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OPC-Ya Later! Investigating the Role of Precursor Cells in Response to Neurodegenerative Injury
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/b6067dfe-cdf3-4971-90b2-cd2aaa65932d/thumb/128.jpgOligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), a type of glial cell, have recently been shown to respond to injury and participate in development of the vertebrate central nervous system. What is unknown however, is the complete repertoire of OPC responses to degenerative insults in the brain. This thesis investigates the role of OPCs in response to injury to the zebrafish optic tectum (OT), a midbrain structure responsible for visual information processing. The optic nerve terminates in the OT, with the bundled axons defasciculating, or separating, and making connections with spatially distinct neurons and glia. By inducing injury to the entire optic nerve by removing an eye or by inducing local damage within the optic nerve termini, we can examine the response of OPCs to both chronic and acute damage in a controlled environment. Time-resolved and fixed images of OPCs following eye-removal or laser ablation of a small region of the OT, revealed dynamic changes in their morphology and location but no significant change in number. These findings suggest that OPCs may respond to injury in the OT by initiating or furthering signaling cascades to recruit other cells to sites of damage for repair and disposal of cellular debris. It is also possible that these OPCs themselves may engulf cellular debris during neuronal degeneration
At the Threshold of Consciousness: Investigating the Patterns of Neuronal Activity Events in an EEG No-Report Paradigm
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/ae2dc889-8228-4013-a51e-ea861ab75286/thumb/128.jpgA promising area in the ongoing effort to understand human consciousness is the pursuit of Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCCs)—the underlying signals and mechanisms which actually give rise to the conscious experience. Recently, Cohen et al. (2024) studied EEG-recorded signal responses to visual stimuli of varying visibility, measuring how neural mechanisms behave above, below and at the very threshold of what is consciously perceptible. The study also used a no-report/report paradigm, in which EEG recordings were taken without the subject needing to actively report their perception of a stimulus. By utilizing a means to compare the signal amplitudes of unreported perception with a non-linear function of visibility, several signals could be investigated for their role in pure conscious perception indepedent of attention and sensory processing. This thesis followed up Cohen et al. (2024), simplifying the paradigm further by exchanging masked facial stimuli for simple pattern gratings of varying contrast against visual noise. EEG recordings from 10 pilots and 30 final experimental subjects were collected, alongside separately collected behavioral measures to determine the visibility of each stimulus contrast level. One signal of interest from the previous study which closely matched the pattern of visual awareness was a fronto-central negativity (fcN2) from ~250-300ms. In this thesis, despite being the first study to attempt to directly isolate it, the signal did not appear; extensive literature review of the conditions which evoke this signal indicate a complex relationship to attentional perception and possible avenues for further isolation. Also of interest was the earlier Visual Attention Negativity (VAN), a signal with a promising but disputed status as a marker of consciousness. Its patterns in this study tie it more closely than ever to perceptual awareness, but with unique characteristics that potentially inform the nature of the no-report condition itself. Throughout the study, a late signal system consisting of a frontal negativity and bilateral posterior positivity were also discovered and investigated. Their amplitude patterns revealed intriguing spatial and contrast patterns which could be theoretically significant
A Redneck's Guide to the Affordable Care Act & Small Town America
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/203fa2a1-9b85-4ccf-bfc3-31451b0ecbf9/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis explores the rural-specific social, economic, and health coverage-related impacts of federal and state-level policy decisions surrounding Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act, as well as the mechanisms driving those patterns. The first section examines the existing research on Medicaid and Medicare, giving a short history of the policies over time. This thesis gathers evidence that not only are rural areas disproportionately affected by a lack of insurance relative to the rest of the U.S., but the economic and social impacts of policy responses to this issue are deeply impactful to rural economies. The second part of this thesis utilizes Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey data on health and sociodemographic characteristics to isolate the effects of state policy. I use this data to create two event-study models, one analyzing the overall effect of Medicaid expansion and the other the differential effect on rural areas. Consistent with previous research, the results find that the relationships between insurance rates and factors such as rurality, region of the US, demographic characteristics, and federal policy are statistically significant. This thesis suggests that policymakers hoping to make appropriate changes to federal health insurance policy should consider the unique needs, characteristics, and patterns present in the rural United States
