IDA Mount Holyoke College Institutional Digital Archive
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Role of the Hippocampus in Adaptation to Reward Loss: Emotionality or Cognitive Flexibility?
No full textFrustration is defined as an aversive emotional state triggered by reward loss. Despite compelling evidence associating reward loss with the etiology of anxiety and depression, neural correlates underlying adaptation to reward loss remain unidentified. Previous experiments conducted in our lab have demonstrated that hippocampal lesions impair the ability of rats to adjust to reward loss. However, it is unclear whether the impairment was due to a lack of emotionality (i.e. lesioned rats not feeling frustrated after reward loss) or a lack of cognitive flexibility (i.e. lesioned rats unable to modify previously learned responses). In order to investigate these questions, we exposed rats (with active and inactive hippocampi) to a reward-loss paradigm alongside a conditioned place preference (CPP) task designed to assess emotional responses. We found that while hippocampal-inactivated rats did not adapt their response to reward downshifts, they showed signs of negative emotion in the CPP task. This suggests that animals with a dysfunctional hippocampus do not lack emotionality but rather experience cognitive inflexibility. This research could contribute to revealing the function of neural circuits of reward loss, a critical step in developing treatments for anxiety, depression, and stress-related disorders.Neuroscience and Behavio
Geology Underfoot - An Investigation of Jurassic Lacustrine Stratigraphy in the Lower Half of the Portland Formation on the Campus of Mount Holyoke College
No full textDuring the summer of 2020, Mount Holyoke College commissioned a geothermal company to drill a 6-inch diameter, 800-foot-deep borehole on campus grounds to measure the geothermal potential of the underlying geology. Professor Al Werner took advantage of this opportunity and collected cuttings during the well drilling operation. These samples were collected every 5 ft and document the detailed stratigraphy of the lower half of Portland formation, a Mesozoic lacustrine shale deposit of the Hartford basin. Geophysical data and imaging provide cm-scale stratigraphic changes and drill cuttings provide samples of the various units. These rocks record environmental conditions during the Early Jurassic. The record is made up of shales and siltstones that alternate in color (red, gray, and dark gray), suggesting changing environmental conditions. This has been confirmed by the existing literature of the Northeast American rift basins. By gathering physical and chemical proxies and finding significant relationships between them and Milankovitch cycles, this study supports previous interpretations that orbital changes explain the borehole stratigraphy. Using these proxies, I describe the changing, lacustrine paleoenvironment of the South Hadley area during the early Jurassic period.Geolog
Trapped Between Structure and Culture: Exploring the Tensions in Domestic Violence Advocacy
No full textDomestic violence victimization scholarship is critical for progressing domestic violence
intervention efforts but has largely focused on psychology-based frameworks of examining victims’ help-seeking behaviors. Meanwhile, little attention has been given to intervention service providers’ experiences working with victims at the community level. The omission of service providers’ experiences and perspectives leaves a gap in the understanding of victims’ help-seeking processes and the barriers they face in accessing intervention services. Gaining a deeper understanding of the tensions and dynamics within intervention spaces and how they shape victims’ help-seeking trajectories and outcomes is essential in expanding and progressing support for community-based intervention efforts.
I begin bridging this gap by exploring two socio-cultural processes. First, through a review of the existing literature, I evaluate the dominant socio-cultural norms surrounding violent forms of victimization that cultivate a process of stigmatization. Second, through in-depth qualitative interviews with victims’ advocates and my observations as an advocate, I analyze the tensions within the field of intervention. In exploring the micro-dynamics between service providers and their clients, I illustrate how victims’ help-seeking processes are shaped by institutional practices and definitions that reflect and run parallel to the process of stigmatization. Further, I bring to light the underlying complexities of defining domestic violence within intervention spaces, representing victimhood in institutionally perceived legitimate ways, and measuring successful recovery trajectories and outcomes in instances of domestic violence. This thesis contributes to broader scholarship on the topic by examining victims’ help-seeking processes from an institutional perspective and suggests a new framework for advocates to understand their role within victims’ help-seeking processes and the field of intervention.Sociology & Anthropolog
in deep waters
No full textThis submission includes the 30 minutes short documentary film and the theoretical component that comes with it. If you are interested in the process of filmmaking, I have two documentary journals (two notebooks that capture the filmmaking process which include: footage selection notes, interview scheduling, roadblocks and troubleshooting, things I learned, theoretical ideas that fit the project, etc.) Please contact me at [email protected] if you want to access the documentary journals, and/or you would like to talk about the project.This project came to mind at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, in March of 2020, showing how the pandemic affected academia and how it impacted people's lives. The Covid-19 pandemic has been a crucial moment in history, and the title focuses on capturing the emotion behind a time that will forever change the way we look at the world. The film, portrayed through my eyes and structured in an experimental documentary format, captures this unique moment in time, and marks its existence in history. This project’s goals were to focus on emotions that highlight the emptiness, loneliness, and raw reality of the world we live in, along with people’s personal experiences during interviews. The project also highlights that we were (and still are) in a pandemic together, yet we all experiencing it differently.
