Auditory attention to memory is often overlooked compared to the visual domain. Our aim is to expand research within the auditory domain using a retro-cue paradigm. This paradigm allows us to investigate the attentional effects on auditory short-term memory representations through the strengthening and/or focusing of these memory representations. This study involved tasking participants to use their short-term auditory memory, and a visual retro-cue to detect a change in a temporal auditory feature, using amplitude modulated (AM) sounds. The visual retro-cue was either informative or uninformative. An informative retro-cue is a stimulus that effectively reduces the working memory load of the participant in accordance with the memory probe task, thereby increasing accuracy, d’, and/or response time on the memory probe task. The uninformative retro-cue is a stimulus that does not provide insight into the upcoming memory probe task and is used as a comparative baseline for the informative retro-cue. We hypothesized, based on past auditory research, that relative to uninformative retro-cues, the informative retro-cues would improve accuracy and response time, especially when detecting smaller changes in the probe’s amplitude modulated AM rate relative to its original AM rate. However, due to various limitations, our hypothesis was unable to be verified. Future directions solving these limitations will hopefully be taken in the future. We found trends in the data that, when the limitations are addressed, may lead to significance once the study is revisited.

During mammalian development pluripotent stem cells produce a myriad of structurally and functionally distinct somatic cells. The reprogramming of somatic into pluripotent cells is fundamental to the development of patient-specific cell sources applicable to biomedical science and regenerative medicine. Different experimental approaches can reprogram somatic into pluripotent cells: the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technique, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), and cell-cell fusion. However, the factors and mechanism underlying somatic cell reprogramming remain elusive. Extract cell reprogramming is a suitable system to identify factors and mechanisms responsible for somatic cell reprogramming because it is amenable to biochemical assays and manipulations that can identify factors and therefore mechanisms involved in the reprogramming process. One prerequisite for the biochemical dissection of cell reprogramming is the development of a large scale reprogramming system, which uses potent but inexpensive extract sources to reprogram large numbers of somatic cells. Here, I describe the development of a cell extract-based reprogramming system, which uses protein extract isolated from the oocytes of salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). The developed system supports the digitonin-mediated permeabilization and survival of somatic cells as well as the uptake and retention of large molecules such as proteins within somatic cells. Salmon oocyte extract can at least partially reprogram mouse somatic cells into pluripotent cells. The established extract-based reprogramming system provides evidence that salmon oocytes are a suitable cell source for the identification of factors and the dissection of mechanisms involved in somatic cell reprogramming.

It was generally recognized that the bioavailability, other than total content of heavy metals in soil, is crucial to predict metals' toxic effect on environment. Stable Isotope Dilution technique (SID) equipped with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a good way for measuring the potential bioavailable portion of metals in soils. In Chapter 2, we build method to accurately determined Cd (111Cd/114Cd) and the ratio of Zn (66Zn/68Zn) in soil suspension and then applied this to stable isotope dilution technique to successfully obtain the labile fraction of Cd and Zn in polluted soils.

In Chapter 3, it was found when compared to chemical extraction methods, the stable isotope dilution technique is the better way to assess bioavailability of Cd and Zn in soil to the earthworms Eisenia fetida and Lumbricus terrestris. Besides, the result showed on average, the fraction of labile Cd (44.7%) was significantly higher than that of Zn (25.4%), indicating that Cd is more chemically reactive in soil, which may explain the larger BSAFs for Cd in earthworms. In addition, it was found the accumulation of heavy metals was not only element-specific, but also species-specific.

In Chapter 4, the uptake and elimination kinetics of Zn and Cd by E. fetida and L. terrestris were investigated then. The kinetic rates were calculated using a first-order, one-compartment, toxico-kinetic model. Pronounced differences were found on the earthworms' uptake and elimination kinetics between Zn and Cd (p<0.01).

Lastly in Chapter 5, it was found earthworms' activity increased the pH value and decreased organic carbon content of soils. In addition, the results showed that the Cd, Zn contents in the casts was significantly decreased, while the percentage of 0.01M Ca(NO3)2, 1M CaCl2-extractable Cd and Zn, as well as the fraction of labile Cd and Zn in the casts were significantly increased, suggesting that the earthworms effectively improved heavy metals' lability.