The Effects of Estradiol on Xenopus laevis Vocal Behavior
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/562681c3-94b2-4883-a6fd-e641ef37aeaa/thumb/128.jpgEstrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds are present at physiologically relevant levels in global surface waters. These compounds can have a significant effect on the development of exposed wildlife and humans and are associated with the rapid decline of amphibian populations around the world. The African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) is a model organism for the investigation of the effect of estrogenic compounds on sexual behavior, due to their well-studied and clearly-defined vocal system. Male X. laevis produce advertisement calls, consisting of slow and fast trills, to attract a mate. In this thesis, I exposed male X. laevis to aqueous estradiol (E2) at 10−8 M to determine its effect on their behavior in the presence of a female. There was no significant effect of E2 on the total number of calls or the total duration of time spent calling. Trends suggest, however, that the total number of calls produced was increased after E2 treatment, or at the very least, certain frogs were affected by treatment whereas other frogs were not. There was also no effect of E2 on the individual call types (advertisement, slow trill, fast trill), however, the above trends apply. This study requires further research to gain a full understanding of the effects that E2 may have on male X. laevis calling behavior. Gaining a better understanding of the physiological responses that aquatic animals have to estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals is necessary to help researchers and conservationists mitigate the harmful effects of exposure
The Art of Organizing Collaborative and Reciprocal Community Partnerships - Entry Activation at Ground Score Association
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/5024250b-ba09-4774-8fc5-ff789368a06f/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis documents a collaborative project with Ground Score Association (GSA), a Portland-based waste pickers cooperative, aimed at reimagining their entry space and laying the groundwork for an institutional bridge with Reed College. Combining design and sociological research, the project had two main components: (1) designing and building custom furniture to transform GSA’s physical space into a welcoming hub for community engagement, and (2) applying Social Network Analysis (SNA) to map GSA’s partnerships and evaluate their impact on organizational capacity. The work underscores the often-overlooked contributions of waste pickers to climate resilience and a subset circular economy. GSA as both a waste management organization and a vital node within Portland’s mutual aid ecosystem. Challenges around equitable collaboration were met through reflexive, non-extractive practices grounded in listening, responsiveness, and shared decision-making. By transparently sharing outcomes—including communication processes, in-person events, and the construction of the furniture itself—this thesis encourages long-term institutional support to help scale grassroots initiatives and offers a model for reciprocal community partnerships and art for social change
A Restitution of Dignity: The Road to Repatriation through Comparative Perspectives of the Benin Bronzes and the Parthenon Marbles
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/8964f1e5-149d-464d-8864-bf80140346d5/thumb/128.jpgIn a letter dated from September of 1801, an employee of British Diplomat Lord Elgin asked him to describe his progress in removing some of the sculptures from the Acropolis (later to be known as the Elgin Marbles). Elgin did not mince his words in describing the roughness of his work, and in response, asked his employee for twelve saws to be provided to him so that he could strip the sculptures from the temple. In a later letter, he announced that he had successfully removed one of the plaques, writing, “The piece has caused much trouble in many ways…and I was forced to be a little barbaric.” More than 200 years later, many in and outside of Greece see parallels between Elgin’s “barbaric” methods of removal and the British government's handling of the controversy over the Parthenon Marbles so many years later. While debates surrounding the repatriation of cultural artifacts have been going on for years, recent times have seen a rise in global calls for the return of artifacts. As a result, those in various disciplines and academic circles have begun trying to understand in what cases should artifacts be repatriated, and what policies and guidelines can be put in place for that to happen successfully. The British Museum has been a focal point in these debates, as many considering it to be most expansive repository of artifacts, yet great deal of these were obtained through colonial exploits (Hicks 2020, 3). The Benin Bronzes and the Parthenon Marbles are two high-profile cases involving the British Museum. Repatriation requests from both countries have led to prolonged disputes still ongoing to this day. Although the circumstances surrounding each group