In addition, this project is a tribute to my late mentor R. Wayne Gray. He constantly encouraged me during the pre-production stage that this project and capturing this moment in history was important.Film Studie
Through the Looking Glass: the Development of the Subjunctive Mood in Romance
No full textThis thesis investigates existing research on the linguistic evolution of Latin, Spanish, and French in order to form an in-depth, multilingual analysis of the development of the subjunctive mood in Romance over time. The diachronic nature of the conclusions of this research are supported by synchronic examinations of individual languages. Six distinct subjunctive systems are studied within the thesis: Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin, Old Spanish, Modern Spanish, Old French, and Modern French. Each subjunctive system is evaluated through the dual lenses of morphology and pragmatics. That is, within every language, changes in both grammatical mood formation as well as semantic use of the subjunctive are evaluated. Elements of stability and variability are identified in each language, and observations made during this investigation are connected to established theories of general language change. Finally, predictions for the future of the subjunctive mood in Romance are made using evidence from the research. Overall, this thesis finds that while superficial changes in the subjunctive moods of Latin, Spanish, and French abound, the core significance and usage of the subjunctive remains relatively unchanged.Romance Languages & Culture
Structural and Vibrational Investigation of Römerite Under Icy Satellite and Martian Temperature Conditions
No full textIn the ongoing study of planetary and satellite compositions, spectral data collected from planetary surfaces are often compared to laboratory spectra of minerals collected under Earth’s atmospheric conditions. However, temperature can have a significant effect on the underlying physical phenomena that give rise to the spectral features of a mineral. Here, the mixed valence hydrous sulfate römerite, Fe^{2+}Fe^{3+}(SO4) · 14H2O is used to study these effects. In their investigations of Jupiter’s icy satellites, researchers have proposed hydrous sulfates may be a principal constituent of their surfaces, and on Mars, hydrous sulfates have been identified. Thus, these discoveries necessitate a thorough analysis of hydrous sulfates under temperature conditions relevant to these planetary bodies.
Here, single crystal X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Mössbauer spectroscopy are used to characterize römerite under low-temperature conditions relevant to icy satellites and Mars. Single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements were taken at temperatures ranging from 100-300K, including a reverse temperature series. The evolution of römerite’s unit cell parameters, atomic positions, and bond properties with temperature was observed. Low-temperature Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy measurements were performed ranging from 20-300K. These results are compared with other hydrous sulfate phases. Complementary to infrared spectroscopy data, Raman spectroscopy data were collected over a temperature range from 153-296K. Approximate band assignments for infrared and Raman spectra are made, and changes in band width, position, and intensity with temperature are discussed. We observe a strong relationship between temperature and the distortion of water in the structure of römerite, which is evaluated through changes in band width and peak position with temperature. Mössbauer measurements were collected from 4-295K and are still under review, but room temperature Mössbauer measurements of römerite are included in this study. Strong displays of temperature dependence in spectra and data from multiple methods confirms that when performing laboratory comparisons of hydrous sulfates to planetary spectra, temperature-relevant laboratory data should be used to optimize accuracy. The distortion of water molecules in the römerite structure also highlights the importance of studying all hydrous minerals at temperature conditions relevant to planetary bodies of interest.Physic
Will We Ever Belong? Transnational Adoptees Lived Experiences
No full textTransnational adoption, also known as intercountry adoption or international adoption, is when a person/two people become legal guardians of a child who was born in a country that is different from their own. Transnational adoption currently makes up approximately 40% of all adoptions in the United States. Due to the model minority myth, Asians are deemed as more assimilable, more intelligent, and more hardworking than any other racial minority group, and therefore adopting Asian children is more favorable for White parents. Transnational adoptees go through many experiences throughout their life that lead them to become culturally isolated from both their birth culture and the culture they were raised in, they do not always feel like they belong socially with their community, friends, and sometimes even their family, and they are exposed to racism very early on because usually transnational adoptees are raised in communities that are primarily white.
The purpose of this study was to see if exposure to racism, feelings of social belongingness, and being culturally isolated will significantly predict Asian transnational adoptees’ mental health through regression analysis. This study also qualitatively looked at adoptees’ lived experiences to see if there were common themes between adoptees’ experiences that can provide greater context for the quantitative relationships identified across exposure to racism, feelings of social belongingness, and being culturally isolated on mental health.Psychology & Educatio
Aspiring to the Commons: Enclosure, Space, Schools, and Prisons in Central Virginia
No full textThe rate by which students are referred to law enforcement in the Commonwealth of
Virginia suggests, according to state policy advocates and makers, that Virginia has one of the
largest school-to-prison pipelines in the country. Yet, the school-to-prison pipeline, while useful
as a visual metaphor, is a limited model from which to base solutions to educational injustice and
inequity, particularly with regard to how Black students and students of color are enfolded into
carceral logics while at school. In this project, I instead consider the educational enclosure model
proposed by Damien Sojoyner in First Strike: Educational Enclosure in Black Los Angeles. The
enclosure model resituates public education systems in a more complex landscape of social
mechanisms that racialize, ethnicize, gender, and class both individuals and communities in order
to extract and contain the values of human capital. In this context, it is possible to trace how
schools operate in conjunction with prisons in order to extract and contain the value
of student populations of color.
