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Effect of Hormone Concentrations on Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica) Testicular Physiology
Get PDFFor over 30 years, rapid amphibian species decline and extinction has been a global phenomenon; more than 70% of the world’s amphibian species are now declining. A major cause of amphibian decline is reproductive failure, which can be due to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and subsequent hormonal and/or sex organ abnormalities. This study aims to understand the effects of varying hormone concentrations on the testicular physiology of male wood frogs (Rana sylvatica). To do so, this research examined testicular histology slides of R. sylvatica (n = 104) males collected from suburban and rural vernal ponds in southern Connecticut. Various testicular structures were quantified as a proxy for reproductive preparedness and output. These results were then compared to the frog’s corresponding testosterone and estradiol concentrations. By understanding the fundamental relationship between reproductive physiology and reproductive success, we will gain the knowledge needed to ensure that amphibian populations can thrive despite human impacts.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1131/thumbnail.jp
Diversifying the Archival Record Through Community Archiving
Get PDFArchives have long ostracized marginalized communities, owing to their lack of representation in mainstream archiving. In turn, communities have opted to create their own archives that become the catalyst for more dialogue surrounding their histories, called community archives. This study looks at how other universities have partnered with their local communities to document richer local histories that help maintain partnerships between the two. Conversing with other community archivists helps to realize the process of making a community archive in their respective institutions, which furthers the relationships between the university and local communities and institutions. By generating important dialogues that concern their history, underrepresented communities now create their narrative through their own archives. The study also proposes a list of local organizations and communities central to the fuller understanding of the region\u27s local history that may be useful for any institution looking to create their own community archives.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1139/thumbnail.jp
Structuralism and the Left/Right-handedness Binary
Get PDFThroughout time, misconceptions have been made about both what determines and the subsequent characteristics of laterality, specifically when it comes to left handedness. This paper will be analyzing the concept of structuralism as it pertains to common assumptions about societal binaries, specifically through the lens of the left/right dichotomy. It will also be tracing back these assumptions about left-handedness or leftness as a whole, through societal and etymological means, and investigating whether this dichotomy has any connections with the masculine/feminine binary. Furthermore, this research will discuss the effects of these judgements and separations made between left and right handedness, including conversion practices, of which often have detrimental psychological effects. It argues that while as a society, deconstruction and unitary theory may never be possible, destigmatization of left-handedness may be.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1146/thumbnail.jp
Who Cares?: Exploring Empathy with Sofia Sinta
Get PDFWhy do some of us show higher levels of empathy than others? One theory involves childhood experiences: research on the relationship between an individual’s childhood trauma and their adult empathy capacities has generally found that trauma is associated with a decrease in empathy. Recently, however, some studies have suggested that childhood adversities may in fact elevate empathy later in life. Though this ongoing debate is of general interest, the complex findings are usually discussed solely among academic psychologists. A more accessible platform for gathering information on interpersonal relationships and emotions is podcasts. This podcast therefore interviews researchers in the field to sort through the evidence and explore how differences in methodologies might cause discrepancies in the results. The way individuals react and adapt to their trauma is largely influenced by genetics and psychological diagnoses, which then play a role in predicting empathetic abilities.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1149/thumbnail.jp
The Sympathetic Sublime: The Unknown and the Universal in the Poetry of William Wordsworth
Get PDFIn an 1818 letter, John Keats critiqued the “wordsworthian or egotistical sublime,” an approach that transforms every subject in a poem into an extension of the self. Even as Wordsworth studies have evolved, Keats’s charge has remained influential. Sympathy in Wordsworth’s poetry is often frustrated, especially in encounters with solitary rural figures. The result of this frustration does not proliferate the egotistical sublime, but rather generates what is referred to as the sympathetic sublime. In this sublime, the unknowable experience of the other imbues them with irreducible yet universal value. In readings of “The Old Cumberland Beggar” and “The Solitary Reaper,” among other poems, this research explores how the sympathetic sublime functions as a key tenet of Wordsworthian philosophy. This tenet is not a self-absorbed aesthetic, but a vision of human worth, where a person’s value cannot be measured by the utilitarian metrics gaining favor in an industrializing Britain.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1150/thumbnail.jp
