Now showing items 1-20 of 14443

    • Generalized target behavior reductions and maintenance of effects following an augmented competing stimulus assessment sequence

      Breeman, Samantha L.; Vladescu, Jason C.; Sidener, Tina M.; DeBar, Ruth M.; Gureghian, Danielle (Wiley, 2025-06-18)
      Competing stimulus assessments are one technology that aids in the development of treatment for automatically reinforced behavior. However, competing stimulus assessments do not always yield robust results. Stereotypic behaviors of different subtypes may require procedural modifications to successfully identify competing stimuli. The current investigation included functional analyses to determine whether participant responding aligned with proposed subtypes for such behaviors. Next, we implemented augmented competing-stimulus-assessment (A-CSA) procedures across target and generalization stimuli to determine whether (a) responding across either subtype was more likely to require intensive modifications and (b) the A-CSA procedures promoted generalized target behavior reduction within stimulus classes. Lastly, a treatment evaluation was conducted to determine the durability of these findings and the generalization of the reduced target behavior to other settings. The general applicability of the subtyping model remains unclear, but two participants demonstrated maintenance of competition effects.
    • SELF-ASSEMBLING MULTIDOMAIN PROTEIN MICELLES FOR MOLECULAR IMAGING AND DRUG DELIVERY

      Wang, Andrew (2025-05-06)
      Proteins are versatile biomacromolecules with strong self-assembly properties that play a vital role in virtually all forms of life. By taking advantage of these properties, it is possible to design biocompatible, biologically active materials that can be used for a range of biomedical purposes, such as molecular imaging as well as targeted drug delivery. Unlike many other material systems, proteins can be recombinantly expressed and purified with multiple functional domains encoded in a single gene, often eliminating the need for additional chemical conjugation steps. Here we describe the design and engineering of multidomain proteins containing at least one coiled-coil domain and one disordered elastin-like polypeptide domain per chain. These proteins spontaneously assemble into micelles in aqueous solution. By incorporating targeting peptides into the genetic sequence, we can additionally alter the pharmacokinetics and organ tropism of the resulting micelles. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the field of protein biomaterials, while Chapters 2-4 delve in the design and characterization of protein micelles with multiple functional domains. First, in Chapter 2, we devise a collagen-binding molecular imaging probe for the monitoring of metabolic associated steatohepatitis (MASH) disease progression. This probe, collagen type I-binding thermoresponsive assembled protein (Col1-TRAP), was first characterized in vitro before being used to study a mouse model of MASH. It was found to preferentially accumulate in the livers of mice with MASH compared to normal mice. Next, in Chapter 3, we investigate the effect of increasing the multiplicity of the coiled-coil domain on improving hydrophobic drug loading capacity and delivery efficiency. Increasing the number of repeats of the coiled-coil domain from 1 to 2 was found to increase the drug loading capacity by 1.7-fold while reducing micelle packing by 25%. This construct, targeted multidomain protein assembly (TMPA), was found to preferentially accumulate in tumor sites in mice implanted with glioblastoma xenografts. Finally, Chapter 4 focuses on the targeting of TMPA for specific drug delivery to HER2+ breast cancer by using the peptide P51. Targeted micelles loaded with doxorubicin displayed improved uptake into and cytotoxicity against breast cancer cells overexpressing the HER2 receptor, while showing no selectivity in triple-negative breast cancer cells. All micelle-drug formulations were found to be more effective than free drug alone, showing the utility of these protein materials.
    • Brain, Environmental and Psychological Trauma: TBI and PTSD Markers, Mechanisms, and Interactions

