Divinity and Royalty in the Writings of Motoori Norinaga

This paper concerns the kokugaku movement as seen through the philosophy of Motoori Norinaga. Specifically, it looks at Norinaga’s view of the divine and its connection to his philosophy regarding Japanese royalty, the emperor, and the imperial line. It will examine the qualities of Norinaga’s thought that linked his philosophy of the divine with his views of the emperor, served to formulate his world view, and his idea of Japan’s place in the world

Mindful Symbiotic Ecosystems. Designing for Women in Remote Workspaces

Women represent 61% of designers in the workforce but hold only 29% of leadership roles. This disparity highlights a critical need for an ecosystem that removes barriers and cultivates mentorship, community, and leadership among women (Bolt, 2020). Even though women have proven their ability to succeed in male-dominated corporate cultures, the real question is not about capability but sustainability. Driven by overwork, competition, and burnout, the workplace does not just push women out; it leads to long-term instability for the entire organization (Krivkovich et al., 2024). In the workplace, a culture of masculinity reinforces harmful, outdated mindsets and glorifies aggressive, relentless overachievement at the expense of well-being (Stanaland, 2025). The current masculine corporate structure, driven by competition, ego, and hierarchy, imposes financial pressures, societal expectations, and workplace discrimination stressors that lead to burnout (Nagoski et al., 2019). Mindfulness provides a path to feminist leadership by challenging power structures and centering well-being. As a skill and a mindset, mindfulness fosters awareness of mental, emotional, and physical processes, helping individuals cultivate self-care and care for others (Mindful Leader, 2021). A feminist leadership model built on mindfulness rejects perfectionism and overachievement. Mindfulness redefines success as self-determination, redefining winning and failures, and allowing individuals to lead with empathy, gratitude, and motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Rather than framing leadership as a contest, this research evaluates how psychological safety and physical health can be prioritized through a sustainable feminist practice. This investigation proposes a mindfulness-based feminist framework integrating leadership and workplace sustainability. Through these frameworks, this investigation outlines how prototypes of corporate systems can create opportunities for security, unlocking creativity, innovation, and meaningful collaboration. Mindfulness, as a feminist leadership approach, redefines success not through competition but through care, inclusion, and collective well-being. Reimagining a future that values mindfulness in the workplace that brings feminist principles of collaboration, care, and empathy (Armbrust, 2016). This isn’t just about gender; it’s about the future of work itself

Mechanistic Understanding of Virus Retention during Virus Filtration for the Downstream Purification of Therapeutic Proteins

Ensuring viral safety is critical in the production of biotherapeutics derived from mammalian cell cultures. Virus filtration (VF) is a critical step in downstream bioprocessing, designed to remove potential viral contaminants while maintaining product yield and quality. However, virus retention efficiency can be influenced by process conditions, protein interactions, and membrane fouling mechanisms. This dissertation explores the mechanisms of virus retention in commercial virus filters and examines the effects of process pauses and protein fouling. In addition to virus filtration, this dissertation also evaluates Anion exchange Chromatography (AEX), which evaluates alternative AEX, such as AEX membrane and multimodal AEX membrane. The study used confocal laser scanning microscopy to visualize virus retention, providing direct insights into the retention behaviors of Minute Virus of Mice (MVM) in various feed conditions. Findings from this research offer better mechanistic understanding into virus filtration and alternative virus clearance methods, contributing to enhanced process robustness in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. In Chapter 2, virus filtration was conducted to investigate the impact of process pauses and different protein solutions on virus retention behavior within Planova™ series virus filters (20N, S20N, and BioEX) under constant flux (75 LMH) with high throughput. Confocal microscopy was used to image the fluorescently labeled MVM and ImageJ was used to plot the retention profiles. Each membrane with distinct membrane structures shows different virus retention profiles. The results demonstrate that process pauses effects promote deeper viral migration within membranes due to Brownian motion by diffusion. BSA-induced fouling significantly shifts and broadens retention profiles, indicating severe fouling effects and pore blockage. Conversely, mAb feeds, with minimal aggregates, result in minor retention shifts, primarily via adsorption-related pore narrowing. Building upon the findings presented in Chapter 2, the next Chapter 3 systematically explores the impact of flow dynamics (constant flux vs. constant pressure) on virus retention across three virus filters. Filtration experiments were performed under constant pressure at 0.1 MPa and constant flux conditions identical to those described previously. Confocal microscopy and retention profiles revealed that virus retention inside the membrane was significantly influenced by convective and diffusive transport mechanisms, which can be quantified by Peclet number. Under constant pressure, membrane fouling, particularly in the BSA feeds, worsens the localized virus retention through mechanisms of pore blockage and diffusion. This research provides mechanistic understanding into the impacts of membrane structure, filtration dynamics, protein feeds with different aggregates level and process pause on the virus retention behaviors. In addition to virus filtration, alternative virus clearance strategies, AEX, were investigated in this dissertation. Membrane chromatography provides notable advantages over traditional packed-bed chromatography, including higher achievable flow rates and reduced mass transfer limitations. Chapter 4 compares the MVM clearance performance of membrane adsorbers and conventional resin-based AEX columns in different protein feed solutions. AEX membrane exhibited better virus removal efficiency across varying flow conditions and maintained robust clearance even with feeds containing high impurity levels, demonstrating its promising potential as a viable alternative to traditional chromatography. Furthermore, recognizing the limitation posed by high salt concentrations on traditional AEX chromatography, chapter 5 evaluates multimodal membrane chromatography for virus removal during monoclonal antibody purification. The results highlight that multimodal membranes significantly enhance virus retention compared to conventional AEX membranes, thereby providing an effective, robust, and scalable approach for virus clearance

