheses, that instructor compassionate goals predicted positive experiences (i.e. attendance, enjoyment, liking the instructor, etc.) in the classroom as opposed to instructors with self-image goals. Gaining knowledge about instructor characteristics that lead to student success is an important step to take to further research in the fields of psychology and pedagogy. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Hares, Rahaf http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54773 Disease and Destitution: Malaria and the Liberation of New Guinea and the Philippine Islands Bentley, Caitlin Taylor Malaria's impact on the U.S. 6th Infantry Division during their fight to regain New Guinea and the Philippine Islands was not only the longest recorded fight in the Pacific, but equally as important, it was the longest fight in a region plagued by malaria. The impact of malaria on the military effectiveness of this division was the most profound in this region, if only because of the psychological trauma such protracted warfare caused. By following the story of many who served in the region we can see the psychological trauma from the perspective of those who served and lived here. The Author is the recipient of the John Guilmartin Scholarship in Military History 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Bentley, Caitlin Taylor http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54769 Affective Incongruity in the Work of David Lynch Thompson, Megan Cognitive psychology approaches to film have recently advanced to incorporating cognitive and neuroscience. With the exception of a few scholars such as David Bordwell, one of the first to bring a cognitive approach to film, film studies is only just beginning to take full advantage of the advances made in this area. We have seen some resplendent results that bring together cognitive science, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and neuroanatomy in ways that have shed new, interdisciplinary light on the arts. Recently, emotional-affective research has added yet another important dimension to these approaches to film, enabling us to build frameworks for understanding better how viewers’ perspective and understanding of film are filtered through our affective mechanisms. In my research, I examine the incongruent emotions produced by David Lynch’s work, which push the boundaries of accepted emotions in ‘mainstream’ cinema. I use his work to study how narrative structure and stylistic techniques can effect and produce incongruent emotions, thus affecting how we make meaning and connection in the experience of viewing his film. In order to understand the connection of emotion and film, I use existing critical film theory on Lynch’s work and combine this theory with cognitive science and affective neuroscience research. The goal: to encapsulate the whole emotional process that occurs from his work and film in general. Often affective incongruity confuses a viewer, therefore acceptance and meaning from a ‘mainstream’ audience is hard to garner, especially in David Lynch’s enigmatic work. Therefore it is important to pay attention to these how these incongruent types of emotions (atypical in commercial cinema) are built into his film blueprints--and a cognitive and neurobiological approach promise to shed light on this. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Thompson, Megan http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54768 Of Enclaves and Internet: How Social Media Affects Political Participation in Authoritarian States Keller, Andrew This thesis explores the effects of social media on political participation in China. It explores contrasting theories of how increasingly liberal online interactions on the Chinese blogosphere have generated protests and political action, and comes to the conclusion that the current censorship architecture of the PRC could lead to more volatile nationalism offline. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Keller, Andrew http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54765 Perceptual Dialectology in Ohio Torelli, Amber The Midwest of the United States is an interesting area for dialectologists to study because while some claim it has its own Midland dialect (Labov et al. 2006), others say it is only an area of transition from the North to the South (Davis and Houck 1992, 1995). One way to study this area is through folk linguistics. Benson (2003) and Preston (1999) discuss the importance of using folk linguistics to help learn about these dialect areas, especially in the Midland where the dialect boundaries are not clearly defined. While there may be concern as to whether or not non-linguists are up to this task, recent dialectologist studies say people can make dialectal decisions in smaller geographic regions (Benson 2005, Bucholtz et al. 2008, Campbell-Kibler 2012), but are they also able to articulate their perceptions of the language features that differentiate these dialect regions? Through the use of dialectology maps and a mimicry task, this current study investigates people’s perceptions of dialects in Ohio, mainly where they think different dialects are and what language features are associated with these dialects, along with whether they are able to produce features. This study shows that people do have perceptions about dialects that are more or less accurate, although not complete. It is understandably easier for people to discuss where they believe dialects to be than to produce examples of these dialects. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Torelli, Amber http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54764 Form and Figure, Image and Object Hill, Timothy This research project has been an investigation into imagery. What constitutes an image and how does an image differ from an object in terms of producing a painting? To begin to understand this question, I looked into some Eastern and Western philosophical issues concerning identity and the act of identification. What both seem to support is a view that identity is dependent on time as well as space. To identify an object is to point to a set of processes that occur within a context. My initially proposed piece sought to demonstrate this idea by creating a kinetic portrait that would repeatedly fragment and re-collect an image. This also meant that the image would occupy a 3-dimensional space as well. By pushing the boundaries of what constituted an image, it had highlighted the importance of the frame as a means to contain the internal activity of an image from its external environment and context. In my final piece, I sought to include its external conditions internally or within the frame. I accomplished this through the use of reflection and supporting a dependence on the ambient light of the space. The intent was to leave the opportunity (as opposed to dictating the experience) for the viewer to continuously transition from inside the work to the space they too occupy. The resulting exhibition presented the numerous experiments and attempts at interpreting the identity of imagery in relationship to the work that resulted from my research. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Hill, Timothy http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54761 Tracking performance at the crossroads of perception and memory Weichart, Emily One of the most robust effects in memory is the spacing effect--memory is improved for repeated stimuli separated by intervening items (spaced encoding) relative to immediate stimulus repetitions (massed encoding). Because there are individual differences in working memory capacity (the number of items a person is able to attend to simultaneously) we sought to define the relationship between the spacing effect and working memory. We worked under the hypothesis that the spacing effect works through a mechanism known as repetition attenuation— this is a reduction in processing for repeated items. When other items intervene in between repetitions, the amount of processing approaches baseline as a function of spacing. Studies have shown that as the combined amount of processing for the item presentations during the test phase increases, recognition memory improves. To test the theory that the spacing effect is due to differences in perceptual processing of repeated items, we designed a novel experiment that includes three spaced conditions and a massed condition. Famous and unfamiliar human faces were used as stimuli. We administered a measure of working memory capacity called the “Ospan” (operation span), and we predicted a direct relationship between o-span and memory performance, such that individuals with larger working memory capacities would show the greatest memory performance in the ‘long’ spacing condition. We found significant main effects of spacing and stimulus familiarity for recognition performance and study phase priming, which is a correlate of repetition attenuation. Honorable Mention at Denman Undergraduate Research Forum 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Weichart, Emily http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54760 The Effects of Exercise on Social Rejection, Anger, and Aggression Moran, Kelsey Being excluded by others is a painful experience. Because exercise can improve mood and trigger endogenous pain suppressing chemicals, we asked if exercise could reduce reactivity to social exclusion. In study 1, two hundred fifty-eight (121 female) people self-reported on their exercise frequency and were rejected from an online ball-tossing game, Cyberball. Hurt feelings, anger, and aggressive intentions were measured post-exclusion. Results demonstrated higher self-reported aerobic exercise frequency was associated with less hurt feelings, and less anger, but there was no relationship with aggressive intentions. These findings suggest that exercise reduces responses to social stressors like rejection. To determine if these effects of exercise are causal, study 2 brought forty-two (16 female) participants into the lab in groups of 3 or 4. Half of the participants completed 50 minutes of aerobic exercise (heart rate 140-160 bpm), while the other half remained inactive. After this, all participants engaged in a get to know you group discussion for 15 minutes. Subsequently they were either excluded or included from a follow-up task. Results demonstrated that exercise reduced feelings of sadness and anger, while being rejected decreased feelings of inclusion and positive affect and increased sadness with marginal increases in anger. Exercise also resulted in a significant increase in anger after the social interaction. Feelings of inclusion, sadness and positive affect were differentially responsive between the exercise and no-exercise conditions. Those who had exercised were less emotionally responsive to inclusion or exclusion. Taken together, these studies suggest that exercise reduces reactivity to social rejection and may also reduce responses to social inclusion. Possible explanations for the effects of exercise on mood as well as increased anger are discussed. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Moran, Kelsey http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54759 The Effects of Surgical Masks on Speech Perception in Noise Wittum, Kelsi Surgical masks and blood shields worn by anesthesiologists and surgeons in hospital operating rooms may negatively impact speech communication and put patients at risk. Young adult subjects listened to sentences from the Speech Perception in Noise test, SPIN, (Bilger et al., 1984) recorded by a male and female talker. All eight SPIN lists were recorded under three different speaking conditions: 1) speaking normally without any obstruction, 2) wearing a typical surgical mask, and 3) wearing a surgical mask with an attached blood shield. Multi-talker babble was mixed with the SPIN sentences at the signal-to-noise ratio of 0 dB to simulate conversation in noisy environments. Speaker gender and recording conditions were counterbalanced across listeners to control for learning and fatigue effects. SPIN test scores for each of the three types of recordings and both talker genders were compared in order to determine the degradation that blood-shields and surgical masks may have on speech communication in the operating room. The data suggests that surgical masks, in particular the blood shields, negatively impact speech communication. Percent correct is the highest for the unmasked condition, followed by the masked condition, and poorest in the mask and attached blood shield condition. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Wittum, Kelsi http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54748 The EF-P aminoacylation pathway may be a potential new target for antimicrobial drugs Solden, Lindsey Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in both the developing world and industrialized nations. Bacterial infections are no longer cleared with a single round of antibiotics. The problem could be combated by discovering new pathways to target with drug treatment. One such possible pathway involves elongation factor P (EF-P), a bacterial protein involved in the regulation of antibiotic resistance and survival in other cellular stress. The modification of EF-P with (R)-β-Lysine by the lysyl-tRNA synthetase paralog PoxA affects protein synthesis in the ribosome by relieving stalling during translation of polyproline stretches (7). In PoxA deletion strains, EF-P is not modified decreasing cell replication rate, cell survival to stressful conditions and virulence of Salmonella enterica. By analyzing the contact surface between EF-P and PoxA and comparing it to the complex of a tRNA and an aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase, we were able to identify the novel interactions that could be a potential drug target. Most of the conserved interactions in the EF-P and PoxA complex correspond to the acceptor arm of the tRNA, but many of the contacts are unique. Through mutating amino acids involved in polar contacts between PoxA and EF-P and replacing them with alanine through site directed mutagenesis, it was determined which contacts (both novel and conserved) are important for EF-P recognition. This was measured by analyzing the aminoacylation kinetics using either EF-P or PoxA mutants. Our results suggest that recognition of EF-P by PoxA is mainly accomplished through binding of conserved amino acids that resemble the acceptor stem of a tRNA, but the arginine 235 contact may provide a target for antibiotic development. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Solden, Lindsey http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54747 The Context Repetition Effect: Role of prediction in new memory formation. Gossett, Chad Many theories posit that the associative process at the core of episodic memory binds the content of an experience to the context in which we experience it. Here, context can be broadly defined as the mental representation capturing our recent experience. We recently discovered the context repetition effect (CRE), which shows that repeating a context once leads to greater memory performance for an item learned within that context even if the item does not occur again. Currently, we have conducted three studies to test the CRE. Experiment 1 was a complete replication of the original experiment that first discovered the CRE, save that there were multiple repetitions of a context instead of just one. We found that the presentation of a context and item, followed by two repetitions of the context with a new item each time, resulted in a near significant boost in memory and confidence in memory of subjects for the original item. Experiment 2 replaced words with scenes and faces. Subjects associated male and female faces with indoor and outdoor scenes. Subjects showed trends towards reduced performance and no demonstration of the CRE. Lack of power for performance results possibly due to difficulty in encoding faces relative to words. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2, save that there was an additional repetition. Results trended toward those found in Experiment 2. 3rd Place at Denman Undergraduate Research Forum 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Gossett, Chad http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54746 Characterization of Colonic Macrophages in Mice Exposed to Social Stressor During Oral Challenge with Citrobacter rodentium. Easterling, Robert Chronic colonic inflammation, as well as exposure to psychological stressors, are well known risk factors for the development of colorectal cancer. Whether these two predisposing factors are linked, however, is not known. A murine social stressor, called social disruption (SDR), was used to test whether stressor exposure would increase colonic inflammation in mice infected with the colonic pathogen Citrobacter rodentium. When compared to non-stressed control mice infected with C. rodentium, stressor-exposure significantly increased pathogen-induced colonic histopathology, inflammatory cytokine gene expression, and the accumulation of F4/80+ macrophages in the colon. Other studies demonstrate that exposure to the SDR stressor without infection significantly increases the number of inflammatory monocytes in the spleen. Because splenic inflammatory monocytes can traffic to sites of inflammation, the goal of this study was to determine whether these accumulated colonic F4/80+ macrophages display an inflammatory phenotype (i.e., L6ChiCCR2+CD11b+) by using flow cytometry. To test whether colonic inflammation could be significantly enhanced by colonic macrophages, an adoptive transfer model was also used. In this experiment, monocytes isolated from the spleens of stressed mice were introduced into naïve mice, which were later infected with C. rodentium. It is expected that these non-stressed recipient mice will display similar inflammation and pathology as stressed mice. If proven true, it would mean that the stressor-primed splenic inflammatory monocytes are responsible for enhanced colonic inflammation. Increases in colonic macrophages may account for stressor-induced increases in colonic inflammation. Future studies will test the hypothesis that this increased inflammation predisposes animals to developing colorectal cancer. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Easterling, Robert http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54745 The Hagiological Study of the Biography of Ayia Elesa Layne, Laura Hagiology is the study of biographies attesting to the holy lives of saints. There are a variety of methods practiced by scholars in order to recognize relevant information from these accounts. Nevertheless, historians must frequently consider unverified sources to gather any information about earlier saints. A method not prevalent is examining these texts from a literary perspective, which would help retain information such as themes attributed to gender in holy biographies. The purpose of my research project is to explore what literary motifs are common to sources describing the lives of female saints from late antiquity to early medieval history. In particular, I focus on a saint venerated by the Greek Orthodox Church. Ayia Elesa is a fourth century saint celebrated on the island of Kythera off the coast of mainland Greece. Although Elesa's year of death is stated in 375 A.D., the original biography is authored around the seventeenth century. Elements of her biography mimic prior texts of other saints in early Christianity. Using Elesa's account as an example, I discuss how hagiographers were influenced by prior stories of other saints, which created genres within hagiography. Instead of drawing out historical accuracy of described people and events, I investigate the historical relevance of common literary trends and plots constructed in these stories. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Layne, Laura http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54743 Does novel music improve verbal memory in individuals with Williams syndrome? Barnett, Brittany Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder characterized by intellectual delay and an affinity for music. It has been shown that familiar music can enhance verbal memory in individuals with WS who have had musical training. There is evidence that unfamiliar, or novel, music may also improve cognitive recall. Therefore, this experiment was designed to examine if a novel melody could also enhance verbal memory in individuals with WS, and to better evaluate musical enjoyment and music training in this population. We presented spoken or sung sentences that described an animal and its group name to individuals with WS, and then tested their immediate and delayed memory using both multiple choice and recall formats. Parents reported that their children enjoyed music much more than their peers (mean = 4.38 on a 0-5 Likert scale). Across all participants, mean scores were higher for the sung vs. spoken stimuli, but not to a significant degree. When we analyzed those