Promoting Public and Private Reinvestment in Cultural Exchange-Based Diplomacy

Makes the case for renewed investment in public diplomacy and cultural exchange. Analyzes trends in government, foundation, and other private support for cultural diplomacy, the benefits and obstacles, and models of engagement. Details recommendations

Recognising anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in cardiac patients

Research has established that anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are risk factors for the development of heart disease in healthy populations. In addition, anxiety and PTSD are associated with further morbidity in people with existing heart disease. This article considers whether anxiety and PTSD influence onset and recovery from heart disease. Clinical implications for cardiac nursing are considered, including screening, treatment, and referral on to specialist services

The Hydrography of Barnstable Harbor, Massachusetts

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109846/1/lno1959440448.pd

Geology of the Great Lakes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109981/1/lno1959430356.pd

Fascism in Sci-Fi: Mobilizing Passions in Robert A. Heinlein\u27s Starship Troopers

This thesis responds to criticism of Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (1959) as a “fascist” novel by further investigating the claim through a close reading of the novel that applies political theory scholarship on fascism. Chapters I and II introduce the novel along with its general reception and controversy. These chapters consider the accusations of “fascism” given to the novel while at the same time understanding that a clear, exact definition of “fascism” has long been grappled with by scholars since the rise of the regimes in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Chapters III and IV apply political theory to examine Starship Troopers’s characters, language, and plot to find if the novel’s narrative expresses the “mobilizing passions” of fascism identified by Robert Paxton in The Anatomy of Fascism (2004). In addition to Paxton, the political theory analysis will also be aided by Roger Griffin’s The Nature of Fascism (1991) and Umberto Eco’s 1995 essay “Ur-Fascism.” The focus will be on “checking off” each mobilizing passion listed by Paxton, but consideration will also be given to how Starship Troopers buys into the “national rebirth” myth in Griffin’s definition of palingenetic populist ultranationalism as well as how it expresses certain fascist features observed by Eco. Chapters III and IV ultimately find that Starship Troopers’s narrative expresses all of the mobilizing passions listed. Chapter VI concludes the analysis by denouncing fascism and Starship Troopers’s vision of a false-utopia, pointing to the inherent ineffectuality and destructiveness of fascism. The concluding chapter closes with final remarks reflecting on applying current scholarship on fascism to the reading of a novel

The role of genotype in Saccharomyces cerevisiae resistance to 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol

The chemical 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) spilled in the Elk River near Charleston, WV in January 2014, impacting the drinking water of 300,000 residents. Initial studies on MCHM following the spill attempted to characterize its toxicological effects in animals, but largely ignored characterization of its effects on cellular pathways and metabolism. In this study, I used this chemical as a novel stressor for the model eukaryote S. cerevisiae to explore the relationship of genotype and stress phenotypes. Initial exploration characterized the stress phenotype of MCHM in yeast through growth assays, cell cycle analysis, and transcriptomic data. MCHM exposure caused cells to arrest growth in G1, activating a well characterized yeast process called the environmental stress response. Further exploration was carried out using a genetic screen of approximately 5000 haploid gene knockout strains, which combined with the transcriptomic data, revealed that the causes of the stress response in yeast were nutrient deprivation related to amino acid biosynthesis and reactive oxygen species production. A QTL analysis of standing variation between two parental strains with variable resistance uncovered the role of zinc homeostasis and its interaction with the hydrotrope chemical properties of MCHM in protein aggregation as a contributor to resistant phenotypes. Finally, an In-Lab evolution study to produce resistant strains for variant analysis showed mutations in the pleiotropic drug response transcription factor PDR3 cause a reproducible induction of MCHM resistance. These studies combined to characterize cellular changes from MCHM, identify genes required for tolerance, and explore both standing and evolved variation in genotypes that contribute to and produce an MCHM resistant phenotype

Photographic observations of 10 artificial meteors

Photographic observation of artificial meteo

Haze in the Klang Valley of Malaysia

Continuous measurements of dry aerosol light scattering (Bsp) were made at two sites in the Klang Valley of Malaysia between December 1998 and December 2000. In addition 24-h PM2.5 samples were collected on a one-day-in-six cycle and the chemical composition of the aerosol was determined. Periods of excessive haze were defined as 24-h average Bsp values greater than 150 Mm-1 and these occurred on a number of occasions, between May and September 1999, during May 2000, and between July and September 2000. The evidence for smoke being a significant contributor to aerosol during periods of excessive haze is discussed and includes features of the aerosol chemistry, the diurnal cycle of Bsp, and the coincidence of forest fires on Sumatra during the southwest (SW) monsoon period, as well as transport modelling for one week of the southwest Monsoon of 2000. The study highlights that whilst transboundary smoke is a major contributor to poor visibility in the Klang Valley, smoke from fires on Peninsular Malaysia is also a contributor, and at all times, the domestic source of secondary particle production is present

A systematic review of measures of mental health and emotional wellbeing in parents of children aged 0-5

BACKGROUND: A significant proportion of women with young children experience mental health problems and recent research suggests fathers may also be affected. This may have a long term negative impact on the child's development with significant costs to society. Appropriate measures are therefore needed to identify parents and children at risk. METHOD: This literature review aimed to identify the most reliable, evidence based global measures of mental health for parents of infants from pregnancy to 5 years postpartum (0-5 years). Literature searches were conducted on online databases and hand searches of reference lists were also carried out. Studies were included in the review if they reported information on measures of global psychological distress or wellbeing from 0 to 5 years postpartum. RESULTS: A total of 183 studies were included in the review, 19 of which directly examined the psychometric validity of an outcome measure. These studies reported information on 23 outcome measures, 4 of which had been validated in parents of children from 1 to 5. These were: the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Symptom Checklist (SCL), the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) and the Kessler scale (K10/6). Reliability and validity varied across studies. LIMITATIONS: Only a small number of studies included fathers and examined psychometric validity across the entire period of early childhood. CONCLUSIONS: The GHQ was the most frequently validated but results suggest poor reliability and validity. The SRQ and K10/6 were the most promising measures in terms of psychometric properties and clinical utility