A Reading of Phaedrus\u27s Eulogy in Plato\u27s Symposium

This thesis provides a reading of Phaedrus\u27s eulogy in Plato\u27s Symposium

Making Photographs Speak

It has often been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Making that picture spit out those mythical thousand words, as we can all attest, is no easy task. Over the course of the first half of the fall semester, the three of us were tasked with developing brief interpretive captions for two Civil War photographs each, with the end goal to display our work at the Civil War Institute’s 2019 Summer Conference. What initially appeared as a simple project quickly revealed itself to be a difficult, yet rewarding, challenge that taught us all important lessons concerning history, photography, and writing that we will not soon forget. Producing the photography exhibit enhanced our skills as historical writers, introduced us to the challenge of writing for a popular audience, and deepened our understanding of Civil War photography. [excerpt

Responses of Dragonfly Visual Neurons MDT3 and DIT3 to Near-Hit Looming Stimuli

Dragonflies are known to have highly sophisticated visual processing systems, allowing precise flight control and incredibly accurate prey capture (Olberg et al., 2000). These processes are mediated by a group of neurons known as Target Selective Descending Neurons, or TSDNs. Of the TSDNs, MDT3 and DIT3 are known to respond to objects expanding into the animal’s field of view, otherwise known as looming objects. Through the use of intracellular electrical recording, we aimed to understand how these two neurons work together to scan the entire visual field, as well as how they respond to objects on a trajectory to miss the animal. We found that MDT3 and DIT3 share the workload roughly evenly, with each neuron responding best to objects in its receptive field. Further, each neuron responded more robustly in response to stimuli on course to miss the animal, rather than those on a collision trajectory. This leads us to the conclusion that MDT3 and DIT3 are tasked with confirming that the animal is on the correct path to intersect a prey object, and if it is not, to provide information about the last-second flight path corrections that must be made

The Democratization of the Democratic Party: An Analysis of Democratic Party Reform 1972 - 2008

Frustration over the undemocratic nature of the 1968 Democratic Party presidential nominating contest set forth a reform movement that forever changed the Democratic Party and America’s political system. The resulting Committee on Party Structure and Delegate Selection (better known as the McGovern-Fraser Commission), at the direction of the 1968 convention, opened the Democratic Party to those outside of the Democratic establishment. The next 14 years would see a struggle between the Democratic Party establishment and “outsiders” over who would control the Democratic Party and its nominating process. This study examines the four major Democratic Party nominating process reform commissions over the 1970s and 1980s (McGovern-Fraser, Mikulski, Winograd, and Hunt) and whether or not each commission responded proportionately to perceived challenges from preceding election cycles. Additionally, this document provides analysis through the lens of the most recent Democratic Party nominating contest to prove that despite a strong role for the Democratic Party establishment, the current nominating system does not conflict with the original goals of Democratic Party reformers

Back to the Future: Hybrid Co-operative Pensions and the TIAA-CREF System

Hybrid retirement plans that combine the best features of defined benefit and defined contribution plans can provide an efficient and equitable method of ensuring retirement security for workers. Co-operative pension structures also enhance retirement security through risk pooling and leveraging economies of scale. Yet most U.S. private sector workers are not covered by these types of plan design. The TIAA-CREF system, which began in 1918 and covers millions of workers in the non-profit sector, provides an example of a plan design with features of a hybrid co-operative pension. We examine the historical performance of the core components, TIAA (a guaranteed fixed annuity) and CREF (a variable annuity), discuss key design features, and analyze data on contributions, investment returns, risk pooling, and retirement distribution characteristics

Comparative analysis of two methods for measuring sales volumes during malaria medicine outlet surveys.

BACKGROUND: There is increased interest in using commercial providers for improving access to quality malaria treatment. Understanding their current role is an essential first step, notably in terms of the volume of diagnostics and anti-malarials they sell. Sales volume data can be used to measure the importance of different provider and product types, frequency of parasitological diagnosis and impact of interventions. Several methods for measuring sales volumes are available, yet all have methodological challenges and evidence is lacking on the comparability of different methods. METHODS: Using sales volume data on anti-malarials and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria collected through provider recall (RC) and retail audits (RA), this study measures the degree of agreement between the two methods at wholesale and retail commercial providers in Cambodia following the Bland-Altman approach. Relative strengths and weaknesses of the methods were also investigated through qualitative research with fieldworkers. RESULTS: A total of 67 wholesalers and 107 retailers were sampled. Wholesale sales volumes were estimated through both methods for 62 anti-malarials and 23 RDTs and retail volumes for 113 anti-malarials and 33 RDTs. At wholesale outlets, RA estimates for anti-malarial sales were on average higher than RC estimates (mean difference of four adult equivalent treatment doses (95% CI 0.6-7.2)), equivalent to 30% of mean sales volumes. For RDTs at wholesalers, the between-method mean difference was not statistically significant (one test, 95% CI -6.0-4.0). At retail outlets, between-method differences for both anti-malarials and RDTs increased with larger volumes being measured, so mean differences were not a meaningful measure of agreement between the methods. Qualitative research revealed that in Cambodia where sales volumes are small, RC had key advantages: providers were perceived to remember more easily their sales volumes and find RC less invasive; fieldworkers found it more convenient; and it was cheaper to implement than RA. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS: Both RA and RC had implementation challenges and were prone to data collection errors. Choice of empirical methods is likely to have important implications for data quality depending on the study context

Devolution and its effects on health workforce and commodities management - early implementation experiences in Kilifi County, Kenya.

BACKGROUND: Decentralisation is argued to promote community participation, accountability, technical efficiency, and equity in the management of resources, and has been a recurring theme in health system reforms for several decades. In 2010, Kenya passed a new constitution that introduced 47 semi-autonomous county governments, with substantial transfer of responsibility for health service delivery from the central government to these counties. Focusing on two key elements of the health system, Human Resources for Health (HRH) and Essential Medicines and Medical Supplies (EMMS) management, we analysed the early implementation experiences of this major governance reform at county level. METHODS: We employed a qualitative case study design, focusing on Kilifi County, and adapted the decision space framework developed by Bossert et al., to guide our inquiry and analysis. Data were collected through document reviews, key informant interviews, and participant and non-participant observations between December 2012 and December 2014. RESULTS: As with other county level functions, HRH and EMMS management functions were rapidly transferred to counties before appropriate county-level structures and adequate capacity to undertake these functions were in place. For HRH, this led to major disruptions in staff salary payments, political interference with HRH management functions and confusion over HRH management roles. There was also lack of clarity over specific roles and responsibilities at county and national government, and of key players at each level. Subsequently health worker strikes and mass resignations were witnessed. With EMMS, significant delays in procurement led to long stock-outs of essential drugs in health facilities. However, when the county finally managed to procure drugs, health facilities reported a better order fill-rate compared to the period prior to devolution. CONCLUSION: The devolved government system in Kenya has significantly increased county level decision-space for HRH and EMMS management functions. However, harnessing the full potential benefits of this increased autonomy requires targeted interventions to clarify the roles and responsibilities of different actors at all levels of the new system, and to build capacity of the counties to undertake certain specific HRH and EMMS management tasks. Capacity considerations should always be central when designing health sector decentralisation policies

Corneal dystrophies: Differential diagnosis and management

Corneal dystrophies: Differential diagnosis and managemen

A3_6 Newton's Blood

This paper explores the change in force required within the blood vessels of the body if blood were not a shear-thinning liquid but Newtonian or shear-thickening. We found that for a Newtonian blood, the force would need to be 5.4 times the magnitude of actual blood, and for shear-thickening it would need to be 31.4 times as great