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Transcriptomics in Developing Foot-flagging Frog (Staurois parvus) Tadpoles: Optimization of RNA Extraction and cDNA Library Preparation for RNAseq
No full textPost-Polymerization Functional Patterning of Polymer Networks for the Development of Chemical Sensors
No full textThe specificity and reversibility of stimuli-responsive polymers is especially advantageous for applications in chemical sensing. Inspired by previous work, the work presented in this thesis develops pH-responsive sensors through a straightforward patterning technique of reactive polymer networks known as “direct ink writing” (DIW) and “direct ink painting” (DIP). The application of the amine onto the top surface of the hydrogel with a capillary pen (DIW) and paintbrush (DIP) results in gravitational diffusion down through the network to create a gradient in chemical functionalization. The resulting network exhibits anisotropic swelling behavior in various pH conditions. In combination with lateral patterning, this swelling further influences the shape-change behavior of the material. The technique was further improved upon by adjusting the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the network by experimenting with an alternative polymer backbone
Women’s Labor Force Participation Trends in the U.S.: An Intersectional Analysis, 1990-2019
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Meeting U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goals with the International Air Pollution Provision of the Clean Air Act
Get PDFWe explore economic, distributional and health consequences of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions objectives that could be achieved using Section 115 of the Clean Air Act (international air pollution), which has only recently received detailed legal analysis as a potential U.S. climate policy tool. Under it a national emissions target could be allocated among the states. This illustrative analysis considers 45% and 50% reductions of energy and industry-related CO2 emissions by 2030, below 2005 levels, via a model rule. Different approaches (based on legal precedent) for the interstate allocation are considered, along with alternative rates of technology improvement. The detail needed to analyze this approach is provided by MIT’s U.S. Regional Energy Policy model (30 individual states and multi-state regions), with its electricity sector replaced by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Renewable Energy Development System (ReEDS). Air quality benefits are estimated using modeling tools developed by academic researchers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Three-quarters of emissions reductions in 2030 come in the electric sector, while reductions elsewhere illustrate the efficiency advantage of a multi-sector policy. With all states participating in allowance trading, the resulting national emissions price is lower than in older assessments. The difference is due to lower growth expectations, recent state policies, falling costs of low carbon technologies, and an improved representation of electric system flexibility by the ReEDS model. Even ignoring climate and air quality benefits, economic welfare grows at near the baseline rate for all regions regardless of the interstate allocation approach. When states distribute allowance revenue to residents on an equal per-capita basis, the policy is welfare improving to the lowest income quintile in all regions. Aggregation of control costs, the mortality effects of reduced particulates, and the value of avoided climate damages yields positive national net benefits in all cases
Resisting the Image: Heidi, Sheep and \u3ci\u3eSwiss Trash\u3c/i\u3e
Get PDFThe novel Swiss Trash, written by Dunia Miralles in 2000, interrogates stereotypes around immigration and nationhood in contemporary francophone Switzerland, with the intention of turning some notions on their head and letting others fester, uncomfortably. The French-language text underscores the divisions, the startling differences present within a seemingly perfect “Heidiland.” Its English title hints at complex and often equivocal cultural denotations extant within the Helvetic Confederation. A simultaneous reading of Swiss Trash and Heidi, of familiar Swiss citizens and intrusive immigrants, offers, this article contends, revealing visions of a dismal present/future and an idealized past. Read alongside works of literature, this essay examines powerful political images conveying a foreign threat on Swiss billboards during referenda in 2010–2011 in the city of Geneva. It compares divergent visual, journalistic and literary depictions of Swiss and other-ness, interpretations that investigate the oxymoron “Swiss Trash.
