Meeting Success: Understanding Effective Negotiations on Global Environmental Problems

Kellie Greene ’23, Majors: Political Science and History, Minor: Black Studies Kathryn Mahon ’23, Majors: Political Science and Mathematics Faculty Mentor: Dr. Casey Stevens, Political Science What makes a meeting successful? What makes a meeting successful on a pressing international environmental problem? This project involved separate coding of the effectiveness of key negotiation meetings in international environmental politics to attempt and identify the features that make successful negotiations possible and likely. The presentation will discuss various features that were identified by the students working through official negotiation reports from the 1990s until today

Enhancing protective microglial activities with a dual function TREM2 antibody to the stalk region

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is essential for the transition of homeostatic microglia to a disease‐associated microglial state. To enhance TREM2 activity, we sought to selectively increase the full‐length protein on the cell surface via reducing its proteolytic shedding by A Disintegrin And Metalloproteinase (i.e., α‐secretase) 10/17. We screened a panel of monoclonal antibodies against TREM2, with the aim to selectively compete for α‐secretase‐mediated shedding. Monoclonal antibody 4D9, which has a stalk region epitope close to the cleavage site, demonstrated dual mechanisms of action by stabilizing TREM2 on the cell surface and reducing its shedding, and concomitantly activating phospho‐SYK signaling. 4D9 stimulated survival of macrophages and increased microglial uptake of myelin debris and amyloid β‐peptide in vitro. In vivo target engagement was demonstrated in cerebrospinal fluid, where nearly all oluble TREM2 was 4D9‐bound. Moreover, in a mouse model for Alzheimer's disease‐related pathology, 4D9 reduced amyloidogenesis, enhanced microglial TREM2 expression, and reduced a homeostatic marker, suggesting a protective function by driving microglia toward a disease‐associated state

Neighborhood socioeconomic status, Medicaid coverage and medical management of myocardial infarction: Atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) community surveillance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pharmacologic treatments are efficacious in reducing post-myocardial infarction (MI) morbidity and mortality. The potential influence of socioeconomic factors on the receipt of pharmacologic therapy has not been systematically examined, even though healthcare utilization likely influences morbidity and mortality post-MI. This study aims to investigate the association between socioeconomic factors and receipt of evidence-based treatments post-MI in a community surveillance setting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We evaluated the association of census tract-level neighborhood household income (nINC) and Medicaid coverage with pharmacologic treatments (aspirin, beta [β]-blockers and angiotensin converting enzyme [ACE] inhibitors; optimal therapy, defined as receipt of two or more treatments) received during hospitalization or at discharge among 9,608 MI events in the ARIC community surveillance study (1993-2002). Prevalence ratios (PR, 95% CI), adjusted for the clustering of hospitalized MI events within census tracts and within patients, were estimated using Poisson regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seventy-eight percent of patients received optimal therapy. Low nINC was associated with a lower likelihood of receiving β-blockers (0.93, 0.87-0.98) and a higher likelihood of receiving ACE inhibitors (1.13, 1.04-1.22), compared to high nINC. Patients with Medicaid coverage were less likely to receive aspirin (0.92, 0.87-0.98), compared to patients without Medicaid coverage. These findings were independent of other key covariates.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>nINC and Medicaid coverage may be two of several socioeconomic factors influencing the complexities of medical care practice patterns.</p

Surface facial electromyography, skin conductance, and self-reported emotional responses to light- and season-relevant stimuli in seasonal affective disorder

Background: Learned associations between depressive behavior and environmental stimuli signaling low light availability and winter season may play a role in seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The purpose of this study was to determine whether light and season environmental cues elicit emotional responses that are distinct in individuals with SAD. Methods: Twenty-four currently depressed SAD participants were compared to 24 demographicallymatched controls with no depression history on emotional responses to outdoor scenes captured under two light intensity (i.e., clear, sunny vs. overcast sky) and three season (i.e., summer with green leaves, fall with autumn foliage, and winterwith bare trees) conditions. Emotion measures included surface facial electromyography (EMG) activity in the corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscle regions, skin conductance, and self-reported mood state on the Profile of Mood States Depression–Dejection Subscale. Results: Light intensity was a more salient cue than season in determining emotional reactions among SAD participants. Relative to controls, SAD participants displayed more corrugator activity, more frequent significant skin conductance responses (SCR), greater SCR magnitude, and more self-reported depressed mood in response to overcast stimuli and less corrugator activity, lower SCR magnitude, and less self-reported depressed mood in response to sunny stimuli. Limitations: Study limitations include the single, as opposed to repeated, assessment and the lack of a nonseasonal depression group. Conclusions: These findings suggest that extreme emotional reactivity to light-relevant stimuli may be a correlate of winter depression; and future work should examine its potential onset or maintenance significance

