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The combinatorial effects of temperature and salinity on the nervous system of the American lobster, \u3ci\u3eHomarus americanus\u3c/i\u3e
Full text linkThe ability of nervous systems to maintain function when exposed to global perturbations in temperature and salinity is a non-trivial task. The nervous system of the American lobster (H. americanus), a marine osmoconformer and poikilotherm, must be robust to these stressors, as they frequently experience fluctuations in both. I characterized the effects of temperature on the output of the pyloric circuit, a central pattern generator in the stomatogastric nervous system (STNS) that controls food filtration and established the maximum temperature that neurons in this circuit can withstand without “crashing” (ceasing to function but recovering when returned to normal conditions). I established a range of saline concentrations that did not cause the system to crash, and then determined whether combinatorial changes in temperature and salinity concentrations alter the maximum temperature the system tolerated. Even as burst frequency increased as temperature increased, phase constancy was observed. Interestingly, the system crashed at higher temperatures upon exposure to lower saline concentrations and lower temperatures in higher saline concentrations. I also established the range of saline concentrations that the lobster’s whole heart and cardiac ganglion (CG), the nervous system that controls the lobster’s heartbeat, can withstand. Then, I examined whether exposure to altered salinity and elevated temperature alters the crash temperature of the whole heart and CG. The CG crashed at higher temperatures than the whole heart in each saline concentration. Like the STNS, the whole heart and CG both crashed at higher temperatures in lower saline concentrations and higher temperatures in lower saline concentrations
You get a lot besides just affordable housing; you get a support network”: Community Engagement in Sustainable Affordable Housing Development
No full textAffordable housing must expand quickly and cheaply to serve the needs of existing residents, along with the approximately 7 million Americans who need affordable housing but cannot access it (Buchanan 2020, 2). However, the industry must simultaneously meet sustainability goals to promote climate mitigation, as well as cater to long-unmet equity and environmental justice needs for its low-income, often BIPOC residents. The conflicts between sustainability and equity goals in affordable housing development challenges developers to consider procedural justice in drawing plans for new or renovated housing. For this study, I interviewed 16 housing developers and attended 2 construction meetings to answer the question: What are developers’ perceptions about community engagement and how does this shape their efforts to engage community members? I noted that 8 out of 16 of my interviewees expressed open hesitation about applying community engagement or stated that they generally do not include engagement in their planning processes whereas the other 8 openly encouraged it. However, all 16 interviewees shared anecdotes supporting that community engagement-- even those whose anecdotes expressed that the engagement was hesitant, unintentional, or informal-- is essential to the development of sustainable affordable housing. In this way, some developers’ hesitance to engage community members is a result of resource constraints, not because employing engagement is ineffective. This study highlights the extraordinary strengths of building procedural justice into the way we plan for an environmentally-sound future, both for the structures which we build and the people who create communities within them
Role of Polycomb group proteins in regulation of \u3ci\u3eeyes absent\u3c/i\u3e gene expression in \u3ci\u3eDrosophila melanogaster\u3c/i\u3e
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Self-Censorsh** in the Classroom
No full textDo we understand how often people self-censor? This paper examines self-censorship as a strategic choice based on beliefs about how others will interpret an opinion. Evidence to support theories of self-censorship is limited. This study compares the public and private beliefs of undergraduates students using public and private surveys. The hypotheses to be evaluated are (a) students will self-censor conservative beliefs; (b) students will underestimate the proportion of classmates who hold conservative beliefs and overestimate the proportion of classmates who hold liberal beliefs; (c) self-censorship within classes will vary by academic discipline; and (d) self-censorship will vary depending on which perspective (conservative or liberal) appears first in the survey questions. While evidence varies, there is statistically significant evidence that students self-censor conservative beliefs; “virtue signal” liberal beliefs they do not privately hold; and overestimate the proportion of students who hold private partisan beliefs. Further, changing the order of responses in questions affects self-censorship patterns in the public survey
Three Decades of Replicated Field Studies Reveal Eelgrass (\u3ci\u3eZostera marina\u3c/i\u3e) Inhibits Soft-shell Clam (\u3ci\u3eMya arenaria\u3c/i\u3e) Growth in Eastern Maine
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Prescriptions of Identity: Jewish identities defined, questioned, and remembered in Early Modern Spain and early colonial America
No full text“Prescriptions of Identity: Jewish identities defined, questioned, and remembered in Early Modern Spain and early colonial America” explores issues and conversations of Jewish identity throughout early modern Spain, Spanish conquest and the Inquisition, and early colonial America. This project relies on Inquisitional and legal sources, as well as familial anecdotes and Luis de Carvajal the Younger’s own letters and diary to compare and contrast how individuals experienced and projected both their own identities and those of people around them. In analyzing the rhetoric of these documents, this thesis grapples with the metaphors authorities wielded to describe the dangers that Jewish people were believed to impose on Christians and their communities at large. Tracing the use of the term “contagion,” this project seeks to explore and analyze how identities and religion were believed to spread and endanger those around them. While the Inquisition defined identity by blood and proximity, this thesis argues that Using Carvajal’s writing and the recipes we can see that practicing Jewish individuals and families often defined their own identities entirely differently, in deeply religious and spiritual terms. Throughout this project, I seek to examine existing historiography of Crypto-Judaic studies and answer questions surrounding why the history is seen as so contentious and how historians throughout time have sought to “prove” and “prescribe” identities
Selective Procedural Content Generation Using Multi-Discriminator Generative Adversarial Networks
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Mitochondrial adaptation in the green crab hybrid zone of the Gulf of Maine
Full text linkThe mitochondrial genome has historically been relegated to a neutral genetic marker, but new evidence suggests mitochondrial DNA to be a target for adaptation to environmental stress. The invasive European green crab (Carcinus maenas) exemplifies this in the Gulf of Maine’s hybrid zone, where interbreeding populations exhibit thermal tolerances influenced by mitochondrial genotype. To better understand the mechanism behind this phenomenon, the effect of mitochondrial genotype on mitochondrial activity was tested by measuring mtDNA copy number (mtCN) and the activity of complex I, II, and IV of the electron transport system via high-resolution respirometry. Mitochondria isolated from frozen heart tissue were measured at three temperature points—5°C, 25°C, and 37°C—to represent thermal stresses and a control. It was predicted that cold-adapted haplogroups would exhibit both higher mtCN and increased activity for each complex, either across all temperatures or exclusively at 5°C compared to a warm-adapted haplogroup. Initial comparisons of mitochondria from fresh and frozen tissue at 25°C found lower activity for complex II and IV in frozen extracts, but they continued to be used for convenience. No differences were observed across haplogroups for mtCN or high-resolution respirometry, suggesting that mitochondrial activity does not underlie differences in thermal tolerance. However, temperature greatly influenced activity measurements with complex II and IV exhibiting the highest rates at 37°C while complex I exhibited optimal activity at 25°C. This study represents the first of its kind for C. maenas, providing a foundation for future experiments to continue exploring mitochondria in the context of adaptive evolution
