Affrilachian Agency and the Myth of Western North Carolina\u27s Racial Innocence: The Integration of Brevard, NC

This case study addresses an understudied field of Appalachian historical scholarship by analyzing race relations and the integration of Western North Carolina in the mid-twentieth century. Tourism played a vital role in formulating public opinion and popular responses to integration in Brevard, North Carolina. Elites in the region deliberately manipulated and controlled public discourse in order to present a tranquil image to outsiders visiting the area. This deliberate control created a misleading and often wholly inaccurate picture of integration that future generations have held on to. Memory holds that the town desegregated voluntarily and without racial unrest, paving the path for other towns in the region. In reality, Transylvania County Schools only integrated after a court decision in Federal District Court forced compliance with federal law. Brevard did desegregate peacefully in comparison to lowland cities that monopolize the Civil Rights discussion. This peace was not the result of mountaineer’s racial innocence. Instead, this perceived tranquility was the result of deliberate control of public discourse by local elites

Pā’ina: Using the metaphor of a potluck to reimagine a third space for ethical research in Indigenous contexts

This paper delves into the innovative use of the potluck, or pā’ina, as a metaphor to reimagine a research approach aimed at fostering collective understanding between non-Indigenous knowledge seekers and Indigenous knowledge guardians in Indigenous contexts. By embracing the broader context of research, this metaphor strives to create a dialogical, relational, and ethical space for knowledge seekers to engage with knowledge guardians, promoting a reciprocal and respectful relationship. Central to this metaphor is the recognition of the insider/outsider binary and the need to transcend it. Indigenous knowledge is often guarded and restricted, granted access based on relationships and shared experiences. Understanding the complexity of these socio-spatial relationships is crucial for researchers to navigate respectfully. The metaphor also draws from the Oceanic concept of vā/va/wā, signifying the space between entities and the importance of maintaining harmony and balance within relationships. This relational space between the self and the other allows for transformative encounters and meaningful connections. To navigate this third space, researchers must undergo introspective reflexive exercises to understand their situationality and how it influences their research. Knowledge seekers must unsettle their histories, understand context, listen to the stories of others, create shared understanding, and launch new relationships that are centered on respect and reciprocity. Throughout the research process, the metaphor of pā’ina encourages researchers to be active participants, nurturing relationships with communities they seek knowledge from and reflecting upon their role within it. The pā’ina metaphor offers a transformative approach for Western academia to critically examine its historical impact on Indigenous communities and embrace a more respectful and inclusive research paradigm. By centering Indigenous voices and building meaningful relationships, this third space provides an opportunity for collaborative and sustainable research for the benefit of all stakeholders involved.

Negative triangles : simple geometric shapes convey emotional valence

It has been suggested that downward pointing triangles convey negative valence, perhaps because they mimic an underlying primitive feature present in negative facial expressions (Larson, Aronoff, and Stearns, 2007). Here, we test this proposition using a flanker interference paradigm in which participants indicated the valence of a central face target, presented between two adjacent distracters. Experiment 1 showed that, compared with face flankers, downward pointing triangles had little influence on responses to face targets. However, in Experiment 2, when attentional competition was increased between target and flankers, downward pointing triangles slowed responses to positively valenced face targets, and speeded them to negatively valenced targets, consistent with valence-based flanker compatibility effects. These findings provide converging evidence that simple geometric shapes may convey emotional valence

Induction of peripheral tolerance in ongoing autoimmune inflammation requires interleukin 27 signaling in dendritic cells

Peripheral tolerance to autoantigens is induced via suppression of self-reactive lymphocytes, stimulation of tolerogenic dendritic cells (DCs) and regulatory T (Treg) cells. Interleukin (IL)-27 induces tolerogenic DCs and Treg cells; however, it is not known whether IL-27 is important for tolerance induction. We immunized wild-type (WT) and IL-27 receptor (WSX-1) knockout mice with MOG35-55 for induction of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and intravenously (i.v.) injected them with MOG35-55 after onset of disease to induce i.v. tolerance. i.v. administration of MOG35-55 reduced disease severity in WT mice, but was ineffective in Wsx-/- mice. IL-27 signaling in DCs was important for tolerance induction, whereas its signaling in T cells was not. Further mechanistic studies showed that IL-27-dependent tolerance relied on cooperation of distinct subsets of spleen DCs with the ability to induce T cell-derived IL-10 and IFN-γ. Overall, our data show that IL-27 is a key cytokine in antigen-induced peripheral tolerance and may provide basis for improvement of antigen-specific tolerance approaches in multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases. © 2017 Thom, Moore, Mari, Rasouli, Hwang, Yoshimura, Ciric, Zhang and Rostami

The Vanishing Frontier: Economic and Social Change in Western North Carolina, 1945-1970

This dissertation works to integrate the growth of regional tourism into the existing historiography of economic development in Appalachia and the postwar American South. Regional leaders introduced an economic transition throughout western North Carolina that emphasized the growth of regional tourism. By centering this study on the growth of regional tourism, this research also analyzes regional boosters’ efforts to manufacture and commodify a racialized and classed folk culture within the region for tourist consumption. In the late nineteenth century, journalists and folklorists had emphasized the deviance of mountain life and simultaneously romanticized the area as a land of rugged, white frontiersmen. Regional leaders during the postwar period embraced many of the romanticized aspects of this Appalachian stereotype in tourist promotions. These narratives also served a political purpose, reinforcing the economic changes that regional leaders initiated and strengthening their calls for various political changes they facilitated in the name of economic development

The development of RNA probe and RT-PCR assays for the detection of enteroviruses in sludge

