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Exuviae
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Changing Perceptions: Investigating Novel Associations Between Stress Mindset and Academic Motivation
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/a7dec092-b074-44c4-a98c-7304069f4f52/thumb/128.jpgContemporary stress research has found that cognitive and physical responses to stress are heavily determined by our general perception of stress as either enhancing or debilitating. Endorsement of a stress-is-enhancing stress mindset is associated with various adaptive cognitive, health, and academic outcomes, but this has not yet been extended to the literature on academic motivation. The present study tested possible associations between the degree of stress-is-enhancing mindset and (a) students’ autonomous or controlled motivation and (b) the potential costs incurred by engagement in undergraduate education. In a sample of Reed College undergraduates, I hypothesized that the endorsement of a stress-is-enhancing mindset would be positively associated with autonomous motivation and negatively associated with controlled motivation, perceived stress, and perceived cost. Additionally, I tested whether stress mindset moderated the relationship between stress and both motivational outcomes. Analyses showed that greater endorsement of a stress-is-enhancing mindset predicted lower levels of cost and stress, but not controlled or autonomous motivation, a novel finding that supports the inclusion of stress mindset in future motivational research. However, there was no significant moderation effect, implying that stress mindset did not lessen the negative effects of stress on motivational outcomes in this sample. Implications of these results for future lines of research are discussed
Something Seems Fishy: An Exploratory Study on Daphnia magna Neuroanatomy and Neural Reactions to Predation Stress
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/bbb6c2e8-ad70-4fad-9dc4-96fa2f9ef2ac/thumb/128.jpgDaphnia are a genus of freshwater microcrustaceans that are preyed upon by a variety of predator species as a primary food source. In order to avoid predation risks, several species of Daphnia have evolved the ability to sense kairomones; a class of molecules emitted by predators and detectable, especially in aqueous environments. In response to kairomone signaling, Daphnia can change their behavior or morphology, a process known as inducible defense formation. While behavioral and morphological responses to kairomone signaling are well studied, the underlying mechanisms that mediate these changes are not. There is especially little research on the D. magna nervous system which is responsible for interpreting the kairomone signal and starting the process of inducible defense formation. This thesis aims to understand how the D. magna nervous system accomplishes this goal using two methods. The first is cresyl violet staining to better understand the D. magna nervous system. The second is sequencing of DNA methylation and RNA transcripts with a specific search for neuronal genes to understand how these neuroanatomical structures mediate inducible defense formation. The analysis of differential gene expression due to kairomone exposure revealed no major differences nor did D. magna from different regions differ in their transcription profiles, however the sensitivity of the analysis was limited due to rRNA contamination. Unfortunately, this could not be compared with any DNA methylation results as yields were too low to perform sequencing. Cresyl violet staining provides useful information for understanding D. magna's neuroanatomy compared to other Daphnia species, however. The RNA sequencing results obtained suggest the response to kairomone exposure may be time or dosage sensitive in D. magna and further study is required to understand predator responses at the molecular level
A Tale of Two Quercus: storytelling of oak evolutionary genetics and local botanical history through artistic approach
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/788fb0c2-8b9c-427a-90b9-81d76fd280c7/thumb/128.jpgIn this art-biology interdisciplinary thesis project, I explored how art-making and field and lab practices can influence, complement and benefit each other. The biology side of this project focused on testing new DNA markers to differentiate two white oak species that coexist in Portland parks and natural areas, the native Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) and non-native English oak (Quercus robur), as well as trying to identify potential hybrids in the area. The existence of Q. robur and the putative hybrids has been a concern for conservation ecologists in Portland. I tested three genes identified by previous studies in oak phylogenies as candidate markers and used existing markers to genotype Quercus individuals from Portland natural areas that were expected to be Q. garryana. While none of the candidate genes I tested could serve as good markers, my genotyping result performed with existing markers on the newly sampled individuals revealed a population of unexpected Q. robur in the Baltimore Woods area in north Portland.Beside lab work, I also researched both the evolutionary journey and cultural significance of the two oak species. While Q. robur is brought to PNW from Europe by the settlers, on an evolutionary level, the common ancestor of the two species first arrived in North America and the Q. robur lineage then traveled to Europe about 20 million years ago. The bidirectionality of the evolutionary and anthropogenic journeys of the two oaks inspired me to connect my lab work to the history of the local communities in the PNW and further expand it to a planetary scale. With this in mind, I constructed a white oak handcase that holds ceramic plates with leaf prints, collected oak branches and a booklet with oak gall ink writings. This installation serves as an artificial reconstruction of the body of an oak tree and a representation of my own experience of knowledge-making in this thesis project. In constructing this art piece, I also broadly explored the topics of colonial botany, contemporary practices that bring together art and biology, and the relationship between form and material in art-making
A Bayesian Approach to Zero-Inflation Modeling
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/db6042b0-8011-4496-ad6f-39c38787e8fd/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis considers modeling situations where the data exhibits two distinctive features: the response variable is “zero-inflated”, and the data is “clustered”. I take zero-inflated to mean that values of the response are either zero or belong to a strictly positive continuous distribution, and I take clustered to mean that there is a mean- ingful grouping in the data structure that makes points within clusters similar. The thesis focuses primarily on building the models in a Bayesian frame and is just as interested in understanding the procedural aspects of doing so as it is in dissecting the results. In this way this work departs from the majority of statistical modeling literature as it seeks to highlight the ways in which a model can be valuable be- yond the results that it produces. An extensive simulation was run with the aim of understanding how the performance of these models changes as we vary the sample size, the number of total clusters, and the quality of the priors used. While we find that the Bayesian model performs very similarly to its Frequentist counterpart in terms of traditional performance metrics, we also lay out and describe the ways in which the additional conceptual work associated with building Bayesian models has the capacity to promote greater intentionality and understanding in a model building workflow. Finally, we introduce the developmental version of an R software package that aims to reduce the computational burden of executing methods like prediction and summary for these zero-inflation models
