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Sleep plasticity due to sexual experience in Drosophila melanogaster
No full textSleep behavior is quite plastic and can be altered according to the organism's previous wakeful experience. For instance, it was recently demonstrated that female Drosophila melanogaster experience a post-copulatory reduction in daytime sleep that is purportedly mediated by sex peptide (SP), a molecule transferred from male to female during mating via seminal fluid and that has been implicated in other effects of copulation on female behavior, such as increased ovulation and rejection offuture male courtship advances. The present study examines what other variables - pertaining to both the female fly and her mate - might be involved in this sex-specific case of social experience-induced sleep plasticity.\ud
The effect of mating on sleep remained stable regardless of a female fly's age and previous mating experience, and persisted in the vision mutants norpA and eya2, the learning mutants amnesiac and dunce, and eggless tudor mutants, suggesting that visual, learning, or egg fertilization-related mechanisms do not contribute to this form of sleep plasticity. Contrary to existing literature, here the complete loss of SP only partially blocked the post-copulatory female siesta sleep reduction, suggesting that the effect cannot be governed solely by SP. The daytime sleep reduction was not eliminated in females mated to mutant males lacking the entire class of seminal fluid proteins or lacking sperm entirely, indicating that this effect does not entirely depend on any of the components of the seminal fluid transferred to females during mating. Surprisingly, the sleep reduction persisted even in females exposed to genitalia-less mutant males capable of courtship but not copulation, suggesting that the true mechanism underlying this form of sleep plasticity is contained in some aspect of the sociosexual experience of courtship. This is substantiated by the observation that the courtship vigor of reproductive mutant males parallels the relative magnitude of the sleep reduction effect their mates undergo.\ud
These results present an alternative interpretation of the mechanism by which the post-copulatory changes in female Drosophila sleep behavior are elicited, and demonstrate that sleep is sensitive to even the subtlest aspects of an organism's sociosexual experience
A Local Take on a Global Problem
No full textThis week on War News Radio, we hear from our partner station, Yatsani FM in Lusaka, Zambia on the impact of climate change on food security in Zambia. Featuring two panelists, a geophysicist and an economist. Tune in for an on the ground examination of an ever growing problem
Five Out of Seven Million
No full textThis week on War News Radio, we catch up on Hong Kong’s case of the five missing booksellers. Why did the disappearance of bookstore employees stir up mass protest and unrest? And how does this complicate Hong Kong’s relationship with mainland China? Haruka Ono, Katherine Kwok, and Katherine Pemberton tell us more
March 1990 CHAMP News
No full textLetter to the parents of CHAMP participants with news for the program's upcoming event
SAO Executive Board for Fall 1999
No full textSAO Executive Board Members for the Fall of 1999, SQU Board leadership and meeting informatio
Conjunction in Colonial Valley Zapotec
No full textColonial Valley Zapotec (CVZ) was spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico, during\ud
the colonial period; the language is attested a set of printed texts\ud
and handwritten documents. In this paper I discuss the four primary\ud
conjunctions strategies in CVZ: chela, huanee, =la, and asyndetic conjunction.\ud
These conjunction strategies are used interchangeably in CVZ\ud
(§2) and throughout a wide time frame and geographic area (§3). In some\ud
passages, a scribe alternates between different conjunction strategies to\ud
emphasize semantic and syntactic groupings within the construction.\ud
To explain these constructions I introduce a theory of localized semantic/\ud
syntactic sensitivity, an expansion of the current typology of conjunction\ud
(§4)
The structural and genetic foundations of blister development in bli- 5 mutants
No full textbli-5 is a one of six genes that results in blister formation in the cuticle of Caenorhabditis elegans when mutated. Uniquely, the blisters in bli-5 mutants localize to the head of the worm, a pattern that is not seen in the other five blister genes. However, the localization pattern of blisters in bli-5 remains poorly understood. Additionally, the mechanism and function of BLI-5 are also not well studied. Further understanding the role of bli-5 can provide valuable information on the molting process and provide novel drug targets to combat growing anthelmintic resistance. I hypothesized that blisters form specifically on the head of bli-5 mutant worms due to structural weaknesses in the body wall muscle underlying the hyp 4/hyp 5 junction. To study this hypothesis, a biological marker at the hyp 4/hyp 5 junction was required. A transcriptional reporter gene construct for the cellular adhesion complex protein AJM-1 was identified as the most successful marker of the hyp 4/hyp 5 junction. Blisters in bli-5 knockdowns were shown to localize roughly to the hyp 4/hyp 5 junction, although further research is needed to conclusively determine if the blisters originate at this location. In addition, the transcriptional regulation of bli-5 was explored. It was determined that both nuclear hormone receptors NHR-23 and NHR-25 do not affect bli-5 transcription
Women in War and Peace
No full textIn this class we will reconsider central themes of political science from a gendered perspective. For instance, security and representation can have very different meanings when gender is factored into our understandings. This course is designed to give you the tools to analyze the diversity of women’s conditions globally in democracies, during wartime and in post-conflict societies. We will explore commonalities as well as differences across cultures with respect to citizenship and the position of women.\ud
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War is often studied as a power struggle between states, but what happens when we consider the particular ways that women have been impacted by conflict? What role does gender play in the analysis of war and peacekeeping? We will examine human trafficking in the United States to better understand gender, power and economics in our own backyard. Other questions we will explore will include: How have women been agents in building and rebuilding societies? How have women contributed to political change across the globe? What role do political institutions play in promoting or inhibiting women’s participation in politics? How has religion affected the pursuit of women’s rights
Topics in Comparative Politics
No full textThis course is designed for senior political science majors to help you build the research design for your senior thesis. What is a thesis? What is a research proposal? How do you organize and design a research project? These questions will be at the heart of what we explore together this semester.\ud
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The readings have been selected based on my understanding of student interests. I have selected readings that I consider exemplary but that do not stray far from student interests. We will select additional readings together and add them to the course throughout the semester. I have ideas for each student according to interests already conveyed to me but I would like to work with each of you in terms of putting together additional reading for the syllabus. We will all read the articles and chapters selected for the various topics. We will also be reading a methodology book in order to help us all through the process of formulating research questions and executing research projects.\ud
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This course will be a workshop format. You will be sharing your ideas and your work with each other \ud
throughout the semester. This will only work if each of you contributes your ideas and offers constructive criticism to your peers. We will build this class together