Many wastewater treatment plants generate more sludge than can be disposed of by conventional means. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has encouraged communities to dispose of sludge by land application. Sludge may contain enteric viruses that are known to survive for long periods of time in sludge-amended soil and can travel great distances, potentially contaminating surface and ground water. Standard cell culture methods for the detection of enteric viruses are costly and results are not obtained for 30 or more days. The development of methods that provide results more quickly and with lower cost are needed. A 32P labeled RNA probe was developed for the detection of poliovirus in sludge. The probe detected 10 fg of poliovirus RNA transcripts and 90 pfu of poliovirus type 1 (LSc). RNA probe and plaque assays were used to evaluate beef extract elution methods for the isolation of poliovirus from sludge. Homogenization of sludge after the addition of beef extract powder at a pH of 7.0 resulted in the highest recovery of seeded poliovirus. Additionally, proteinase k digestion was found to result in a greater detection sensitivity than organic extractions. Small reaction volumes and the presence of inhibitors in environmental samples have limited the use of the highly sensitive and rapid technique of RT-PCR. A magnetic separation procedure using oligo dT paramagnetic beads was developed to capture enterovirus RNA from 900 mul of sample. This method resulted in a 90-fold sample concentration, removal of RT-PCR inhibitors from lime stabilized sludges, and a detection sensitivity of 5 pfu of poliovirus type 1 (LSc). Eight lime stabilized sludge concentrates were evaluated by RT-PCR with magnetic bead capture and by plaque assay. Enteroviruses were not detected by either method. Results may be obtained from RT-PCR within hours and at a cost much lower than the plaque assay. This method could be useful as a rapid screening technique. The direct monitoring of pathogens, such as enteric viruses, instead of the reliance upon indicator organisms, may reduce the risks from land application of sludge and make this practice more acceptable to a greater number of communities

Disassociating Sensory, Choice, and Attentional Signals to Understand Feature Based Perception and Learning in Small Populations of Intermediate Visual Cortex

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2019. Major: Neuroscience. Advisor: Geoffrey Ghose. 1 computer file (PDF); xii, 80 pages.Perception is integral to how we interact with our visual environment. How perception changes with experience is a function of learning, while how it occurs on a flexible, immediate time scale in relation to dynamic task demands, is mediated by attention. Both of these cognitive phenomena underpin how we perceive and interact with the world around us. Visual perceptual learning (VPL) is the improvement in the ability to perceive our visual environment, and is essential to how humans and other animals learn to interact with the world. Despite an extensive amount of research into the mechanisms of VPL, the neural mechanisms responsible for perceptual improvements remain controversial. A major challenge has been establishing that a particular physiological correlate of learning is actually responsible for learning, as opposed to merely reflecting changes in the properties or populations that are responsible. To address this issue, we employed a perceptual detection task in which neurons in a specific area, V4, are known to have task related responses on a scale of tens of milliseconds that reliably predict the timing and precision of shape detection. We followed population responses using a chronically implanted electrode array while non-human primates learned to detect shapes degraded by noise. Consistent with previous results that examined single neurons and neuronal ensembles, we found that, after the course of learning, variations in the local field potentials of individual electrodes over the course of tens of milliseconds reliably reflected the presentation of degraded shapes, and also predicted detection decisions made by the animal. Moreover, we found that variations in reliability of shape-related signals predicted the up-down fluctuations in performance seen over the course of learning in each animal. Together, these results demonstrate that population signals in area V4 are largely sufficient to explain the timing and reliability of shape detection and how that detection performance increases as a consequence of training. Endogenous feature-based visual attention involves an improvement in neural representations involving the attended feature that is dependent on immediate task dependent demands. How this happens in a specific population, and whether the involved populations overlap with those mediating perception, is not well understood. Due to previous work in our laboratory finding that feature based attention is targeted to specific, task appropriate neural populations in early visual cortex, we asked whether attention is similarly distributed in a task specific way in V4, how this depends on attentional state, and whether such neurons also signal the readout of the perceptual choice, given that choice signals have consistently been found in this area. We designed a demanding stimulus discrimination task where we directed subjects to attend to a specific feature of the task during high-field fMRI scanning. The stimulus alternated continuously at varying frequencies in low and high level features (spatial frequency and shape, due to their expected sensory activation of V1 and V4, respectively). Voxels were measured at high resolution, sampling 1mm of cortex, from V1 to V4, and the stimulus was presented near perceptual threshold in order to disassociate the stimulus from the choice. We used a linear regression analysis to compare continuous BOLD modulation of individual voxels to regressors modeling the continuous stimulus presentation when a given feature was attended to vs when it was not, and assessed how sensory and attention modulations overlapped with modulations containing a relationship to the ongoing perceptual choice. We found clear sensory attention effects in V4 that were specific to certain populations; however this did not appear to depend on initial sensitivity, and we did not see reliable choice signals or choice signals that overlapped with attention signals. We believe this may be due to the experimental design and recommend future approaches to disassociate sensory, attention, and choice signals in visual cortex

Enigma: Simulation And Analysis Of Security

During World War II, the Enigma machine was used as a message encryption tool by the German military. While it was believed that the Enigma machine produced an unbreakable code, this turned out to not be the case. This thesis begins with a summary of six versions of the Enigma, five that were actually used in the field, and a theoretical version that would have maximized security. An analysis of security is done, in which combinatorics is used to count the number of possible unique settings for each version of the machine. Estimates are also provided for the time required to break each version of the machine using a brute-force attack with various processing speeds that were achievable at various times in history. Finally, descriptions are included of three Enigma simulators constructed for this thesis. These simulators include a three-dimensional paper simulator, a digital simulator written using the Python programming language, and an electromechanical simulator built to resemble an actual Enigma machine