Emotion and language: valence and arousal affect word recognition

Emotion influences most aspects of cognition and behavior, but emotional factors are conspicuously absent from current models of word recognition. The influence of emotion on word recognition has mostly been reported in prior studies on the automatic vigilance for negative stimuli, but the precise nature of this relationship is unclear. Various models of automatic vigilance have claimed that the effect of valence on response times is categorical, an inverted U, or interactive with arousal. In the present study, we used a sample of 12,658 words and included many lexical and semantic control factors to determine the precise nature of the effects of arousal and valence on word recognition. Converging empirical patterns observed in word-level and trial-level data from lexical decision and naming indicate that valence and arousal exert independent monotonic effects: Negative words are recognized more slowly than positive words, and arousing words are recognized more slowly than calming words. Valence explained about 2% of the variance in word recognition latencies, whereas the effect of arousal was smaller. Valence and arousal do not interact, but both interact with word frequency, such that valence and arousal exert larger effects among low-frequency words than among high-frequency words. These results necessitate a new model of affective word processing whereby the degree of negativity monotonically and independently predicts the speed of responding. This research also demonstrates that incorporating emotional factors, especially valence, improves the performance of models of word recognition

Nancy Spero: pain and politics, 1966-1976

The ten-year period that started with Nancy Spero’s War Series (1966-70) and ended with the completion of Torture of Women (1974-6) were of vital importance to the development of this key figure of feminist art. This was the moment when Spero turned her focus to politics, departing from a practice that was concerned with personal disaffection, instead focusing on profoundly social concerns. Essential to this evolution is a focus on pain. From the War Series through the Artaud Paintings (1970-71), Codex Artaud (1971-2), and Torture of Women, pain, both internal and external, was imagined in multiple forms. In Spero’s explorations of the theme, pain becomes metaphoric of the experience of women living under patriarchy, an amorphous but still profoundly disabling sensation that attacks both body and mind. This thesis explores Spero’s use of physical pain during moment of feminist art’s emergence, seeing it as a political metaphor for the way in which patriarchy invisibly controls and undermines women. Framed broadly by the question of art's relationship with politics during this turbulent period of anti-war and feminist activism, this thesis closely examines the way in which an analogy to pain figures the body in the work in complex terms, pursuing an ideological ambition through recourse to feeling

A FRAMEWORK FOR HETEROLOGOUS BIOSYNTHESIS OF NATURAL PRODUCTS IN MAMMALIAN CELLS VIA POLYMER-MEDIATED TRANSFECTIONS

With the promise to treat a multi-faceted list of serious inherited and acquired diseases, such as cancer, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases, and inherited genetic indications, gene therapy has continued to push the boundaries of traditional medicine since its earliest implementation. While much progress has been made, clinical success has largely remained elusive. Immunogenicity, difficulty producing commercially relevant quantities, and having a limited genetic payload still limits the ability of viruses to act as directed delivery agents for genetic material. As such, researchers have turned to cationic synthetic materials as a means of delivering nucleic acids, which can circumvent the immune response but suffer decreased delivery efficiency relative to viral vectors. To advance non-viral vectors towards clinical relevance, special consideration of the various barriers associated with nucleic acid delivery must be applied to the design of the synthetic agents. How does the material interact with the cell surface, are the vectors stable in circulation, can the structure escape the endocytic environment of cells, and will the structure release the genetic payload? All of these questions, and many others, need to be explored and implemented in a set of design criteria that optimizes the ability of a certain vector to consistently induce adequate expression for the desired application. In chapter 3, we apply the aforementioned considerations to polyethylenimine (PEI), the “gold standard” material for polymeric gene delivery vectors (polyplexes). Through simple modifications of PEI via succinylation, we generated zwitterion-like polymers (zPEI) that increased transfection efficiency by up to 50 fold over that of traditional PEI vectors when in the presence of serum proteins. These vectors also show remarkable resilience when lyophilized and stored for long periods, maintaining transfection efficacies similar to freshly prepared polyplexes over the course of 8 weeks. Since vector development is quick, efficient, consistent, and can be stored for long periods of time, zPEI could serve as a platform for testing applications of non-viral gene therapies or for explicit expression of specific proteins. In chapter 4, we explore this notion by investigating applications where non-viral particles have shown success and elucidate situations where certain vectors may be preferred over others. Finally, in chapters 5 and 6 we deployed our own application of non-viral genetic engineering to induce production of the plant-derived biomolecule, curcumin, in a mammalian cell. This is the first time an entire plant enzyme cluster has been expressed in a mammalian cell, as well as the first time a plant biomolecule has been synthesized in a mammalian cell. We optimized the transient expression of the gene cluster and maximized the production of bisdemethoxycurcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and curcumin. Bioactivity of curcuminoids produced in cells were assessed via metabolic and migration assays. When cultured in the presence of curcuminoid-producing HEK293 cells, metabolic activity of MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 cancer cells was reduced and cell migration was inhibited. We believe this work may represent the first step towards a drastic shift in how diseases are treated, focusing not on the external delivery of drugs, but instead engineering patients’ bodies to produce their own supply of therapeutic compounds

