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Differential Subject Marking in Kazakh
Get PDFThis paper investigates the distinction between nominative and genitive subject complement clauses in Kazakh (Turkic) to determine whether these clauses have the same syntactic structure or whether they are derived independently using different strategies. Based on novel data, the paper shows that Kazakh morphologically distinguishes anaphoric and unique definiteness (in the sense of Schwarz 2009), and that genitive marking on the subject of complement clauses is determined by anaphoricity of the subject. Therefore, nominative and genitive subjects are in complementary distribution: anaphoric subject DPs are in the genitive, while pseudo-incorporated and unique definite subjects are nominative-marked. This distinction can be accounted for by analyzing the anaphoric subject undergoing a semantically motivated movement to the edge of the complement clause, where it is assigned lexically-governed genitive. The analysis contributes to the cross-linguistic study of morphological case assignment by showing that genitive can be a lexical case, and also by demonstrating that definiteness marking can drive differential case marking
Non-binary Language Forms in Spanish: Consciously Using it Facilitates Processing during Comprehension?
Get PDFSeveral grammatical studies have focused on the study of morphological innovations used as non-binary forms in Spanish (-x; -e). However, there are no experimental studies that analyze their psycholinguistic processing or the multiple and complex relationships between production and comprehension in non- binary language. To analyze this phenomenon, we performed a sentence reading and comprehension task. We recorded reading times, response times, and accuracy. We considered morphology, stereotypicality and frequency of use of non-binary forms in the participants as predictors. The results show specialization of the non-binary forms as generic morphological variants, as opposed to the generic masculine. The non- binary forms consistently elicited a reference to mixed groups and response times showed that these morphological variants do not carry a higher processing cost than the generic masculine. Moreover, it is possible to see that the conscious use of non-binary forms influences the comprehension processes of the different variants of gender morphology: as the voluntary use of non-binary forms increases, the generic masculine seems to concentrate its reference to groups of men exclusively. Thus, in addition to showing general evidence regarding the processing costs and comprehension of gender morphology in Spanish, our data allow us to observe a potential reciprocal link between production and comprehension processes that deserves further study
A Mixed Tense System: Two Roads to the Simultaneous Reading in Modern Greek
Get PDFEmbedded tense in Modern Greek (MG) displays an unexpected “optionality”: both present and past tenses can be used under a past tense attitude verb to convey a simultaneous reading. Building on Schlenker (1999) and Sharvit (2003, 2018), we claim that MG has a mixed tense system, being able to delete the embedded past like English and shift the embedded present like Russian and Hebrew. Thus, the correlation between having either a deleted past or a shiftable present but not both is accidental. This is theoretically important because it confirms that the two parameters are independent. We also complete the characterization of MG present tense in the cross-linguistic typology of embedded tense, claiming that it behaves like Russian and unlike Japanese, since our data suggest that it does not shift in non-attitudinal environments. Thus, we conclude that two parameters are active in attitudinal environments in MG: (i) a deleted past, and (ii) a shiftable present. Are these two the only routes to the simultaneous reading? There could in principle be a third one, namely interpreting the embedded past de re, i.e., with respect to the time of the utterance. However, we argue that this would over-generate simultaneous readings for languages without a deletion rule, such as Hebrew and Russian. We propose an analysis of the data based on Prefer De Se, predicting that there are indeed two roads to the simultaneous reading in MG
Unifying Concessives and Unconditionals in Japanese
Get PDFFocus cuts across concessive conditionals and unconditionals among human languages. In English, this can be observed in the overt use of even in a concessive even if , and ever in whoever . The purpose of this study is to provide a new semantic perspective for this correlation by examining concessives and unconditionals in Japanese. In which concessives and unconditionals are both marked by the same morpheme, -temo . It would be desirable to derive the all the relevant properties they have from a unified semantic definition of -temo . I will make a proposal to achieve this goal, providing further evidence for the correlation of the two constructions. The resultant analysis will similar to the one for English by Rawlins (2013, (Un)conditionals, Natural Language Semantics), but some differences between English and Japanese will be dicussed