Fragments of a Note Written then Destroyed

Fragments of a Note Written then Destroyed is a meditation upon grief, memory, and transience. The titular ‘note’ refers to a lengthy journal entry in which the poet experienced an outpouring of emotion regarding the death of her beloved grandmother (mom’s mom) two years prior. The January 2025 death of the poet’s grandfather (mom’s dad) and the realization that, in the natural order of things, there was no longer anyone standing between death and her mother triggered an extreme and prolonged state of despair. This state culminated in a nearly four-page piece of writing which the poet refers to as “the closest thing I’ve ever written to a suicide note.” The poet tore the note to pieces then set them aside. The poet kept these pieces because, in spite of the darkness they held, they were the fruit of a labor-intensive writing session that the poet was not willing to let go to waste. The fragments of this note appear alongside ekphrastic poems which are centered upon very old photographs from the childhood of the poet’s grandmother. Taken in Lansing, Michigan from 1947 to 1957, these photographs came into the poet’s possession after her grandmother’s death in December 2022. These photos are themselves fragments—representations of moments past that the poet will never be able to ask her grandmother about. In collecting and responding to these fragments, the poet struggles to find balance between imagination and oblivion

ChatGPT Didn’t Write This . . . or Did It? The Emergence of Generative AI in the Legal Field and Lessons from Mata v. Avianca

It’s no secret: Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), for better or worse, is revolutionizing the world. The legal field and legal education at large are not immune to this explosion of possible uses for AI technology. However, as with any technological advancement, AI and Generative Language Models bring with them many challenges, including the implications of their use. One such challenge was vividly presented in the case of Mata v. Avianca, often referred to as “The ChatGPT Case.” Mata is a cautionary tale of the potential missteps that can trip up the unwitting user who naively relies on the lofty promises of programs like ChatGPT without exercising the due diligence and competence required of a legal professional. The core objectives of this Comment are three-fold. First, to identify some of the many ethical pitfalls that can emerge from the marriage of AI and the law, highlighting examples on display in Mata v. Avianca––the landmark case revolving around the misuse of generative AI. Second, to acknowledge the inevitable role AI is poised to play in legal practice and outline some basic guidelines that may help ensure the integration and use of AI in the legal field is responsible, fair, and ethically sound. Third, from the perspective of a law school student, to address the importance of implementing AI into legal education and the imperative of properly equipping future generations of legal professionals. Through an examination of the evolution of Artificial Intelligence in the legal field and lessons from Mata v. Avianca, this Author aims to shine a light on the nuances of AI’s ethically ambiguous landscape and provide a helpful roadmap for its responsible adoption into legal education and practice

On and Off the Court: Who am I?

From a very young age, athletically gifted individuals are encouraged to pursue their sport. This can lead to a strong maturity in an athletic sense, yet it comes at the expense of other areas of development. The early commitments to sport require the individual to make sacrifices that allow them to gain competency over others, as a result, additional values and identifying characteristics get pushed aside. Further, athletes are known for performing in the spotlight. Every game has an audience and one team ends up a winner, the other a loser. Typically, the athletes experience the highs of victory and the lows of losing to the fullest extent. This means the individual learns to measure worth through physical production (points scored, games won, plays made, etc.). When an athlete reaches the end of their career, what does this transition out of sport look like? What effect does it have on the individual in terms or mental and emotional toll? How tightly woven is athleticism to the individual’s identity and what role does it play in their perspective as a person? Through three interviews with former professional athletes, this project explores the topic of athletic identity creation and loss. This 40-minute documentary shares the story of the three athlete\u27s introduction to athletics, adolescence with the sport through high school, the collegiate experience as well as the professional experience, and finally the transition out of sport into retirement. In conclusion, this research project aims to better understand when and how athletic identity is created, which factors reinforce the athlete’s motivations and finally what helps an athlete transition out of their sport in a positive way

Integrating Data Analytics: Exploring the Best Methods To Evaluate Players’ Performance To Help Gain A Competitive Advantage On The Football Field

To succeed in the world of sports, leaders need to uncover and utilize any advantage possible in order to gain a competitive advantage over their competition. I discuss how leaders of a sports organization, specifically within the Arkansas Razorback football program, implement the use of analytics on and off the field, as well as how they use their data to create visuals, find potential strengths and weakness, and ultimately help them be more prepared for gameday. Using my personal experience as a Student Analyst for the Razorbacks, along with supplementary information, I share the latest tactics and the strategies for how sports teams measure and track performance in order to get the most out of their program

The Rise of Fitspiration: An Examination of Social Media Influence, Body Image Concerns, and Online Harassment

The fitspiration movement on social media has raised concerns about potential body image satisfaction issues and body standard internalization. The potential negative effects of body image dissatisfaction include disordered eating, excessive exercise, anxiety, depression, and a risk to online harassment victimization. This dissatisfaction from fitspiration is reinforced by pressures from family and friends. Relying on data from 347 respondents, the present study explores the potential relationship between fitspiration content consumption, body image dissatisfaction, social pressures, and experiences of online harassment. Bivariate correlations and regression analysis were employed to examine the connections between the variables. Results indicated that there was a significant, positive correlation between fitspiration and body image dissatisfaction. There was also a significant and positive correlation between body image dissatisfaction and online harassment. This is consistent with previous research, revealing larger, societal implications surrounding social media trends and their influence on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Future research is needed to determine what avenues could mitigate body image dissatisfaction and the pressures from social media