      Biswas, Amelia (2025-06-26)
      Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are significant public health concerns, particularly among individuals exposed to high-stress environments such as military combat. However, they can also occur anytime due to various head injuries and stress. This review examines the interplay between TBI and PTSD, highlighting their prevalence, symptoms, potential biomarkers, pathological mechanisms, and the interactions that occur with exposure to both conditions. Worldwide, an estimated 69 million individuals per year sustain TBI, while approximately 13 million people per year exhibit PTSD. Notably, PTSD is markedly higher among individuals with TBI, particularly in veterans, where an estimated 28% of patients with mild TBI also exhibit PTSD. Although each alone results in significant symptoms and pathology, the co-occurrence of PTSD and TBI exacerbates the situation due to overlapping symptoms and bidirectionally interacting pathological changes. The occurrence of both TBI and PTSD increased cognitive impairments, emotional dysregulation, and disability with reduced function and health. Here, I provide a synthesis of current literature and assess the relationships between TBI and PTSD. We draw upon clinical and preclinical data to provide this critical overview. TBI increases the risk of developing PTSD, and PTSD increases susceptibility to the consequences of TBI. This interaction is due primarily to several overlapping mechanisms, including disrupted fronto-limbic brain circuits, neuroinflammation, and dysregulation of the HPA axis and specific neurotransmitter systems. White matter and brain area changes affect neural connectivity and functioning. Stress systems, inflammation, neurotransmitter imbalances, and structural brain changes interact closely in both TBI and PTSD. For example, chronic stress dysregulates the HPA axis, amplifying neuroinflammation and altering cortisol levels, further impacting neurotransmitter systems like serotonin and dopamine. This biochemical cascade contributes to white matter degradation and reduced brain volume, especially in regions like the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, worsening cognitive and emotional symptoms. These interconnected changes create a feedback loop that sustains dysfunction across neural networks, complicating recovery. These changes worsen cognitive and emotional symptoms and create a feedback loop that hinders recovery. Continued research is required to understand TBI and PTSD interactions better. Additional pathological mechanisms and targets for intervention using appropriately designed studies in experimental models and in the clinic. This “translational research” approach will help us discover future risk prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation strategies that can improve the quality of life for those impacted by these comorbid and disabling disorders.
    • How Major League Baseball Teams Have Assessed Player Value Over the Years

      Rosario, Daniel (2025)
      In 2002 the Oakland athletics made a drastic change in how the acquired players. This change being that they implement the Moneyball Strategy, which is a strategy that helps low-budget teams like the Athletics compete with high-budget teams by using a statistical analysis of baseball players that helps evaluate a player's contribution to a team, and it is a beneficial approach for low-budget teams to get undervalued players. With this in mind I found multiple resource on how team evaluate players, such as their health, age, performance among other. For my study specifically, I collected the total runs scored and the payroll for each MLB team from 1997-2024 to see if over time, teams used their money more effectively. I also collected the win percentage of all teams for the seasons 1998, 2008, 2002, and 2023 to graph and show the winning percentage and cost per run trend. With my data collected, the results showed no decrease in average run scored, and after 2002, payrolls continued to increase, and team efficiency remained low, but the winning percentage gap became smaller. Overall, my goal was to see if Moneyball made a difference and if it caused teams to be more efficient with their money; however, the result showed that while Money ball may have influenced some teams, it did not lead to a large increase in cost efficiency across the MLB league.
    • The Next Dog

      Raymondi, Madeline I. (2025)
      A guarded pre-vet student seeks compensation against an unidentified driver who harmed a puppy she reluctantly took in.
    • A Man Of Action

      Riotto, Michael A. (2025)
      Logline: A noteworthy director offers an aged action movie star the role of a lifetime under one condition: he must find the director's kidnapped wife.
    • Origins of the Ottoman Empire 1301-1453