A Critical Role for MRGPRB4 Touch Neurons in a Skin-Brain Pathway for Stress Resilience
No full textSocial touch can act as a stress buffer, reducing behavioral and physiological responses to stressful scenarios. However, the skin-brain mechanosensory pathways that promote stress resilience remain unknown. In this thesis, I investigated how Mrgprb4-lineage touch neurons in the skin of mice play a role in this soothing skin-brain circuit. Early life ablation and activation of Mrgprb4-lineage neurons did not impact pup ultrasonic vocalizations, a measurement of postnatal stress. However, I found that mice with an early life genetic ablation of Mrgprb4-lineage touch neurons display behaviors that suggest vulnerability to stress in adulthood. Chemogenetic activation of the Mrgprb4-lineage touch neurons with whole brain activity mapping with c-Fos, uncovered distinct activity patterns in brain areas relevant to somatosensation, reward, and affect. Optogenetic activation of these neurons also promoted a conditioned place preference in female mice. Lasty, attempting to rescue deficits brought on by stress, we chemogenetically activated Mrgprb4-lineage neurons in adulthood and observed a reduction in corticosterone under mild acute stress conditions. Together, these studies reveal that Mrgprb4-lineage sensory neurons in the skin engage networks across the brain as part of a skin-brain pathway for stress resilience in mice
Dismantling the System: Unpacking Racism\u27s Impact on Inequities in Behavioral Health, Healthcare Utilization, and Access to Care
No full textIdentifying how the many elements of structural racism affect racial and ethnic health inequities remains an ongoing challenge. Although a growing body of work primarily focuses on structural racism\u27s impact on population health outcomes, this dissertation examines structural racism\u27s role in shaping inequities in behavioral health outcomes, behavioral healthcare use, and behavioral healthcare access. I argue that the complex features of structural racism work together to produce health inequities. First, I explore the relationship between self-reported racial and ethnic classification—which I conceptualize as placement in the racial hierarchy relative to whiteness—and inequities in behavioral health outcomes by analyzing a national survey of mental illness and substance misuse. Following the tenets of critical theories of race, I view each racially and ethnically classified group\u27s place in the racial hierarchy as a measure of how vulnerable they are to racism. Next, I consider how placement in the racial hierarchy shapes inequities in behavioral healthcare use by examining a national survey of tobacco and health. Finally, I build on the findings from these two lines of inquiry by using political, healthcare, and economic data sources to investigate whether the level of racial and gender equity in U.S. counties is associated with access to mental healthcare. This dissertation demonstrates that structural racism\u27s components, including inequities in healthcare treatment, the threat of harm from the criminal justice system, and histories of discrimination, can affect behavioral health outcomes. In addition, the dissertation shows that anti-Black racism, codified into health and drug policies, shapes inequities in behavioral healthcare use and geographical access to mental healthcare. Overall, this dissertation highlights that by unpacking the features of structural racism, research in this area can contribute to dismantling this system
The Effects of Platelet Signaling Inhibitors on Clot Development under Flow
No full textGPVI is the first responder towards collagen surface and therefore, the role of GPVI in facilitating primary platelet deposition is well studied and unquestionable. However, whether it plays a part in secondary platelet deposition by binding with fibrin, thus facilitating further platelet activation remains a question. Depending on the experiment method and rationale behind it, different results and conclusion could be achieved, thus it calls for a method that could better recapitulate human blood system under in vitro setting with appropriate methods to inhibit GPVI. Indirect method incorporates Syk and Src family kinases (SFK) inhibitors; these molecules interfere with signaling from GPVI, α2β1, αIIbβ3, and GPIb-IX-V to reduce thrombotic risk or induce bleeding episodes. Collagen-mediated clustering of platelet GPVI results in phosphorylation of SFKs such as Lyn and Fyn, and active Lyn is constitutively bound to GPVI to allow rapid signaling. During clotting under flow, the generation of fibrin can have diverse influences on platelet signaling by sequestering thrombin and potentially activating GPVI signaling within the clot interior. These inhibitors tackle the thrombus formation at earlier stages since the platelets reach the activation surface. Direct inhibition of GPVI, which involves using an artificial anti-GPVI fragment, was used to avoid undesirable inhibition and compare the difference between inhibition of subsequent pathways. Using microfluidics, the effects of these inhibitors can be explored under defined hemodynamic flows and procoagulant surface triggers. Additionally, the drug may be present in the blood at desired time of clotting by perfusion switching to drug-treated blood. This experimental design allows exploration of platelet response at different stages of clotting through the measurement of drug potency to modulate clotting on different procoagulant surface conditions, interactions between various coagulation factors in plasma, and the kinetics of several competitive reactions to facilitate platelet recruitment, granule release and fibrin formation