Water Chemistry, Exposure Routes, and Metal Forms Determine the Bioaccumulation Dynamics of Silver (Ionic and Nanoparticulate) in \u3ci\u3eDaphnia magna\u3c/i\u3e
Get PDFTreatment wetlands utilize various physical and biological processes to reduce levels of organic contaminants, metals, bacteria, and suspended solids. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one type of contaminant that can enter treatment wetlands and impact the overall treatment efficacy. Grazing by filter-feeding zooplankton, such as Daphnia magna, is critical to treatment wetland functioning; but the effects of AgNPs on zooplankton are not fully understood, especially at environmentally relevant concentrations. We characterized the bioaccumulation kinetics of dissolved and nanoparticulate (citrate-coated) 109Ag in D. magna exposed to environmentally relevant 109Ag concentrations (i.e., 0.2–23 nmol L−1 Ag) using a stable isotope as a tracer of Ag. Both aqueous and nanoparticulate forms of 109Ag were bioavailable to D. magna after exposure. Water chemistry affected 109Ag influx from 109AgNP but not from 109AgNO3. Silver retention was greater for citrate-coated 109AgNP than dissolved 109Ag, indicating a greater potential for bioaccumulation from nanoparticulate Ag. Feeding inhibition was observed at higher dietary 109Ag concentrations, which could lead to reduced treatment wetland performance. Our results illustrate the importance of using environmentally relevant concentrations and media compositions when predicting Ag bioaccumulation and provide insight into potential effects on filter feeders critical to the function of treatment wetlands
Last Picture
No full textLast Picture is an anthology of photographs found by Jeff Ferrell while dumpster diving in the affluent western suburbs of Fort Worth. Ferrell is a consummate scavenger. He has been dumpster diving for years, an activity which gave rise to the book Empire of Scrounge (New York: NYU Press, 2005). As a scavenger, Ferrell’s primary motivation is to find things that are useful or valuable. His collection of discarded photographs is therefore something of an anomaly, and yet Ferrell keeps rescuing these photographs, intercepting them from their route to the landfill:
When you’re out there every day digging through dumpsters and trash piles, you realize that a lot gets lost — people’s lives, for instance. In fact most everything you find has in one way or another filtered out from the lives of those who once owned it, while still suggesting something of the pace and patterns by which they lived. An outgrown shirt, an old wrench, a box of tax returns, a garbage bag stuffed with toys — all are residues of decisions made, circumstances changed, opportunities taken or lost. But amidst all this ongoing detritus of daily life there’s one sort of item that especially stands out: the discarded photo. –Jeff Ferrell, Last Picture
The book includes a foreword by Gavin Morrison and Fraser Stables and an extended essay by Jeff Ferrell. The text provides the context for the images, how they exist as a type of byproduct from his dumpster diving and suggest some of the ways in which the archive can be read across anthropological, moral, and cultural frameworks.https://scholarworks.smith.edu/art_books/1001/thumbnail.jp
Korean Grammar Essentials for Fluent Speaking
No full textThis innovative Korean e-textbook series, Korean Grammar Essentials for Fluent Speaking has been upgraded/revised every semester according to students’ needs. These e-books feature variety of activities such as: video recordings for writing the Korean alphabet audio recordings of each letter of the Korean alphabet listening and pronunciation practice activities recordings of conversations with new expressions with links to Quizlet focused grammar used in the conversations short videos introducing the grammar points of each lesson grammar practice exercises speaking practice activities with practice examples
In addition to these activities, the e-books contain other useful resources such as: translations of all conversations and essays in English theme-based vocabulary lists (approx. 250-300 words) for each level homework assignments for each lesson answer keys to the grammar exercises links to Quizlet with new vocabulary and key sentences for dictation links to online resources such as a Korean dictionary a Korean alphabet video - resources on Korean culturehttps://scholarworks.smith.edu/eas_books/1001/thumbnail.jp
Daoism, Confucianism and Anti-War Poetry
No full textWe spoke to Dr. Sabina Knight of Smith for a two-part conversation on her book: Chinese Literature: A Very Short Introduction.
In part one, we discuss the historic & contemporary influence that Daoism, Confucianism & Anti-War Poetry have had on China\u27s literature & literary culture