      Dennis, Jack W. (2025)
      This study investigates the formative period of the Ottoman Empire between 1301 and 1453, tracing its transformation from a frontier principality into a powerful imperial force. Centering on a critical reassessment of long-standing historical narratives, most notably Paul Wittek's "Ghaza Thesis," which casts early Ottoman expansion as primarily driven by Islamic holy war. The paper argues that the Ottomans operated within a dynamic, pragmatic spectrum of motivations. Drawing from recent scholarship by Cemal Kafadar, Rudi Lindner, Caroline Finkel, and others, it emphasizes the fluid and adaptive strategies that defined Ottoman political and military behavior. Rather than being exclusively ideological or religious, early Ottoman conquests were shaped by a blend of tribal politics, strategic alliances, economic incentives, and localized power struggles. This project analyzes primary inscriptions, diplomatic marriages, and military campaigns to reveal how the Ottomans balanced cooperation with Christian powers, warfare against fellow Muslims, and the symbolic use of Islamic identity to legitimize rule. The inclusion of Christians in court, interfaith marriages with Byzantine nobility, and the flexible use of terms like "ghazi" illustrate the performative nature of religious identity in the frontier context. The paper also examines the internal mechanisms that sustained imperial expansion, such as the dev?irme system, the rise of the Janissaries, and the construction of a hybrid legal-administrative model influenced by both Islamic and Byzantine traditions. The Ottoman approach to governance was marked by tolerance, and incorporation allowed for remarkable stability even in the face of civil war and external threats, such as the crisis following the Battle of Ankara in 1402. Ultimately, this study refutes monolithic explanations of the formation of the Ottoman State and argues that its imperial success was built on strategic pluralism, frontier adaptability, and an evolving sense of legitimacy that drew from, but was not bound by, religious ideology.
    • The Aftermath of Violent Crimes: The effects of trauma on victims over time.

      Gauzza, Victoria (2025)
      This senior project is an exploration of trauma and its lasting psychological, emotional, and physiological effects on victims of violent crimes. Drawing from personal experience, case studies, and academic research, I examine how trauma manifests through PTSD, dissociation, hypersexuality, sleep disorders, and behavioral changes. The project features interviews and stories from multiple individuals affected by sexual assault, police violence, and childhood abuse, highlighting the diversity of trauma responses and coping mechanisms such as therapy, emotional support animals, and peer support groups. It also critiques societal responses, misconceptions about trauma, and the need for trauma-informed care and support systems.
    • Les Éphémèr`es and Homesick: A Phenomenological Analysis of Meaning-Making in Autobiographical Theatre

      Anderson, Margaret M. (2025)
      Theatre-makers use autobiographical theatre as a medium to pull their life experiences outside themselves and recontextualize them in an embodied realm, leaving it open for the artist and audience to prescribe meaning to the piece. Autobiographical theatre is a form of theatre where the playwright, director, or ensemble collect personal experiences and reconstruct them theatrically, creating an environment that invites an audience to observe. Retelling personal experiences theatrically enables the theatre maker to re-experience their past, providing the capacity for the artist to endow meaning onto their experiences. Phenomenologists aim to understand and explain how certain experiences show up to humans and how these experiences can create meaning for people. This essay examines two phenomenological theories of art and theatre by Alva Noë and Bert States, as well as analyzing two devised autobiographical theatre pieces: one by French theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine and the other by Theatre and Performance majors at SUNY Purchase, Maggie Anderson, Dana Freeman, and Judit Queral Perramon.
    • Acting While Black: The Effects of Misogynoir on Black actresses in Hollywood

      Ruffin, Rebakkah J. (2025)
      A senior project that dives into the effects of misogynoir on Black actresses in Hollywood. This retrospective focuses on four black actresses across different genres and decades as they provide insight into the experience of racism both on and off set. The project also opens up the larger question of how the current political climate will shape the new generation of Black actresses and their experiences.
    • Poinsettia Court

      Walton, Charlotte M. (2025)
      After a mysterious attack at a ball, a noble family in 1780's France struggles to climb the social ladder as they grow into their newfound lycanthropic urges.
    • THE PARLOR: HOSPITALITY, AFFECT, AND THE CURATION OF EXPERIENCE IN A TEA ROOM

      Arch, Luke (2025)
      This ethnographic study examines the inner workings of a restaurant called "The Parlor," a reservation-only tea room in Brooklyn, New York. The Parlor serves as the ideal space for looking at the restaurant industry ethnographically; drawing on meaningful participant observation, interviews, and my own experience. This paper examines how aesthetics and emotional labor come together to form an experience based on strict intentionality. Rather than focusing on food, The Parlor opts for a system structured around the curation of service and ambiance, inviting customers into a space of performative care. When examining and comparing the front and back of house in a space such as The Parlor, you begin to see how invisible and visible labor work in tandem to uphold the illusion of effortless service. This paper explores how workers navigate the emotional demands of service within this highly aestheticized environment, arguing that labor at The Parlor is shaped not just by physical tasks but by the constant performance of curated emotional experience. To condense this idea into a single question: Why does this work feel both performative and meaningful?
    • Pseudo-Random Number Generators: Why Would a Business Trust Its Profit to a Random Chance?