L2 Decay of Certain Bilinear Oscillatory Integral Operators
No full textIn this thesis, we study bilinear oscillatory integral operators of the form Iλ(f1, f2) = ∫M eiλ Φ(x) f1(x1) f2(x2) a(x) dσ(x) where x1:= (x1, ..., xd), x2:= (xd+1, ..., x2d), and ρ, Φ, a are smooth functions on an open box B1 with a compactly supported, ∂i ρ nonvanishing on B1 for each i, and M := { x ∈ B1 : ρ(x) = 0}. Under an additional determinant condition that has similarities to both a mixed Hessian condition on Φ and a Phong-Stein rotational curvature condition on ρ, we prove that this operator has optimal L2 decay, namely that :Iλ(f1, f2): ≤ C:λ:–(d–1)/2 ::f1::L2(Rd)::f2::L2(Rd) The proof uses a frequency space decomposition which is a higher-dimensional analogue of one developed in earlier work with Gressman, and applies this to the functions f1 and f2 to generate a kernel which captures the oscillatory behavior of the phase and can be analyzed using stationary phase arguments, among others. The constant C in the bound depends continuously on parameters based on a, Φ, ρ, the dimension d, and the size of the support of the integrand, and so the result is stable under small perturbations of these objects. We then study two specific bilinear operators which have polynomial phase, and show how the results of the main theorem can be leveraged to prove decay even when the determinant condition in the hypothesis does not hold. We also use these examples to show that the decay of the operator is affected by the precise way in which the determinant condition fails
Mechanized Reasoning about How Using Functional Programs and Embeddings
No full textEmbedding describes the process of encoding a program\u27s syntax and/or semantics in another language—typically a theorem prover in the context of mechanized reasoning. Among different embedding styles, deep embeddings are generally preferred as they enable the most faithful modeling of the original language. However, deep embeddings are also the most complex, and working with them requires additional effort. In light of that, this dissertation aims to draw more attention to alternative styles, namely shallow and mixed embeddings, by studying their use in mechanized reasoning about programs\u27 properties that are related to how . More specifically, I present a simple shallow embedding for reasoning about computation costs of lazy programs, and a class of mixed embeddings that are useful for reasoning about properties of general computation patterns in effectful programs. I show the usefulness of these embedding styles with examples based on real-world applications
Control of Thermogenesis by Nuclear Receptor Corepressors and Rev-Erbs in Brown Adipose Tissue
No full textBrown adipose tissue (BAT) is a key thermogenic organ, whose expression of Uncoupling Protein 1 (UCP1) and ability to maintain body temperature in response to acute cold exposure requires histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3). HDAC3 exists in tight association with nuclear receptor corepressors NCoR1 and NCoR2 (also known as Silencing Mediator of Retinoid and Thyroid Receptors, or SMRT), but the functions of NCoR1/2 in BAT have not been established. This corepressor complex of HDAC3 and NCoR1/2 can interact with a variety of nuclear receptors, including REV-ERBa/b which are related nuclear receptors (NRs) that couple the molecular clock with metabolism. Here we report that, as expected, genetic loss of NCoR1/2 in BAT (NCoR1/2 BAT-dKO) leads to loss of HDAC3 activity. In addition, HDAC3 is no longer bound at its physiological genomic sites in the absence of NCoR1/2, leading to a shared deregulation of BAT lipid metabolism between the NCoR1/2 BAT-dKO and HDAC3 BAT KO mice. Despite these commonalities, however, loss of NCoR1/2 in BAT does not phenocopy the cold sensitivity observed in the HDAC3 BAT-KO, nor does loss of either corepressor alone. Instead, BAT lacking NCoR1/2 is inflamed, particularly with respect to the IL-17 axis that increases thermogenic capacity by enhancing innervation. Integration of BAT RNA-seq and ChIP-seq data revealed that NCoR1/2 directly regulate Mmp9, which integrates extracellular matrix remodeling and inflammation. We also find that REV-ERBα/β do not tissue-autonomously control acute and circadian BAT thermogenesis. However, BAT REV-ERBα/β do regulate lipogenesis via Srebp1c in conditions of chronic cold. These findings reveal pleiotropic functions of the NCoR/HDAC3 corepressor complex in BAT, and one of their associated nuclear receptor partners, REV-ERBα/β. In sum, HDAC3-independent suppression of BAT inflammation counterbalances NCoR1/2 stimulation of HDAC3 activity in the control of thermogenesis, while REV-ERBα/β only control thermogenesis in BAT via fuel availability