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS OF ALTERNATIVE AND TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS (NEW YORK)

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the organizational effectiveness of alternative and traditional junior high schools. The independent variables, alternative and traditional junior high schools, were selected from schools located in New York City. The dependent variables, namely, achievement and satisfaction, were identified. Organizational effectiveness was mediated by the variables of organizational and environmental characteristics as delineated by school structure in terms of school size and student-teacher ratio and school climate as evidenced by work satisfaction, organizational climate, principal\u27s leadership, teacher-principal behavior and communication, and influence sharing processes. Moreover, this study sought to determine if significant interrelationships existed among the perceptions of the junior high school staff with respect to the dimensions of organizational characteristics and environmental characteristics. Furthermore, this study sought to determine if significant relationships existed between the perceptions of junior high school teachers with respect to each of the dimensions and subdimensions of organizational effectiveness, namely, organizational and environmental characteristics, and each of the demographic variables of the number of years teaching in alternative schools, the number of years teaching in alternative schools, the number of years teaching in traditional schools, the number of years teaching in other schools, the teaching of innovative courses, and sex. The sample for this study consisted of 144 eighth grade junior high school teachers assigned to 24 schools in 9 school districts in New York City. The instruments used in this study consisted of: the Profile of a School (Likert, 1978); the Sergiovanni-Trusty Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (Sergiovanni & Trusty, 1966); the California Achievement Test administered to eighth grade students in April, 1985, and a Personal Data Questionnaire. The statistical tests used included: frequencies, means, standard deviations, t tests, and the Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation. The minimal level of significance accepted was the 0.05 level. The major findings of this study were: (1) alternative school teachers experienced more autonomy in their school positions; and (2) there were intercorrelations among the environmental characteristics of work satisfaction, organizational climate, principal\u27s leadership, teacher-principal behavior and communication, and influence sharing for alternative and traditional school teachers. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.

Les moeurs et les coutumes rurales au Canada-Franc̀ais dans le roman canadien-franc̀ais depuis les origines jusqu’à 1900

De tous les genres littéraires, le roman est celui qui reflète le mieux la vie et la civilisation d'un pays ou d’un peuple. Qu'il le veuille ou non, le romancier fait plus ou moins consciemment, le tableau des habitants, de l’esprit et des coutumes du milieu qui l’intéresse, mais l'authenticité de ce tableau varie selon ses connaissances, son talent et son but. Cette thèse se propose de faire le tableau de la vie des campagnes du Canada-Français d'après les romans canadiens-français parus entre 1837 (date de publication du Premier roman) et 1900

1940s, circa. - Kathyrn Katie Vonderau, a chaperone and Jane Jeep Stoll

This image is of Kathyrn Katie Vonderau, a team chaperone, and Jane Jeep Stoll when they played for the Peoria Redwings of Peoria, Illinois in the 1940s.https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/aagpbl/1151/thumbnail.jp

Intraoperative cortical localization of music and language reveals signatures of structural complexity in posterior temporal cortex

Summary: Language and music involve the productive combination of basic units into structures. It remains unclear whether brain regions sensitive to linguistic and musical structure are co-localized. We report an intraoperative awake craniotomy in which a left-hemispheric language-dominant professional musician underwent cortical stimulation mapping (CSM) and electrocorticography of music and language perception and production during repetition tasks. Musical sequences were melodic or amelodic, and differed in algorithmic compressibility (Lempel-Ziv complexity). Auditory recordings of sentences differed in syntactic complexity (single vs. multiple phrasal embeddings). CSM of posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) disrupted music perception and production, along with speech production. pSTG and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) activated for language and music (broadband gamma; 70–150 Hz). pMTG activity was modulated by musical complexity, while pSTG activity was modulated by syntactic complexity. This points to shared resources for music and language comprehension, but distinct neural signatures for the processing of domain-specific structural features