Your Demon is You

David Braun, College of the Arts, Sculpture, Advisor - Isabel Farnsworth

This sculpture was created to address the topic of transformation. I am interested in the effect of technology on our ability to introspect and connect as our private lives and internal dialog are increasingly becoming more public. I created a comfortable, private space to be situated in a public environment where an individual can self-reflect while being observed from the outside. From the interior, the occupant sees only their own face in a small mirror. That view is captured on camera and displayed on the exterior in real time on a video monitor. To the viewer on the outside it appears that the occupant is looking at them, but really they are looking at themselves. Can they see the occupant seeing themselves or do they see only eyes? Can we still feel a connection to the person inside when they are looking not at us, but at themselves?

I am interested in how the enclosure becomes a surrogate body of the occupant, erasing their identity except for their eyes. How does this affect the perception of the occupant by the external viewer? Does the replacement of the human body with a generic one affect the empathy of the viewer for the occupant?

I am curious how people will use this object. Will they use it as a tool for transformation and connection or for entertainment and amusement?

Extensive membrane blebbing is one of the earliest observable changes in HeLa cells stimulated with apoptosis inducers. Blebbing caused by actinomycin D or camptothecin, but not by anti-Fas antibody, is accompanied by an almost 10% volume increase as measured by transmission-through-dye microscopy. When the experiment is carried out in DMEM medium, the swelling appears to result from activation of amiloride-sensitive channels. Low-sodium choline-, but not N-methyl-D-glucamine-based, medium, also supports swelling during the blebbing phase of apoptosis; this indicates that the membrane becomes permeable to choline as well. Because choline can enter the cells through organic cation transporters (OCT), we tested three fluorescent dyes (2-[4-(dimethylamino)styryl]-1-methylpyridinium iodide, rhodamine 123 and ethidium bromide) that have been reported to utilize OCT for cell entry. Intact HeLa cells are poorly permeable for these fluorophores, and initially they accumulate on the plasma membranes. Blebbing results in an enhanced penetration of these dyes into the cell interior, as was demonstrated both by direct observation and by FRET. The increased membrane permeability is specific for OCT substrates; the other tested cationic dyes apparently cross the membrane by other routes and exhibit a markedly different behavior. Our results reveal a previously unknown feature of apoptosis and the utility of cationic dyes for studying membrane transport.

Green architecture has been a revolution tracing back to an architectural ideal based on functionality, aesthetic, resiliency, and sustainability. It does not halt at planting trees, yet developing and utilizing environment-friendly materials in design and construction. Bamboo, a novel but familiar material throughout human history of civilization, has high strength and efficiency in structure. In many countries, it has played as a cultural symbol in art and architecture. Bamboo has not been widely utilized in industrial standardization because of its limitations due to its natural characteristics. However, its limitations could be harmonically addressed in different applications in industrial and architectural means. Industrially, with advanced technologies, bamboo can be fabricated through multiple processes into different sustainable products substituting for main construction materials, e.g. timber and steel, because bamboo grows much faster than timber, and produces less carbon than steel. Architecturally, bamboo’s elegant shape is not neglected and highly praised as a modern cultural identity: bamboo is bamboo, in its own traditions. This study, through reviewing multiple scholar articles as well as successful bamboo architectural projects on bamboo historic usages and characteristics, and methods to breakthrough bamboo limitations, aims to show connection and development of the cultural material in meanings of sustainability and original structure performance.

Transgenerational Epigenetic Effects of Cocaine on Circadian Behavior and Cocaine Reward

Victoria Shaker, Ashley Shemery, Alex Yaw, & J. David Glass.

Department of Biological Sciences and School of Biomedical Sciences

Professor Glass served as the primary advisor. Ashley Shemery and Alex Yaw served as co-advisors.

Hypothesis: Cocaine irreversibly lengthens circadian period (tau), which could underlie the significant health issues of cocaine addiction. Others have reported that rewarding effects of paternal cocaine use are transgenerational. We hypothesize that the disruptive effects of cocaine on tau may also be transgenerational, causing altered subjective cocaine reward response in offspring (F1).

Methods: Male mice were exposed to cocaine-water (0.5 mg/ml) or water (control) for 6 wks. Immediately following treatment, the mice were mated with cocaine naïve dams. F1 reference for cocaine or sucrose (to test for reward specificity) was analyzed using a dual bottle (water and drug [0.15 mg/ml] or sucrose [2%]) free-choice regimen. Tau was analyzed using activity sensors with computerized data acquisition.

Results and Conclusions: Lengthened tau was evident in sires with forced cocaine compared to controls (24.18+0.17 vs. 24.07+0.02; p0.05). These data reveal that there is no transgenerational transmission of cocaine-lengthened tau in F1 males, but there was an alteration of tau in F1 females. Significantly, paternal cocaine intake significantly altered F1 preference for cocaine, but not sucrose, suggesting specificity to drug reward. Thus, cocaine addiction could involve a transgenerational paternal mode of inheritance.

Keywords: epigenetics, transgenerational, cocaine, sucrose, mice, sex differences, drug abuse, circadian, biological rhythms, addiction

Introduction: Rumination has been identified as a major risk factor for the onset and maintenance of affective disorders. However, it remains unclear how rumination affects the onset of negative mood. In this study, we investigated how trait rumination influences linguistic processing of emotional material while inducing negative mood.

Methods: A sample of undergraduates (N=209) participated in a lab-based negative mood induction, in which they wrote about a negative personal experience while listening to sadness-inducing music (Barber, Adagio for Strings). Narratives were analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (Pennebaker, Booth, & Francis, 2007) to examine patterns of word use, including frequency, types of pronouns, emotion words, causal and certainty words. Participants also completed affect ratings before and after negative mood induction.

Results: High ruminators had significantly lower ratios of positive to negative words (M= 2.60, SD= 1.93) than low ruminators, after controlling for age, gender, word count, and depression symptoms, (M= 3.06, SD= 1.64), F(1, 187)= 3.91, p< .05, 95% CI [.001, 1.10], with high ruminators using significantly more negative emotion words (M= 2.70, SD= 1.78) than low ruminators (M= 2.17, SD= 1.71), F(1, 202)= 3.70, p< .05, 95% CI [-1.01, .01]. No other significant differences were found.

Conclusions: These results suggest that trait rumination is associated with linguistic processing of emotional material during negative mood induction, such that high trait ruminators use greater negative emotion words relative to positive words, as compared to low trait ruminators.