An existential phenomenology of eating disorders in older people : an ontological reflection and analysis

[From the introduction:]This thesis is an interdisciplinary project of philosophy, specifically the use of an existential phenomenological method, applied to a health and social care topic under the broader research theme of ‘wellbeing’. It will take the form of an ontological reflection and analysis of eating disorders in older people, based on a phenomenologically oriented methodology, supported by a foundation of primary philosophical texts and more ‘traditional’ philosophical scholarship.Outlining the Research QuestionsCentral to this endeavour are three research questions about the topic which will structure the project:1. What do we understand about eating disorders as phenomena?2. Is the dominant psychiatric approach to eating disorders problematic, and if so, how?3. Can a phenomenological method be useful when trying to understand the phenomenon of eating disorders?These questions will help guide and catalyse my philosophical evaluation and create deeper understanding of eating disorders, the unique experiences of older people with eating disorders, the phenomenological method, and embodiment. Bringing together my background in academic philosophy with my work experience in health and social care, I have sought to create an interwoven and mutually beneficial ‘symbiosis’ of disciplines

Stereoselective glycosylations using oxathiane spiroketal glycosyl donors

Novel oxathiane spiroketal donors have been synthesised and activated via an umpolung S-arylation strategy using 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene and 1,3-dimethoxybenzene. The comparative reactivity of the resulting 2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl (TMP)- and 2,4-dimethoxyphenyl (DMP)-oxathiane spiroketal sulfonium ions is discussed, and their α-stereoselectivity in glycosylation reactions is compared to the analogous TMP- and DMP-sulfonium ions derived from an oxathiane glycosyl donor bearing a methyl ketal group. The results show that the stereoselectivity of the oxathiane glycosyl donors is dependent on the structure of the ketal group and reactivity can be tuned by varying the substituent on the sulfonium ion

Preserving faith with conservation: An investigation into the sufficiency of collection care provision within the Church of England parish church, and recommendations for its improvement

Though the parish churches of the Church of England (CofE) collectively hold in their object collections cultural property of such quality and significance as to make them the envy of some museums, there is presently little coherent provision for the care of these collections, or written guidance on what such provisions should be, or do. Taking the collections of the consecrated churches of the Diocese of Lincoln as its point of reference this study explores the current provisions for collection care available to CofE churches and makes recommendations for how these could be improved upon. Research methods include qualitative and quantitative survey input from church users, qualitative interviews with representatives of the CofE and heritage professions, primary and secondary case studies, theoretical sources from within and without the heritage field, and third-party organisational management and project management theories. Reference is made throughout to the contextual importance of the three primary stakeholders in church conservation: the CofE, church users, and the conservation profession. An analysis of sufficiency first shows that there is a necessity to improve collection care in churches, whilst an assessment of need formalises what is required to do so. A discussion of the scope that these improvements should cover leads to the conclusion that the key to sufficient collection care in churches lies in effective decision-making, whereby all avenues of thought are given equal weighting, for the collective and sustainable benefit of the objects, their users and the organisation. Recommendations are made for practical ways in which church collection care could be improved upon, supported by reference to the notional considerations which should underpin any such solutions. In initiating research into an as yet largely under-represented field of conservation study, this paper will contribute to future research into similar topics, and facilitate future phases of development in the field of church collection care

Distribution and Taxonomic Status of Tarantulas in Arkansas (Theraphosidae: Aphonopelma)

The genus Aphonopelma (Theraphosidae) is marked by a dearth of distributional data and a problematic taxonomy. To develop occurrence information for the genus in Arkansas, I conducted a citizen-science based survey augmented by field work and examination of museum collections. Results of these efforts yielded a significant amount of data that enabled the construction of a county level map of Aphonopelma distribution in Arkansas; a resource hitherto unavailable. Three Aphonopelma species have been described as occurring in Arkansas: A. baergi, A. hentzi, and A. odelli. Specimens were collected from Arkansas and Oklahoma to evaluate taxonomic and historical issues concerning the three species. Morphologically, the specimen series examined comprised a relatively homogeneous group most similar to descriptions of A. hentzi. In light of comparison with specimens examined for this study, species descriptions of A. baergi and A. odelli are marked by such taxonomic uncertainty as to challenge their validity and presence in Arkansas