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Investigating the Effect of Legalized Sports Betting on Personal Consumption Expenditure on Recreational Services
No full textThis research investigates the effect sports betting legalization on percapita personal consumption expenditure on recreational services in the U.S. As at the year 2023, 37 of the 50 U.S. sates had legalized Sports betting. Using repeated cross-sectional data, and Panel data, are estimated four separate difference-in-difference regression models. The repeated cross-sectional data consists of all states the have legalized sports betting over the years (as the treatment group), and all others states the have not legalized sports betting as the control group). The panel data, which span the period 1997-2022 and consists of all states that legalized sports betting in the year 2018 as the treatment group and all other states at the control group. In some of regressions, the year 2020 was moved to control for the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. My results show negative average treatment effects for states that legalized sports betting. Meaning, average percapita personal consumption expenditure lower for states that legalized sports betting in 2018 compared to those that did not. This result is counter intuitive but was also found in one of the two models ran with the repeated cross-sectional data. Thus, I conclude that states that legalize sports betting may see lower personal consumption spending on recreation services compared to those that do not
Metalloporphyrin Derivatives for Photodynamic Therapy: A Comparative Study on the Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of Copper(II) TPP-Sesamol and Copper(II) TPP-Zingerone.
No full textElucidating the Role of Reactive Oxygen Species on Dopamine β-Hydroxylase Activity and Aggregation
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Fabricating a Flow Chemistry System to Investigate Reaction-Diffusion Waves in Advected Belousov-Zhabotinsky Systems
No full textShort-Term vs Long-Term Effects of DREADDs in the Mouse Motor Cortex
No full textThousands of Americans are impacted every year by disorders affecting the primary motor cortex, but studying these conditions can be quite difficult due to their complexity. There are, however, new techniques, such as designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs), that show promise in helping to understand conditions impacting this brain region. DREADDs is a technique that allows for targeted activation of specific cell populations using the drug clozapine N-oxide. It is a method that has become popular in recent years, but despite the growing number of studies utilizing DREADDs, there is a paucity of research looking at their long-term effects, particularly in the motor cortex. This study sought to compare the acute and chronic effects of excitatory DREADDs activation in the motor cortex of mice using the open field maze. DREADDs were expressed in the primary motor cortex of 11 C57BL/6 mice via stereotaxic injection, then behavior in the open field maze was measured after one day of DREADDs activation and again after 14 days of DREADDs activation. It was found that acute DREADDs activation had no effect on activity levels or anxiety and chronic DREADDs activation had no effect on anxiety, but activity levels decreased after chronic activation of DREADDs. These results show how the effects of DREADDs can differ in the long-term compared to the short term and emphasize the need to study long-term effects in order to gain a more complete understanding of how DREADDs, as well as the brain more broadly, work
Effects of Co-cultured Bacteria and Fungi on Pseudomonas protegens or Pseudomonas chlororaphis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae
No full textPseudomonas chlororaphis and Pseudomonas protegens are two bacteria commonly found in the environment. They are known to produce antifungals and secondary metabolites that can affect fungi and other organisms to protect the roots of plants. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a fungus found on the surface of fruits and used in baking. These bacteria and fungi exist in the same environment but the interactions between the two have not been studied. In this study, P. chlororaphis and P. protegens were cocultured with S. cerevisiae to figure out how the bacteria affects yeast cell growth and physical morphology. Based on the cocultures, P. chlororaphis and P. protegens were able to coexist equivalently with S. cerevisiae with no changes to the morphology of the yeast cells. However, when the bacteria and yeast cells were streaked overlapping each other, the bacteria colonies appeared mucoid. P. protegens began to connect via cell-to-cell junctions at each end of the filament giving the cells an elongated appearance and allowing them to share nutrients thus increasing survival. These results support the two organisms coexisting in an environment potentially helping plant growth
Effects of a 5-HT1A Receptor Agonist in Contextual Fear Memory
No full textSerotonin (5-HT) is well known for its associations with a range of cognitive disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, which are often accompanied by learning and memory deficits. The 5-HT1A receptor subtype is abundant in brain regions associated with memory functions. Contextual fear conditioning is an associative learning experiment used to observe the role of 5-HT in the brain, particularly concerning fear memory. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of 5-HT1A agonist treatment and test time on the acquisition of a fearful memory in mice. To test this, mice were treated with a 5-HT1A agonist (8-OH-DPAT) or control vehicle (corn oil) before fear conditioning. Their fear responses, measured by percentage freezing, were tested at one of two time points, 24 hours or 15 days, after training. Results showed a main effect of treatment and no main effect of time. There was also no interaction between factors. This indicates that treatment activating 5-HT1A receptors in the brain before training impairs fear memory acquisition. Decreased freezing levels at both test times could provide insight into the role 5-HT1A receptors play in the modulation of hippocampal function in the initial acquisition of contextual memory. It is possible that 8-OH-DPAT disrupted the ability of the hippocampus to form a memory of the fear conditioning context, leading to the decreased freezing seen at both time points. While it is clear that treatment disrupts memory acquisition, we still need to understand if treatment is slightly disrupting or fully impairing memory formation during training
怖い(kowaii) to 可愛い (kawaii): The Transformation of the Kappa and Tsuchigumo in Japanese Media
No full textThe purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the historical transformation of yokai (Japanese Spirits), specifically the kappa (a froglike figure with a plate on its head) and the tsuchigumo (a spider demon). This thesis examines these two yokai\u27s representations in various medium from the Edo period (1603-1868) to the contemporary (2000-2023). Such mediums include ukiyo-e (woodblock print from the Tokugawa period 1600-1868), folklore, Noh plays, manga (comics) and anime (animation). The shifts and transformation of these two iconic yokai were implicated in dynamic social, economic, political, and global trends. Thus, by analyzing observable changes in the kappa and tsuchigumo as they appear in media over time, I discovered what changes have occurred, what historical events have caused these changes, and what role the two yokai play in Japanese society today