This dissertation traces the charged dynamic of mimetic characterization in late Soviet literature though a study of the works of Yuri Trifonov, Andrei Bitov, and Vasilii Belov. Emerging from the Stalinist era and its socialist realist doctrine of the “positive hero,” Soviet writers faced the daunting opportunity of returning a human face to literary characters. This study argues that writers in the era of “developed socialism” were drawn towards this prospect of writing “living people” into their works, only to be stymied by the incompatibility and obsolescence of mimetic modes of characterization inherited from the Russian literary tradition to individuals shaped by both the horrors of the recent past and a nonheroic present. This ultimate failure of mimetic characterization led writers to reference the late Soviet individual through novel means: unable to adequately represent verisimilar characters in words, the authors explored in this dissertation wove the ethical and aesthetic dilemmas surrounding this impossibility into the structure of their texts themselves.The dissertation’s three chapters examine the specific ways each author responded to this mimetic challenge through close readings of the narrative structure and character systems of texts like Trifonov’s Dom na naberezhnoi [House on the Embankment], Bitov’s Pushkinskii dom [Pushkin House], and Belov’s Privychnoe delo [A Typical Matter]. These readings are informed by the theoretical writings of both Western and Soviet literary scholars such as Lidiia Ginzburg, Gyorgy Lukács, James Phelan, and Mikhail Bakhtin. Despite the diversity of their literary styles, all three authors participated in official literary culture, and as such particular attention is given throughout this dissertation to the reception of these writer’s characters by the Soviet critical apparatus. Late Soviet writers not only had to navigate the newly opened landscape of a “socialist realism without shores” but also engaged with the legacies of 19th century Russian realism, whose model of character greatly informed understandings of mimetic characterization for a revived Russian literary culture. The limitations of this model encountered by late Soviet writers and the innovations these encounters produced have implications far beyond the field of literary history. Recent decades have seen a widespread critical reevaluation of the field of “Soviet subjectivity,” with a particular focus on the Stalinist era. A flood of new information, in particular pertaining to the routine or “everyday life” was made available after the fall of the Soviet Union, which saw the opening of historical archives and a flood of non-fiction documents, diaries and memoirs. Valuable insights can be made from a study of accounts both narrated by and about fictional persons, and this study of characterization in the late Soviet era aims to recover notions of selfhood among the writers, critics, and readers of late Soviet literature.

Lichens are dependent on atmospheric deposition for much of their water and nutrients, and due to their sensitivity to pollutants, are commonly used as bioindicators for air quality. While studies have focused on epiphytic (tree dwelling) lichens as bioindicators, virtually nothing is known about crustose (rock dwelling) lichens. The atmospheric pollutants ozone (O₃) and nitric acid (HNO₃) are two major pollutants found within the Los Angeles Basin. While recent O₃ research suggests it does not significantly affect lichen growth, HNO₃ appears to be phytotoxic to some lichens. As both of these pollutants are deposited downwind from the L.A. basin into Joshua Tree National Park (JOTR), lichen species located in the park may provide a sensitive indicator of pollution effects. This research studied two lichen species of particular interest from Joshua Tree National Park, Lobothallia praeradiosa (Nyl.) Hafellner, and Acarospora socialis H. Magn., both of which are crustose species with unknown sensitivities to O₃, as well as hypothesized and unknown sensitivities to nitrogen compounds, respectively. Little research exists for either species, possibly because of the difficulty in working with crustose lichens. This research attempted to expand the background knowledge of these species by exposing them to varying levels of O₃ and HNO₃, to ascertain their physiological responses. Physiological measures of chlorophyll fluorescence, dark respiration, microscopic imaging, and lichen washes (as a proxy for membrane leakage), were measured throughout the exposure period. Results indicated that both species had similar sensitivities to O₃ and HNO₃. Both species registered physical damage during the O₃ fumigation, as well as a decrease in respiration. Neither species showed major physical damage to HNO₃, but both manifested a decrease in chlorophyll fluorescence, suggesting damage to the photosynthetic systems of the algae symbiont. These results suggest that both of these species could be used as passive bioindicators for O₃, but may not be technically feasible for use as bioindicators of HNO₃ pollution. Overall, this research expanded the background knowledge of these two crustose species, their possible interactions between the fungal and algal components, their susceptibilities to two different pollutants, and their potential use as passive bioindicators for atmospheric pollution.