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Using Sound Change to Study Phonological Representations: The Case of American English Diphthongs
No full textThe question of diphthong phonematicity —do diphthongs consist of two monophthongs in one nucleus, or a single, dynamic vowel phoneme —is an important question when analyzing the phonemic inventory of a language with diphthongs. American English has a dearth of synchronic phenomena that could be used to test diphthong phonematicity, and phonetic studies have suffered from a lack of direct reference to phonological structures. This study takes a novel approach to diphthong phonematicity by examining the acoustic signature of American English sound changes. Specifically, it compares the vowels of speakers from the North and Midlands regions. When analyzed as biphonematic, the diphthong components of the Northern diphthongs are expected to shift in parallel with the Northern Cities Shift impacting the monophthongs. Other than a slight raising of the nucleus of /aI/, the study finds no significant shift of diphthong components parallel to the monophthongs. To rule out the possibility that this deviance could be explained as the result of contextual variation, the offglides are compared to their corresponding monophthongs. The back offglides are found to be significantly different from /U/ and each other. Similarly, the front offglides are nearly significantly different from /I/ and each other. This precludes the possibility of contextual effects and suggests a monophonemic representation of American English diphthongs. The paper concludes with a discussion of directions for future research such as further testing the results and development of a subsegmental formalism that accounts for diphthong monophonematicity
Installation View of Senior Exhibition Work
No full texthttps://lux.lawrence.edu/artgallery_se2025/1056/thumbnail.jp
Neural Oscillations Enable Concurrent Visual Perception and Visual Working Memory Processing
No full textSuccessful goal-directed behavior requires balancing task-relevant information stored in working memory and the continuous processing of incoming sensory input, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this coordination remain unclear. This study examines how neural oscillations support concurrent visual perception and visual working memory. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we recorded brain activity while participants performed a dual task paradigm requiring them to simultaneously maintain one orientation in their memory while monitoring another orientation on the screen. After variable time intervals (50 different SOAs between 500-1500ms), participants compared a probe against either the memorized or visually monitored orientation. Analysis of response times and accuracy revealed notable fluctuations. Fast Fourier transform identified increased spectral power in theta and low-alpha frequencies for both task types. Importantly, these representations fluctuated at different phase angles, indicating rhythmic alternation in attentional sampling between external and internal visual representations. Using Inverted Encoding Models (IEMs) on EEG data, we successfully reconstructed both working memory and perceptual representations during periods of concurrent task relevance. These findings demonstrate the rhythmic nature of attentional shifts between internal and external visual representations and highlight how neural oscillations help segregate visual representations from different sources
Evolutionary Conservation of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein in Clarthrin-Mediated Endocytosis
Full text linkClathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is a cellular process for internalizing extracellular materials and recycling parts of the plasma membrane into intracellular vesicles. When a threshold of membrane-bound receptors is met at the cell surface, endocytic proteins organize into a conformation that can invaginate the membrane and separate a vesicle into the cytosol. Our current model for understanding CME has been derived from studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Previous research has led to a model for how Las17, a homolog of Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome Protein (WASP), contributes to CME. WASP proteins are critical actin nucleators involved in multiple processes. In S. cerevisiae, Las17 is recruited to CME sites where it initiates rapid branched actin polymerization, and recruits type-1 myosins: Myo3 and Myo5. WASP coordination with Myo3/5 is required for endocytic invagination and abscission. We explore whether CME in other eukaryotic organisms follows the same mechanistic function as in S. cerevisiae. We assess how the S. cerevisiae model may work with a WASP homologous protein from an evolutionarily distinct relative, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Using live-cell light microscopy, we quantify the relative recruitment of WASP homologs to the cortex and employ kymograph analysis to evaluate vesicle trafficking phenotypes. Our findings bridge the application of yeast CME to more complex eukaryotic endocytosis
“Why Us, Though?” Gendered Resilience in Climate-Displaced Bangladesh narrated by Child Brides
Full text linkThis thesis explores the resilience strategies narrated by women and girls displaced by climate change and subjected to child marriage in Bangladesh. Centering their voices and lived experiences, it highlights the intricate, often invisible methods through which these women navigate the intersectional precarity of environmental displacement, gender norms, and socio-economic marginalization. Through qualitative fieldwork conducted in riverine islands (chars), urban informal settlements, and government resettlement sites, the study foregrounds community practices like adda (social storytelling), mutual caregiving, informal healthcare, bodily negotiations, and strategic silence. Challenging dominant narratives of passive victimhood, it reveals resilience as relational, iterative, and context-specific acts rooted in collective care, cultural continuity, and everyday adaptation. Drawing on feminist theory, intersectionality, and climate justice frameworks, the paper redefines resilience from the perspective of marginalized women actively responding to and surviving complex layers of vulnerability in a changing climate