who had formal music training (n = 23) and those who did not (n=21), results showed a significant main effect for group in the delayed recall category. Those with formal music training did significantly better on delayed recall in the sung condition (mean = 1.70, SD = 1.33) than those without formal music training (mean = 0.86, SD = 1.06); [F(1,42) = 4.786, p = .034]. Music therapy, age, and Verbal IQ did not impact performance for the sung stimuli. These findings suggest that individuals with WS who participate in formal music lessons may have enhanced long-term verbal memory of sung stimuli using a novel melody. Awarded 1st Place in the Proposed Study Poster Presentation category at The Ohio State University Newark Student Research Forum 2012 ($200); Awarded 1st Place in the Completed Research Poster Presentation category at The Ohio State University Newark Student Research Forum 2013 ($200) 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Barnett, Brittany http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54738 Improved Method for Measuring Thermal Diffusivity of Bulk Samples and Films Heisler-Taylor, Tyler We have developed a technique to measure the thermal diffusivity of bulk samples and films. It builds off of the widely used laser flash method. Basically, we measure the time interval between a laser created heat pulse and its arrival at a detector some distance away. In parallel with the laboratory set-up we use computer modeling to simulate our detector's response and account for losses due to air convection. One advantage to our method is that we are able to accurately determine thermal diffusivity without needing to enclose the apparatus in a vacuum as is required with most other set-ups. Experimentally, we shine a laser pulse on a free-floating end of a long sample, the other end of the sample is secured to a heat sink, and measure, via a thermistor, the heat pulse as it travels a well defined distance. In our testing with a silver wire, we found our measurement to be in agreement with the accepted value. As an important application, this method determines the thermal diffusivity for thin films that would otherwise be difficult to measure. As an example, we measured the thermal diffusivity of graphene films upon ceramic substrates. By combining computer modeling and a simple experimental procedure, we are able to efficiently and accurately determine thermal conductivities for a wide variety of samples. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Heisler-Taylor, Tyler http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54736 Chemical Analysis of Vitamin A and Analogs Sacolick, Davidson Vitamin A plays an important role in growth, vision, epithelial differentiation, immune function, and reproduction. However, vitamin A metabolites like retinoic acid (RA) pose many toxic effects in the body. Certain retinoid drugs like N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide (4-HPR) have shown promise treating epithelial cancers. Further research into the nonhydrolyzable analog, 4-hydroxybenzylretinone (4-HBR), have determined that it is just as potent but without any of the residual toxicity associated with RA. A new synthetic method for this drug was created, using a para-methyl benzyl phenyl ether as protecting group for the terminal phenol. Synthetic efficiency was also increased by the development of a larger scale synthesis for the expensive starting retinoid, retinal. This new method can successfully synthesize 4-HBR at a lower cost with good yields. This is useful for future chemical and biological studies of the retinoid. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Sacolick, Davidson http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54734 Cognitive Vulnerability and International Student Stress: A Test of the Diathesis-Stress Model of Depression in International Students in Spain Kretz, Shelby International students face unique life stressors that put them at an increased risk for exhibiting depressive symptoms while they are in college. Due to a changing economy, Spain has seen a large recent increase in international students. Along with stress, cognitive style (i.e., the way a person thinks about the world) has been established as a risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms. In line with diathesis stress models of depression, the purpose of this study was to examine international student stress, cognitive style, and the interaction of these risk factors as predictors of depressive symptoms in international students in Spain. Four brief questionnaires were administered to 163 international students in Spain. Both cognitive style and stress were significant predictors of concurrent depressive symptoms, but the interaction of these predictors was not statistically significant. Directions for future research identifying risks for depressive symptoms in the growing population of international students in Spain are discussed. 