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11-Ketotestosterone and Aggressive Behavior in Julidochromis transcriptus
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/7859c4cb-694a-4b26-8b0a-8932582eae82/thumb/128.jpgMany studies looking at animal behavior have found correlations between hormones and behavior patterns, but it can be difficult to determine the direction of the relationship. Sex hormones especially are correlated with many distinct behavior patterns across animal species. Established Julidochromis transcriptus (J. transcriptus) pairs engage in stereotypical behavior patterns based on the individuals’ relative sizes, rather than the sex of each individual. The larger fish in the pair displays a higher rate of aggressive behaviors and has higher levels of 11-Ketotestosterone (11KT) than the smaller fish. These differences are specific to each pair; if pairings are manipulated such that the same fish is the larger fish in one pair and the smaller fish in the next, its rate of aggressive behaviors and its 11KT levels will change. In order to test whether 11KT drives aggressive behaviors, I set up pairs of J. transcriptus and surgically implanted the larger fish with 11KT. I found some evidence of behavior changes following surgeries, but hormone analysis showed no effect of implantation on 11KT levels. Since the hormone manipulation was not effective, I cannot address whether 11KT drives aggressive behavior
The Effects of Gender & Transness on the Self- & Peer-Directed Protective Behavioral Strategies of Emerging Adults
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/bee98618-2338-4636-a847-9fb14641f22b/thumb/128.jpgAlcohol exploits the motivation-based mechanisms of the reward system to promote dependence. Differences in alcohol metabolism and gender-based marginalization suggest that womanhood, trans experiences, and any combination of the two are risk factors for elevated alcohol-related harm. Protective behavioral strategies (PBS) are methods that minimize the potential harms of alcohol use and differ by gender. Trans and gender diverse (TGD) populations face a disproportionately high risk of alcohol-related harm but are often precluded from PBS research. By expanding on previously proposed selfand peer-directed PBS, the present study sought to understand the effects of gender and transness on how emerging adults keep themselves and their peers safe when drinking. Participants (N = 95; 57% TGD) completed the Collegiate- Simulated Intoxication Digital Elicitation with the Simulated Situations Paradigm and a series of gender match and gender similarity measures. Analysis revealed that trans men, cis women, trans women, and nonbinary people use higher rates of self-directed PBS than cis men. These findings suggest that marginalized gender identity and related gender-based discrimination are associated with greater use of harm reduction strategies. Gender match and similarity were found to have differing impacts between genders and were affected by transness. The revealed effects of gender and transness are likely influenced by gender-affirming care, a type of treatment that remains critically understudied but may impact social gender dynamics, alcohol metabolism, and reward-based brain mechanisms. This study established gender and transness as distinct and relevant variables that deserve greater attention in alcohol harm reduction research
Can I Speak to Your Manager: Discourse Analysis of the “Karen” Meme
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/010b4f93-3703-40d2-a389-bde393e398c9/thumb/128.jpgI will conduct a discourse analysis of the many uses and meanings of “Karen” in memes and on social media to explore its relationships between gender, race and class. By analyzing various memes, blogs, and media articles, I will categorize which definition of Karen is most often used in which contexts and whether the most common definition has changed over time depending on prevalent social issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests
An Investigation Into the Biological Roots of Aristotle’s Account of Courage
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/eaf0fc56-85c7-41d1-9bdf-b9db4f7ea9f4/thumb/128.jpgIn the Nicomachean Ethics (NE), Aristotle maintains that we are, by nature, able to develop the virtues, yet he leaves the inner workings of that nature largely unspoken. My thesis argues that to fully grasp Aristotle’s account of courage, and particularly the passions of fear and confidence that it regulates, one must return to his biological works, especially the History of Animals (HA), Parts of Animals (PA), and Generation of Animals (GA). These texts offer not only analogies but also explanatory structures that clarify how emotional dispositions are formed, shaped, and potentially misaligned. Where most scholars concentrate on HA and PA, I take a fresh detour, connecting GA and the NE through the shared lens of genealogy, both in structure and in substance. If a robust link can be established between the NE and Aristotle’s biological works, the relationship becomes reciprocal: not only can biology illuminate ethical puzzles, but ethics may, in turn, provide interpretive leverage for resolving tensions within Aristotle’s biology. While such mutual reinforcement is promising, the primary focus of my thesis is one-directional: using Aristotle’s biological writings to explain core puzzles in the NE’s discussion of courage
HIPPOCAMPI
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/65b328c9-da45-4413-8bcf-f3a7582cb84e/thumb/128.jp
High Dysfunction, Low Trust: Federalism, Political Trust and COVID-19 Policy in Four US States
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/4de8f664-51a8-4536-be89-141462cb984f/thumb/128.jpgGovernmental trust has consistently declined throughout the modern political era and has reached all-time recorded lows in the 2020s. Alongside these trends, there has been a similar and consistent rise in governmental dysfunction, polarization, and conflict between states as American politics has become more deeply divided. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a strong test case for how the current situation of a low-trust, high-dysfunction political system could handle a crisis as large and all-imposing as a pandemic. Through proxy measures of political trust and model frameworks of federalism and inter-governmental conflict, this thesis measures how political trust played a role in the setting of COVID-19 mitigation policies throughout in an analysis of four US states: Florida, California, Ohio, and Kansas. The qualitative case studies apply the measures to the timing and execution of orders and mandates set by state executives to the state of political trust in their own respective states and test them across three hypotheses. I found that trust played a strong role in both the strength and length of mitigation policies and that low trust is associated with a significant increase in intergovernmental conflict