of artifacts are very different due to geographical, historical, and cultural factors, they raise similarly complex issues of legal ownership, cultural identity, and historical justice. My research on this topic aims to understand the strategies employed by groups that have been able to recover their artifacts, the role played by cultural norms and identities in advocating for their antiquities, and the impact of the dynamics of international negotiations on the issue. My main research question asks: How do institutions leverage cultural capital to achieve their cultural preservation policy goals with respect to stolen artifacts, and under what conditions do they succeed? I will examine this question through a comparative case study of the Parthenon Marbles and the Benin Bronzes, as such a contrast will give a full understanding of the broader discourse on cultural heritage, colonialism, ownership, and international law. This approach will show the conditions under which such repatriation strategies may succeed or fail, and it can help to inform policy decisions aimed at protecting cultural artifacts in the future, the main goal being to bring these strategies into conversation with each other as a means to present opportunities for future success. Further, my research findings will add to a greater discourse on future progress toward the return of other cultural artifacts awaiting repatriation. Note to readers: The data and information presented in this paper have been most recently updated as of April 2025. This issue is incredibly relevant in social and political spheres worldwide, and new articles and pieces of scholarship are being published daily on these topics. I expect further movement on this matter to occur in the coming months and years following the publication of this paper
Grief Brought to Numbers: The Phenomenology of Grief in Contemporary Lyric Poetry
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/55ec8739-c89f-425a-8b48-eb2b4fdea2bf/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis focuses on the ability of lyric poetry to communicate grief to its reader. The scope includes contemporary (1945 onwards) English poems from America, the UK, and Ireland, which feature grief as a central theme. Using a phenomenological lens, this thesis explores the ways that lyric can either narrow or emphasize the phenomenological gap between the speaker and reader’s subjective perspectives. The body of this project, composed of two main sections, contrasts the ways in which grief is communicated inside and outside of a larger social structure of interpersonal support and meaning-making. The second section, in particular, takes interest in the ways that lyric poetry can play with speaker/addressee or speaker/reader relationships towards potentially intersubjective ends. As cultural mourning practices become more repressed by mainstream discourses in the identified Anglophone poetic traditions, the questions of how reader empathy and resonance operate become more pressing, potentially necessitating a different set of poetic devices which Jahan Ramazani identifies with a kind of “melancholic” mourning
Hilbert-Kunz Functions of Powers of Diagonal Hypersurfaces
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/b970ecea-4c7f-4f7f-af27-4b64b328e342/thumb/128.jpgWe study the Hilbert-Kunz function of diagonal hypersurfaces, focusing on the setting of polynomial rings with characteristic 2. After introducing preliminary content and the algebraic and geometric background, we define Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity and Hilbert-Kunz function, and present relevant results. We prove a conjecture from Carlip [Car24], then propose a more general conjecture, and discuss its consequences regarding the Hilbert-Kunz function of powers of diagonal hypersurfaces
One Inch Behind the Eyes
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/9b13eb1a-04fd-4f4a-bd24-0678ca1acb80/thumb/128.jpgA collection of short stories about disconnect in the body and mind
A new Drosophila activity monitor : image-based video tracking of D. melanogaster allows for circadian rhythm and social behavior characterization
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/140b5014-8f63-408e-a611-dfc14d30bb2d/thumb/128.jpgThe circadian rhythm of Drosophila melanogaster has been historically examined by the Drosophila activity monitor system (DAM). This system, however, is not perfect and does not consider the impacts of housing flies in social isolation on the circadian rhythm. An image analysis-based system was developed, that allows for ten flies to be housed together, and their activity to be measured. The circadian rhythm pattern of activity that was extracted from the images matches literature partially, with a peak in activity occurring at dusk and dawn. This system also allows for the simultaneous ability to quantify social behaviors, and it was discovered that the containment arenas effected the flies spatial distribution over the course of the 24-hour experiment. It is unclear whether this effect also played a role in the activity patterns observed. By analyzing activity at different light levels, we can conclude that light and dark activity levels match partially previous literature, but not during constant light (lacking a siesta period). Our results also suggest that the lighting used was far too harsh and effectively stressed the flies out in both transition periods