Simulated Futures
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/5f07a83d-4ef7-4ee2-9269-6c5b23add73f/thumb/128.jpgThe Image in the age of Artificial Intelligence is a site of contestation and reevaluation. As we enter into a world occupied now by machines capable of autonomous and self-generative image production, it is necessary to consider the implications such novel developments have when deployed to aesthetic ends. This thesis is an attempt towards outlining the affective characteristics and theoretical strands that constitute the AI image. Extending beyond the immediate technical aspects of the image technology, the scope of this project broadens to include discussions on topics ranging from simulation, agency, automation, reversed and layered temporalities, Heidegger's techne, and the productivity and discontents of contradictions. Equally important to this analysis is the concept of utopia in the Baudrillardian sense. The utopic theme finds itself often within the center of many contemporary artists today utilizing artificial intelligence to some extent. The conceptual lines these works are grounded upon are as revealing of the issues surrounding utopia as much as they are of the limitations of the AI image machine itself. Finally, through this thesis will be proposed a modest theory of the Post-Future Image, one characterized by the many disparate and often oppositional forces converging upon the emergence of a technoaesthetic machine capable of mobilizing temporality
More Than Words: An Examination of Different Functions of Language in Han Shaogong’s 韩少功 A Dictionary of Maqiao 马桥词典
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/6b1466b2-cadb-467f-ab23-2899e73b4c1d/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis examines the interaction between power, culture, and language in Han Shaogong’s 韩少功 novel Dictionary of Maqiao 马桥词典. The three chapters of my thesis examine different functionalities and uses of language, such as the sociopolitical function of language, the magical function of language, and transcendental language. I explore the differentiation of and interaction between the sociopolitical function of language, which corroborates societal hierarchies, and the magical function of language, which is used within specific communities, and predates scientific discourses. I argue that the deadly power of politicized language becomes clear when compared to magical language, notably in the lack of ambiguity within politicized language which leads individuals to become ensnared in a linguistic and social web. Finally, I argue that this perilous ensnarement can be escaped through purposeful use of language that lies outside the present political discourse
“I Feel Bloated:” A Historical Ethnography of Body Image in the United States
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/5d43518f-c7d7-488c-b60b-f65abbaf572f/thumb/128.jpgGiven the continued conversations online and interpersonally around diet culture and women’s experience with body image in the United States, this thesis aims to track the historical evolution of diet culture in the United States over the last century. In this thesis, I examine and historicize diet culture, body image, and body talk within three distinct time periods in the United States. I look first to the 1920s through the 1940s, then I move into the 1980s to the early 2000s, and finally, I conclude with an exploration of the 2010s and 2020s. In my first chapter, I analyze the ways in which the political events of the time period influence body image and diet culture for women. My second chapter introduces the influence of models and popular media in establishing the American female body ideal. Additionally, the chapter explores the body talk employed by women to refer to themselves and others in the form of fat talk and body shaming. Lastly, my third chapter investigates U.S. wellness culture in the late 2010s to the early 2020s. In this chapter, I look at the gut health movement and the language associated with it, as well as the role of social media influencers and celebrity “it” girls. Overall, I conclude that while each era is distinct from one another, especially our current period, diet culture and normative body ideals have not disappeared or even really changed across the last century. This is due to the underlying themes of power and control, as well as the economic benefit derived from the reinforcement of women’s bodily insecurity
Urban Foraging: Finding Value Within the Waste and Weeds
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/991531d0-a13d-4248-adbf-71c0a7e1eda9/thumb/128.jpgMy thesis broadens the definition of the term “foraging,” which historically only included the procurement of wild flora that the collector did not themselves cultivate, to include human-made materials and other behaviors more typically associated with dumpster diving and procurement methods more suited to an urban environment. Throughout the rest of the work, the term “urban foraging” will be used to refer to my more inclusive topic of analysis. I came to my conclusions through conducting 4 in-person interviews and receiving 94 responses to an online Google survey circulated through several Facebook groups related to my topic, in addition to a wide variety of media and literature analysis. Overall, my thesis analyzes individuals and groups who partake in urban foraging behaviors to better understand how and why people engage them and how partaking in these actions shapes individuals’ relationships with and perceptions of their surrounding environment and their community. I conclude that urban foraging participation is influenced by four main factors: financial necessity, community influences, the excitement of finding “treasures,” and for political and anti-waste sentiments; additionally, a deep sense of community can be both desired and fostered by various urban foraging techniques. By analyzing urban foragers, we might also develop a better understanding of how commodities transition to waste and then back into the state of a desirable item for some
A History of Japanese-American Settlement and Resettlement in Oregon
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/774c696c-11f2-4512-958b-aa7461db9fab/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis examines the history of Nikkei–Japanese expatriates and their descendants–settlement in Oregon, comparing patterns of settlement before and after the Second World War. The entry of the United States into this global conflict infamously brought about the forced relocation and mass internment of Japanese immigrants and American citizens of Japanese descent. Using data from the 1940 and 1950 census, including novel data only made publicly available in spring of 2022, I create a geographic comparison of prewar and postwar Nikkei communities. Through detailing the decisions, strategies, and pressures placed on returning evacuees, I hope to shed light on how Oregon’s Nikkei strategically exercised their own agency, even in circumstances which sought to strip away their human and citizen rights