Serving the Other: Levinasian Alterity and a Reconceptualization of Volunteer Ethics
Get PDFRecent scholarship on the ethics of volunteerism has emphasized a structural critique, highlighting the ways in which geopolitical prejudices and volunteer organizations may replicate the very stigmas and oppressions volunteers seek to alleviate. In such work, any hope for an ethically tenable volunteerism looks bleak. In an attempt to salvage it, this research contends that scholarship on volunteerism has focused too narrowly on an ‘ethics of sameness’ and ignored the capacity of alterity to foster ethical relations. Through a reading of Emmanuel Levinas’ work, this research shows how ethical volunteerism can only be realized when our experience of moral responsibility arises directly from Levinas’ face-to-face encounters. Most other stimuli to moral behavior tacitly reduce the humanity of those they aim to help. Departing somewhat from Levinas, however, this project argues that face-to-face encounters must be more fully contextualized through a recognition of the ways volunteers benefit from the conditions in which host-communities live.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1152/thumbnail.jp
Sinful Femininity: How the Villainization of Desire and Curiosity in Pandora’s Box Led to Gendered Biases in Psychology
Get PDFMythology has a strong influence on societal views surrounding certain topics, including femininity, curiosity, and desire. However, the images presented in these stories are often artificially crafted with implicit biases that allegorize subjectivities of femininity in modern science. This paper examines the relationship between science and culture and the ways that they influence each other. More specifically, it compares the original myth of Pandora’s Box and the corresponding psychological Pandora effect by analyzing written language patterns and examining their scientific implications. This research argues that the current usage of the Pandora myth furthers patriarchal traditionalism by institutionalizing gender stereotypes. It contributes to the growing field of gender studies in antiquity with a historiographical and scientific perspective while also studying the impact that gender biases have on modern views of women in science and culture.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1154/thumbnail.jp
Spooky Psychology: The Therapeutics and Ethics of Horror
Get PDFResearch suggests that horror media psychologically affects viewers in starkly different ways. Some fans use the genre to manage their anxiety: fictional stories can create safe environments in which to experience panic and dread, making it easier to develop functional coping mechanisms for use in stressful real-world situations. Other viewers, however, find horror so anxiety-inducing or even traumatic that it becomes unhelpful as a tool for emotional learning. Moreover, stereotypes in the horror genre can hurt marginalized groups more than stereotypes in other genres, as associating fear with a certain group is a powerful way of promoting bigotry. This research explores how certain people can benefit psychologically from consuming horror. It also discusses ways in which the genre can be made more inclusive. To that end, it analyzes how social commentary horror movies, such as Get Out, convey the fear and frustration that marginalized communities feel when facing bigotry, as well as movies such as The Silence of the Lambs, which villainize marginalized communities and contribute to said bigotry.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1157/thumbnail.jp
Open Repository @ Binghamton Monthly Additions and Top Downloads - August 2024
Get PDFNewly added work in the Open Repository @ Binghamton (ORB) from 8/1/2024-8/31/2024. Top downloads from same time frame
Island-wide characterization of agricultural production challenges the demographic collapse hypothesis for Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Get PDFCommunities in resource-poor areas face health, food production, sustainability, and overall survival challenges. Consequently, they are commonly featured in global debates surrounding societal collapse. Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is often used as an example of how overexploitation of limited resources resulted in a catastrophic population collapse. A vital component of this narrative is that the rapid rise and fall of pre-contact Rapanui population growth rates was driven by the construction and overexploitation of once extensive rock gardens. However, the extent of island-wide rock gardening, while key for understanding food systems and demography, must be better understood. Here, we use shortwave infrared (SWIR) satellite imagery and machine learning to generate an island-wide estimate of rock gardening and reevaluate previous population size models for Rapa Nui. We show that the extent of this agricultural infrastructure is substantially less than previously claimed and likely could not have supported the large population sizes that have been assumed