      Melis, Lola (2025)
      Slot machines, a cornerstone of the gambling industry, utilize Pseudo-Random Number Generators to introduce an element of chance. This study explores the mathematical and computational underpinnings of PRNGs, specifically focusing on the Linear Congruential Generator and the Mersenne Twister, to understand their effectiveness in casino settings. While the Mersenne Twister has shown superior performance in statistical tests like the Die-Harder suite, the LCG, despite its shortcomings in these tests, still meets the functional requirements for slot machines. This highlights that for casino applications, the quality of randomness does not need to be strong. Instead, PRNGs are employed to balance unpredictability with the casino's need for profitability, demonstrating that even generators considered weak for other purposes can be highly effective in ensuring the house edge. This research explores the mechanisms of PRNGs in slot machines and how the casino industry leverages the balance between randomness and control to ensure profitability, providing insights into this complex balance. This research argues that casinos rely not on perfect randomness, but on controlled unpredictability to maintain profit.
    • A Delicate Instance

      Handel, Ashly A. (2025)
      A Delicate Instance' uses digital photography, pinhole imagery, and darkroom photograms to explore the idea of impermanence while capturing the human trace drawn by time, memory, decay, and existence.
    • Missing in the Middle: Analysis of the Under Representation of South East Asian Women in U.S Television

      Tejpal, Priya (2025)
      U.S. television grants Indian women fewer than one percent of speaking roles, and those rare appearances typically recycle a narrow pair of tropes: the over-achieving, socially awkward professional or the exotic side character. Drawing on cultivation theory, self-perception theory, framing analysis, and Kimberlé – Crenshaw's intersectionality, this paper examines how such scarcity and stereotype translate into self-discrimination: a pattern of internalized doubt and narrowed career aspiration among Indian-American women. Findings show that symbolic annihilation on the screen fosters an identity crisis. It reduces interest in non-STEM careers, and reinforces colorist hierarchies by favoring light-skinned Indian actresses. The paper argues that these outcomes are not incidental but stem from industry gatekeeping that frames Indian-female narratives as commercially risky. Recommendations include diversifying decision-making roles, implementing intersectional inclusion audits, and embedding media-literacy curricula in K-12 education to disrupt the cycle whereby limited representation sustains both public bias and private self-limitation.
    • The Roots of a Nation: Lithuania's Historical Identity and the Klaip?da Uprising

      Niemeyer, Mara C. (2025)
      This project examines the 1923 Klaip?da Uprising as a key moment in Lithuania’s nation-building process. Framed by centuries of resistance to foreign rule, it explores how language, culture, and identity fueled grassroots mobilization in reclaiming the Klaip?da region. Drawing on historical sources and personal family narratives, the study argues that the uprising was not merely territorial—it was an assertion of sovereignty rooted in shared memory and cultural continuity.
    • Reimagining Contemporary Dance: Strategies to Reconnect Audiences and Revitalize Live Dance Performances

      Furfaro, Marissa A. (2025)
      This paper explores the American art form, contemporary dance, and its continuous struggle for mainstream value and financial support. As audience attendance waivers due to shifting cultural consumption habits, contemporary dance companies and artists must innovate to remain relevant. Through the utilization of secondary research drawn from academic, trade, and industry sources, the research which follows reflects current and past audience trends/desires as well as analysis from scholars inside and outside of the dance field to inform and support programming strategies that will benefit contemporary dance companies and their diverse audiences. The findings inform a set of programming strategies and recommendations for professional dance companies aiming to reconnect audiences and revitalize live dance performances in the 21st century.