I particularly emphasize the spatial nature of enclosure throughout this project, informed
by Alvaro Sevilla-Buitrago’s essay Capitalist Formations of Enclosure: Space and the Extinction
of the Commons: Capitalist Formations of Enclosure. In so doing, I not only recognize the
origins of the term “enclosure” as a series of legal movements to dispossess communal land in
15-19th century Western Europe, but also to maintain the specificity of the enclosure model.
Thus, each chapter investigates an essential element of the “spatial rationality of enclosure” as
outlined by Sevilla-Buitrago: the subsumption, orchestration, and domination of educational
space. I ground this work in three corresponding case studies, each located in a Central Virginian
county and the public school system that accompanies it.
Informed by each case study, I argue that the enclosure model provides a more complex
frame through which to understand the relationship between schools and prisons, which in turn
offers more opportunities to seek liberatory solutions. I conclude by turning my attention to the
students who inhabit educational enclosures, whose efforts to communicate, organize, and build
solidarity in unconventional and imperfect spaces should inform how stakeholders pursue those
solutions and envision the future of public education.Critical Social Though
Antifa: A Movement Towards Liberation
No full textThe antifa movement is often defined by its opposition to fascists and fascistic groups or individuals. Countering fascism is indeed the main mission of the antifa movement, with notable examples to be found in its opposition to white supremacist groups at the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville and activity to identify and counter-protest various right-wing groups amidst the 2020 American presidential election. The antifa movement, however, is also fighting for something: a liberatory future free of oppression that is the antithesis of the future desired by fascists. Academic study of this vision in the antifa movement has thus far been neglected, thus ignoring an important part of its ideology and work that does not involve direct confrontation with fascists. This paper seeks to establish an understanding of the antifa movement as not just reactive but proactive through an analysis of the growth and role of its liberatory vision as a driving force. Following an introduction on the antifa movement and a review of the literature on antifa (and broader antifascism) so far, it examines the development of antifa’s liberatory vision throughout the history of the movement, its role in current antifa activism, projects, and culture, and how the antifa movement seeks to build the liberatory future it envisions. The antifa movement’s liberatory vision is found to be a product of both its anarchist roots and the growing diversity and intersectionality of the movement that developed out of a growing recognition of the threat fascism posed to different groups as well as the emergence of other social movements that provided inspiration. A growing sense of fascism’s threat has been accompanied by opposition beyond strictly fascist groups to those with fascistic ideologies and those that support ideas or activities that can cultivate a fascistic culture. At the same time, a culture based on liberatory goals and values has formed that is embodied in work around community protection and mutual aid. Ultimately, culture is shown to be the key to building a liberatory future through the embodiment of liberatory values in antifa spaces, cultural work and education that reaches out to communities, and the promotion of popular antifascism. The goal is to create a society that rejects fascism and which all people are liberated from the oppression and violence promoted by it.Sociology & Anthropolog
Investigation of Experimental and Computational Approaches to Optimize the Bacterial Three-Hybrid Assay
No full textPost-transcriptional gene regulation by non-coding small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) plays an important role in bacterial stress responses and virulence. In many bacteria, the binding of sRNAs to their target mRNAs at or near the ribosome binding sites is often facilitated by protein chaperones such as Hfq or ProQ. In order to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of RNA-protein interactions, an in vivo genetic approach, the bacterial three-hybrid (B3H) assay, was developed to detect the binding of RNA with multiple RNA chaperones by connecting the strength of an RNA-protein interaction to the expression of a reporter gene. Despite the promise of the B3H system and its success in detecting many high-affinity interactions, low signal-to-noise for other RNA-protein interactions currently limits the broader utility of the assay. My study aims to optimize the hybrid RNA component of the assay to improve the breadth of detectable B3H interactions. To this end, I have focused on designing new hybrid RNA constructs with the addition of a GC-clamp - a short insert of guanines (G) and cytosines (C) flanking a region of interest - to promote proper folding and optimal display of RNA. My results demonstrate the potential of the short GC-clamp in improving the B3H detection of a broader range of sRNA-Hfq interactions. I have also explored the contributions of different components of the hybrid mRNA construct, including a stop codon, a short GC clamp and a trpA terminator, to mRNA expression level with the hope to understand how mRNA degradation might hinder the B3H detection of mRNA-Hfq interactions. To prioritize future experimental optimization, it is also imperative to understand this genetic toolbox from a systematic perspective. Using COPASI, a software package specializing in setting up and analyzing kinetic models, I have created a mathematical model of the B3H system and used the information from model simulations to predict the signal for RNA-protein interactions and guide further optimizing strategies. The work I present here represents significant progress towards increasing the sensitivity and generalizability of the B3H assay to study bacterial RNA-protein interactions which are implicated in many important processes in bacteria such as adaptation to stress, biofilm formation, virulence, and antibiotic resistance.BiochemistryChemistr