The Myth of Mining as Sustainable Development: Mining Conflict in the Andes Mountains, 1992-2018
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/591962ae-0869-4706-b743-45d175a9c4ea/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis uses multiple cases of mining conflict in the Andes Mountain range from 1992-2018 to analyze the ways in which people mobilize against mining corporations and the state and how it has changed over time. As mining became larger in scale and used newer technology, mining-related conflict became less about labor and employment and more so about environmental degradation and development. I analyze the complaints made by mining communities to corporations and find that water quality and access emerges as a central demand in all the cases of mining conflict. This is due to the environmental degradation that open-pit mining inevitably causes. The social and environmental impacts of mining are deeply gendered as well, which has caused women to make themselves protagonists in mining conflict, even forming their own organizations to tackle gender-specific issues related to extractive projects. Corporations react to mining conflict through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a concept created by the international business community in the early 21st century to implement voluntary initiatives that benefit societies in ways that go above and beyond legal requirements. Neoliberal economic policy largely limited the role of the state in industry, causing a ‘neoliberal role switch’ whereby corporations are looked at by rural communities as the only providers of basic development and social services. However, CSR programming frames community demands in terms of financial compensation rather than structural change. This thesis demonstrates how CSR is misguided in its attempts to portray mining as “sustainable development.” I argue that the extreme ways in which large-scale, open-pit mining degrades local ecosystems and livelihoods makes it indefensible. CSR’s failure to address institutional issues and prevent environmental degradation has caused mining -related struggle to persist even after its implementation at mine sites
The Stripes of Optic Morphogenesis: Gene Expression Patterning in Zebrafish Development
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/8a5a3298-7e62-4616-bdef-b9948bec61ad/thumb/128.jpgRetinoic acid (RA), derived from vitamin A, plays a key role in cell differentiation and embryonic development. It functions through a mechanism where RA receptors (RAR) pair with retinoid X receptors (RXR) to form a heterodimer. This complex enters the nucleus and binds to specific DNA sequences called retinoic acid response elements (RARE), usually located in the upstream region of a gene. The presence of RAREs can be a signifier of RA regulation. A previously developed RAREdar tool was successful in finding genes previously linked to RA regulation. This thesis aims to explore different types of gene expression patterning (GEP) in zebrafish using the RAREdar motif tool. Zebrafish are an ideal model for studying eye morphogenesis due to their genetic similarity to humans, optical transparency, and external fertilization. Examining whether GEPs are conserved or altered between two cell types will offer insights into the roles these genes play in eye development, how gene expression levels change or remain the same, and whether gene function is maintained across various eye cell types. The results of this thesis suggest that RA signaling being on potentially results in a higher expression of certain genes at the same timepoint. However, many other signaling pathways occur simultaneously with RA. To determine if RA regulation is truly a driving factor behind these GEPs, further experiments would need to be done. Studies of this nature are necessary for understanding these processes and developing treatments that cultivate an increased level of tissue and cell-specific targeted treatments for ocular diseases and deformities
An Analysis of Stack Algorithms Using the Symmetric Group
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/7e65d683-1a19-40d7-aae2-f07eb6cc65df/thumb/128.jpgStack algorithms are a category of caching algorithm where, on any trace, the cache of size k+1 is always a superset of the cache of size k, allowing items to be ranked in a stack ordering. They are easy to analyze, but there are no stack algorithms known to perform well in the general caching model. This paper analyzes changes in the stack ordering via elements of the symmetric group. It also defines LRU and MRU entirely through how they permute the stack, and describes some of SCP's behavior in the same way. This paper also proves that Landlord cannot be a stack algorithm outside of the paging and bit models
Brahmagupta and Bhaskara II's solution to Pell's Equation
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/e9d5b66f-5ba9-43c7-8191-d3ff6e024d6b/thumb/128.jpgPell’s equation has long intrigued mathematicians for its deceptively simple form and deep structural properties. Given a fixed non-square positive integer , the goal is to find integer solutions that satisfy the equation. This work explores the Cakravāla method, an iterative Indian algorithm that refines partial solutions to arrive at the fundamental integer solution. We describe the role of Bhāvanā, the composition law underlying the method, and explain how it naturally produces new solutions from existing ones. Historically, Indian mathematicians relied on the kuttaka (linear indeterminate equations) at each step, yet did not formalize modern modular shortcuts---most notably the improvement later noted by André Weil. Despite this omission, we show how the Cakravāla method successfully computes solutions to Pell’s equation with surprising elegance and efficiency