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Uncovering the Hidden Role of GPR37 in Müller Glia-Mediated Neuronal Regeneration
No full textG protein-coupled receptor 37 (GPR37) is an orphan receptor that has been shown to maintain the stability of oligodendrocyte myelination. However, despite higher GPR37 expression in the Müller glia, the predominant glia in the retina, than in oligodendrocytes, its significance in this cell type remains poorly understood. Zebrafish Müller glia’s ability to reprogram itself to injured cell types makes zebrafish an excellent model to study retinal regeneration, though Gpr37 has not yet been studied in this organism. In the current study, we have characterized the expression of both gpr37 paralogs in zebrafish, namely gpr37a and gpr37b, in the first five days of development. We found that gpr37a is expressed in Müller glia starting from 3 days post fertilization, coinciding with the differentiation of Müller glia. We have also demonstrated that the knockdown of gpr37a impaired Müller glia’s response to injury, as shown by diminished hypertrophy of their processes and lower gfap intensity after photo damage-induced injury. Furthermore, we have examined two proposed ligands of the receptor, prosaptide and neuroprotectin D1, and found no evidence of receptor activation in the Gαi/Gαs pathway. Together, these findings highlight the importance of gpr37a in the zebrafish Müller glia during injury response and sheds light to its potential role in retinal regeneration, while providing some insight into GPR37’s orphan status
Narratives Reflecting Theory of Mind among Bilingual Lyuli Children of Uzbekistan
Get PDFThis is the first known study of the socio-cognitive development of Lyuli children, a Roma-type group living in Bukhara in Uzbekistan. The research was conducted in schools in Bukhara serving both Lyuli children and Uzbek children, both of whom are multi-lingual but whose sociolinguistic circumstances are somewhat different. There has been less cross-cultural work on later stages of Theory of Mind development, in which children have to make inferences about the mental states of characters in a complex narrative. The research here shows that the children from both groups do remarkably well on these tasks, and their multilingualism is hypothesized to be the source of their success relative to other children studied with similar narratives
Aiding Users in Requirements Analysis Tasks Through Color and Filtering
No full textGoal-oriented requirements engineering (GORE) allows stakeholders to visualize project scenarios and evaluate their changes over time, which assists them in making early trade-off decisions. However, goal models use formal notation that raises stakeholder concerns about comprehension when evaluating a model’s evolution over time or exploring other potential solutions. This thesis aims to assist users in interpreting the results of automated analysis in answering time-based questions over goal models. To do so, we validate a previous approach that uses color visualization to improve model comprehension, extend it to assist users in exploring alternate scenarios, and implement filtering to allow stakeholders to interpret models and generate their own scenarios
Supporting local agriculture and feeding people : Farmers’ Markets in Hampden County and Fresh Food for Low-Income Communities
No full textThis honors project discusses if farmers’ markets are reasonable sites to increase food access to low-income communities. This larger topic is specifically examined by asking how Massachusetts’ Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) is playing out at farmers’ markets in Hampden County, Massachusetts in 2022. Additionally, if the HIP program is to achieve its goal of increasing food access to low-income communities through farmers’ markets, markets must first be generally successful. HIP is unique to Massachusetts and affords food assistance recipients up to $80 a month to spend on locally grown produce from direct producer-to-consumer retailers, like farmers’ markets. This thesis uses onsite observations and interviews with vendors and market managers of six Hampden County farmers’ markets (Longmeadow Farmers’ Market, Farmers’ Market at Forest Park, Springfield Downtown Farmers’ Market, Center Fresh Chicopee, Holyoke Farmers’ Market, and the Westfield Farmers’ Market). Based on my findings from these interviews, I will then discuss how HIP is playing out on the ground at Hampden County farmers’ markets in 2022. l then examine to what extent these farmers’ markets are successful. Lastly, I conclude with key findings from this honors project, recommendations for the future of farmers’ markets, limitations of this study, and opportunities for future research
Public Works Programmes and Agricultural Risk: Evidence from India
Get PDFThe agricultural sectors in many low-and middle-income countries remain highly vulnerable to weather risk, a vulnerability that will only intensify under climate change. The globally trending public works programmes have the potential to impact weather-related agricultural risk. I explore the impact of India\u27s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) on weather-related agricultural risk. My empirical strategy explores the staggered roll-out of NREGA and random weather fluctuations. Using a nationwide panel of data, I find that NREGA makes crop yields more sensitive to low rainfall shocks. I posit that these results are consistent with a labour market channel, by which NREGA increases nonfarm labour supply in low rainfall years, and an income channel, by which NREGA leads to riskier agricultural practices. These results highlight the importance of understanding how social protection programmes shape agricultural risk
Computing Circuit Polynomials in the Algebraic Rigidity Matroid
Get PDFWe present an algorithm for computing circuit polynomials in the algebraic rigidity matroid A(CMn) associated to the Cayley-Menger ideal CMn for n points in 2D. It relies on combinatorial resultants, a new operation on graphs that captures properties of the Sylvester resultant of two polynomials in this ideal. We show that every rigidity circuit has a construction tree from K4 graphs based on this operation. Our algorithm performs an algebraic elimination guided by such a construction tree, and uses classical resultants, factorization and ideal membership. To highlight its effectiveness, we implemented the algorithm in Mathematica: it took less than 15 seconds on an example where a Gröbner Basis calculation took 5 days and 6 hrs. Additional speed-ups are obtained using non-K4 generators of the Cayley-Menger ideal and simple variations on our main algorithm
Dies Legibiles III
Get PDFThank you for reading the third volume of Dies Legibiles! We’ve had an exciting semester, as our core editorial team was composed entirely of students who were new to the journal. Though this came with a certain amount of trial and error, it also brought a sense of passion and drive that served us well: we received more submissions this year than ever before. Many of our submissions came from outside Smith College and the Five College Consortium—including several international submissions! We are thrilled to expand our outreach and cover a wider array of perspectives and topics