3rd place, OSU Denman, Psychology 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Kretz, Shelby http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54733 Campaign Finance in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada Shoub, Kelsey To survive, parties and politicians need a variety of resources to carry out their various functions of administration, voter persuasion, and getting out the vote. A key resource is money. Due to its ability to be transformed into other resources and its growing importance, political finance—specifically campaign finance—has generated a spirited debate within and among democracies. The existent body of literature on campaign finance describes differences between systems, the influence money has on elections and/or governance, and its impact on corruption levels within countries. I propose to add to the existent body of literature on campaign finance by addressing a different question: how does a country’s political structure, both formal and informal, contribute to the formation of its campaign finance regime? This study will focus on campaign finance in a portion of the Anglo-Saxon sphere, specifically in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. All three democracies regulate campaign finance but have taken different approaches. I begin with a general comparison of the different campaign finance regimes of each country. Several possible explanations for the differences in the regimes are explored next, broadly divided into influences of the regulatory framework and influences of boundary setting. Influences of the regulatory framework include the type and number of offices being elected and the driving force behind a campaign. Influences of boundary setting are the length of the election season, the size of the electoral district, and the ratio of public and private funds being used. Finally, I examine the implications that these current regimes have on systemic corruption and changes in the democratic deficit within each of the countries. This project suggests that the campaign finance regime operating within a country is a function of the limits in place, primarily determined by that country’s political structure. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Shoub, Kelsey http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54732 Weakness of Will: Holton's View and a Criticism Feldman, Abram D. I presented an adjusted account of Richard Holton's understanding of weakness of will. The account I uphold is similar to Holton's account in as much as it relies on resolutions and unreasonable revisions to them. However, I offer an additional criterion to evaluating an agent for weakness of will: an agent is weak-willed if the agent unreasonably fails to form a resolution. Unreasonably failing to form a resolution turns out to be failing to form a resolution when an agent judges the action as the best thing to do and the agent believing that if the resolution was formed, the agent would follow through. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Feldman, Abram D. http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54731 "There are no limits to this thing": Apocalypse and Human Identity in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony Ravenscroft, Claire Leslie Marmon Silko’s 1977 novel Ceremony narrates the experience of a World War II veteran named Tayo returning to his home at the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico. Suffering from what white doctors quickly dismiss as shell-shock, Tayo pursues a healing ceremony under the guidance of a mixed-blood medicine man to address the convergence of his traumatic personal history, the history of violence against his community and all American Indian tribes, and the metanarrative of Western history, specifically at its most recent and destructive point: global war and atomic weaponry. Due to the apocalyptic potential of the bomb — the Trinity site development and testing of which serves as the geographic nexus of these histories — Tayo finds himself at a “momentary standstill of history,” as theorized by Walter Benjamin in his “Theses on the Philosophy of History” (Scherpe 107). This point of crisis provides a “revolutionary chance” for Tayo to “read across the fragments of his experience and grasp the constellation of forces that has produced him” and his suffering, and to thereafter rediscover a traditional Laguna notion of human identity (Benjamin 263, Beck 152). Tayo absorbs into and unites in his individual identity the entire global community of life that is subject to the destruction of the bomb — transcending ethnic, national, and tribal distinctions as well as connecting with the landscape and animal life of and around the Laguna Pueblo (Scherpe 108, Beck 152). By recovering, reclaiming, and revitalizing this hybrid and relational notion of human identity, Tayo is able to complete a healing ceremony that confronts both his individual trauma and the violence of witchery and Western ideology that contextualizes it. My argument will first address the apocalyptic characterization of the bomb and the significance of apocalypse to Benjamin’s theory of history. I will then discuss Tayo’s sickness returning from the war as it relates to the convergence of his personal history with those of his people and of human civilization more broadly. The remainder of my argument will be an examination of the complex and composite identity that he rediscovers in his healing ceremony — one that bridges multiple ethnicities and unites with animal life and the land itself, culminating in the image of sunrise. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Ravenscroft, Claire http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54728 Spatial Distribution of Visible Desert Salts in the McMurdo Region, Antarctica Bisson, Kelsey Desert environments are distinctive in that they are the only landscapes that accumulate salts in measureable quantities. The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are classified as a polar desert, as they maintain very low relative humidities by the sweeping katabatic winds that descend upon the continent and produce very little (<3cm annual) precipitation. Salts are abundant and a notable feature of the soils. Surficial salt crusts were sampled in the top 2 cm of soils in the Dry Valleys and on Ross Island in the area surrounding McMurdo Station to determine their source for formation, as well as to identify spatial trends in the data. Unlike previous salt studies, this one focuses on visible, surface salt crusts with soil depth possibly through sequential evaporation of groundwater as it moves to the surface. Using structural and textural criteria, 2 types of salt crusts may be distinguished: (1) widespread surface crusts with little structure; and (2) thicker salt crusts with amorphous shape that form near boulders. Subsurface soluble salts and stratified salt crusts were not sampled in this study. Chemical analysis of the major ions indicates conflicting trends in major marine ions, suggesting that the marine influence in salt formation is not as significant as was hypothesized. Sodium is the major cation, averaging 70-90% of all major cations measured. Chloride and sulfate are the major anions in the salts, with chloride being the most abundant (<70%) in Taylor Valley surface salts, though it is less abundant at McMurdo station. Higher elevation coastal areas have abundant calcium, up to 60 meq/kg sediment sampled. Statistical analysis reveals that salt chemistries are not significantly different with respect to their sampling elevation, location, and proximity to a water source. Qualitative comparisons of salt chemistries show an influence of formation “type,” as salts accumulated under large particle faces are chemically distinct from those that were found alongside streambeds. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Bisson, Kelsey http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54725 "I Am Who I Want To Be Not Who You Want Me To Be": Writing as an Expression of Self & In Relation to Others Stentz, Meg By adding a writing component to an existing model of structured support group, Stentz examines the way four ninth grade girls use writing to define their own identities and their relationships with one another. Her research centers around questions about how writing is received in the group: how does writing further the goals of an organization which seeks to promote connection between girls? And, how do the girls use writing, as opposed to speaking, to articulate their identities? Stentz found that girls' use of writing provides an opportunity to put forward a vision of the self that the girls do not access in speech. Furthermore, the girls use writing-both the words and the act itself-to demonstrate and strengthen their friendships and allegiances within the group. Stentz analyzed the girls' writings and speaking in the support group to reach these conclusions, as well as interviewing each girl at the end of the project. Stentz's project indicates the usefulness of writing in a group that seeks to promote connection between its members and may be of interest to individuals who work with groups, particularly groups of teenaged girls. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Stentz, Meg http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54724 Characterization of the Role of acs-19 in Caenorhabditis elegans Bacterial Infection Slocum, Breonna The human body attracts a large number of bacterial pathogens, many of which have detrimental effects on the host and add a tremendous economic burden. Caenorhabditis elegans and its interaction with the bacterium Microbacterium nematophilum is a great model system to study various aspects of host-pathogen interactions including bacterial attachment, nematode surface antigen variation, host response to infection, and cellular morphogenesis. M. nematophilum adheres to the post-anal region of the nematode, causing it to display a deformed anal region (DAR) phenotype and experience severe constipation. Previous research has shown that among the genes up regulated in C. elegans in response to M. nematophilum infection is acs-19, a gene encoding acyl-CoA synthetase, which plays a role in lipid metabolism. I have been investigating the specific function of ACS-19 and its role in this interaction. Specifically, I am studying whether its up regulation is dependent on the transcription factor EGL-38. So far, I have observed that the expression of acs-19 goes down in egl-38 mutants with respect to wild type. I am also using RNAi to knock down acs-19 gene expression to investigate whether its up regulation in response to infection is involved in the host’s defense against the pathogen, or if it is something necessary for pathogenicity. I have found that the upregulation of acs-19 reported in the microarray experiments are part of the bacteria’a infection mechanism and that the DAR response is not dependent on egl-38. In the future, I will test the possibility of changes in ACS-19 protein localization in response to infection. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Slocum, Breonna http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54718 Exploring the Akt/PI3 Kinase Signaling Pathway in the Avian Retina Goodman, Zachary The Akt pathway is an important cell-signaling pathway that can affect many cellular processes including growth and proliferation. This study aims to explore the role of the Akt pathway in the formation of Muller glia-derived progenitors in the avian retina. The results show that pS6 (a readout of the Akt pathway) is expressed in embryonic retina but there are minimal levels in a mature, normal retina. Upon excitotoxic damage or FGF2 stimulation, pS6 is highly upregulated with a peak at 4h after damage. Furthermore, VO-OHpic trihydrate (VOTH), a PTEN inhibitor was able to increase the number of proliferating Muller glia four fold. We conclude that the Akt pathway is not active in a normal retina, the Akt/mTOR pathway is rapidly activated in damaged retinas, and this pathway stimulates the formation of Muller glia-derived progenitors. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Goodman, Zachary http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54716 The Dance of the Courtier: Politics and Performance in Elizabethan and Jacobean England Straily, Katy In the Renaissance courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, courtiers clamored for the chief role of the monarch’s “favorite”, frequently utilizing their extensive knowledge of the arts to catch the royal eye. Behind each court favorite is a story of their intensive performance for the monarch-(especially in dance, theatre, the joust, and wardrobe) –in which they played an involved role in a very unique and sensitive relationship with these powerful yet vulnerable rulers, the dance of the courtier. My research thoroughly analyzes how exacting courtiers utilized these court arts to thrust themselves into the spotlight and thereafter be in close proximity to their sovereign, exercising political influence on England. The project also explores the gendered differences between the courts of a queen and a king. The research requires extensive examination of primary sources including courtiers’ journals, personal correspondence, speeches, and financial recordings to understand how Englishmen at the time viewed these courtiers and to catch valuable clues of their calculations within the courts. It also requires the use of secondary sources such as modern scholarly journals, articles, and books for a strong comparison. Previously it has been argued that the arts were a frivolous aspect of the courts, but my findings assert instead that these performances were essential to a courtier’s rise to power. Political power in England was intricately and irrevocably intertwined with performance and the arts. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Straily, Katy http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54715 The Effect of EF-P on tRNA Ribosomal P-site Binding Matsa, Eleftheria A significant amount of research has been dedicated to characterizing how EF-P is intracellularly modified, as well as how it assists in stabilizing the ribosome during protein synthesis. Both of these functions involve the amino terminal domain of EF-P (also known as Domain I), which not only receives all modifications, but also makes critical positional contacts near the peptidyl transferase center and the aminoacyl acceptor stem of the initiator tRNA. (2) However, in 2009 Blaha, et al. published a structural analysis of EF-P that directed readers’ attention to additional contacts made between the Y180 and R183 residues of Domain III and the small ribosomal subunit. These residues were observed to interact with the A1339 and G1338 nucleotides in the 16S RNA of the 30S small ribosomal subunit of EF-P, which are thought to create a ‘gate’ between the P-site and E-site of the ribosome. They proposed that these interactions could help “prevent premature movement of the initiator tRNA to the E-site” or “enhance the gate [between the E- and the P-sites] and stabilize the fMet-tRNAifMet in the P-site.” (2) Likewise, this thesis is interested in the questions of whether these residues are essential for EF-P functionality in vivo, and whether they enhance EF-P’s function more than just by helping it interact with the ribosomal complex. The purpose of this project is to determine the effect of mutated EF-P residues on rates and success of ribosomal binding and interactions with the P-site tRNA. In order to address this question, we conducted site directed mutagenesis upon the Y180 and R183 residues of EF-P, and performed the following three assays: complementation assays to assess the growth phenotypes of the mutants; modification tests in which cell lysates were run on isoelectric focusing gels to determine whether the mutants were still aminoacylated with BLys; and, fMet puromycin reactivity assays to indirectly gauge the ability of the mutant EF-P to successfully bind to the ribosome. 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Matsa, Eleftheria