The Frames Behind the Games: Player's Perceptions of Prisoner's Dilemma, Chicken, Dictator, and Ultimatum Games

The tension between cooperative and competitive impulses is an eternal issue for every society. But how is this problem perceived by individual participants in the context of a behavioral games experiment? We first assess individual differences in players’ propensity to cooperate in a series of experimental games. We then use openended interviews with a subset of those players to investigate the various concepts (or ‘frames’) they used when thinking about self-interested and cooperative actions. More generally, we hope to raise awareness of player’s perceptions of experimental environments to inform both the design and interpretation of experiments and experimental data.Laboratory Experiment, Frames, Selfishness, Cooperation

"People make films about themselves": race, identity, and (re)writing history in Julie Dash's Illusions (1983) and Daughters Of The Dust (1991)

This thesis explores how history is (re)written alongside representations of race, place, and the “self” in Julie Dash's films Illusions (1983) and Daughters of the Dust (1991). Although Dash was the first Black American female filmmaker to have a feature film released theatrically in the United States, her work is often left out of traditional narratives of film history, signaling the continuation of racism and sexism in the mainstream film industry. Through a close analysis of Dash’s films, and her role in the Black independent film movement, I argue that Dash’s narrative approach creatively blends history, myth, and auto/biography, and thus works to reimagine, redefine, and rewrite the history of Black Americans. In an attempt to reinscribe Dash as a significant figure in U.S. history, this thesis puts Dash’s work in conversation with writers and thinkers from such fields as film studies, literature, and Black geographies, allowing for an interdisciplinary analysis of race, place, and Black feminist subjectivity in Dash's pivotal films

Lifespan-increasing drug nordihydroguaiaretic acid inhibits p300 and activates autophagy.

Aging is characterized by the progressive loss of physiological function in all organisms. Remarkably, the aging process can be modulated by environmental modifications, including diet and small molecules. The natural compound nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) robustly increases lifespan in flies and mice, but its mechanism of action remains unclear. Here, we report that NDGA is an inhibitor of the epigenetic regulator p300. We find that NDGA inhibits p300 acetyltransferase activity in vitro and suppresses acetylation of a key p300 target in histones (i.e., H3K27) in cells. We use the cellular thermal shift assay to uniquely demonstrate NDGA binding to p300 in cells. Finally, in agreement with recent findings indicating that p300 is a potent blocker of autophagy, we show that NDGA treatment induces autophagy. These findings identify p300 as a target of NDGA and provide mechanistic insight into its role in longevity

Roundtable The Islandmagee Witches 1711 Creative and Digital Project

In March and September of 1711, in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Ireland’s last witch trials took place. Eighteen-year-old educated gentlewoman Mary Dunbar accused eight Presbyterian women and one man from Islandmagee and the surrounding areas of using witchcraft to attack her in spectral or spirit form and to summon demons to possess her body. The women were tried on 31 March 1711 at the Spring Session of Carrickfergus County Assize Court. Despite pleading not guilty, they were convicted under the 1586 Irish Witchcraft Act and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and four stints in the pillory. Unlike most demonically-possessed persons, the incarceration of the convicted witches did not improve Dunbar’s health. Dunbar now claimed that William Sellor, husband and father to two of the convicted women, had begun bewitching her. William was convicted of witchcraft at the Summer Assizes in September 1711. Mary Dunbar however had died a few weeks earlier, just after the first trial, turning William’s original offence into a capital crime for which he was probably executed: he was thus one of a possible two people executed in Ireland under a witchcraft Act. The story of the trial is told in Andrew Sneddon’s book Possessed by the Devil: The Real History of The Islandmagee Witches and Ireland’s Only Mass Witchcraft Trial (History Press, 2013). Along with Victoria McCollum, Sneddon now heads the Islandmagee Witches 1711 Project (w1711.org). The following discussion outlines the origins, aims and outputs of the project

Age- and stress-associated C. elegans granulins impair lysosomal function and induce a compensatory HLH-30/TFEB transcriptional response.

The progressive failure of protein homeostasis is a hallmark of aging and a common feature in neurodegenerative disease. As the enzymes executing the final stages of autophagy, lysosomal proteases are key contributors to the maintenance of protein homeostasis with age. We previously reported that expression of granulin peptides, the cleavage products of the neurodegenerative disease protein progranulin, enhance the accumulation and toxicity of TAR DNA binding protein 43 (TDP-43) in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). In this study we show that C. elegans granulins are produced in an age- and stress-dependent manner. Granulins localize to the endolysosomal compartment where they impair lysosomal protease expression and activity. Consequently, protein homeostasis is disrupted, promoting the nuclear translocation of the lysosomal transcription factor HLH-30/TFEB, and prompting cells to activate a compensatory transcriptional program. The three C. elegans granulin peptides exhibited distinct but overlapping functional effects in our assays, which may be due to amino acid composition that results in distinct electrostatic and hydrophobicity profiles. Our results support a model in which granulin production modulates a critical transition between the normal, physiological regulation of protease activity and the impairment of lysosomal function that can occur with age and disease

Wellbeing and coping strategies of alcohol and other drug therapeutic community workers: a qualitative study

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategies utilised to facilitate the wellbeing of workers of an alcohol and other drug (AOD) therapeutic community (TC). Design/methodology/approach This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative study that involved in-depth interviews with 11 workers from an AOD TC organisation in Australia that provides both a residential TC program and outreach programs. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Three main interconnected themes emerged through analysis of the data: 1) The challenges of working in an AOD TC organisation, including vicarious trauma, the isolation and safety for outreach workers, and a lack of connection between teams; 2) Individual strategies for coping and facilitating wellbeing, such as family, friend and partner support, and self-care practices; 3) Organisational facilitators of worker wellbeing, including staff supervision, employment conditions and the ability to communicate openly about stress. The analysis also revealed cross-cutting themes including the unique challenges and wellbeing support needs of outreach and lived experience workers. Research limitations/implications Rather than just preventing burnout, AOD TC organisations can also play a role in facilitating worker wellbeing. Practical implications This paper discusses a number of practical suggestions and suggests that additional strategies targeted at ‘at risk’ teams or groups of workers may be needed alongside organisation-wide strategies. Originality/value This paper provides a novel and in-depth analysis of strategies to facilitate TC worker wellbeing and has implications for TC staff, managers and researchers

Primeras lecturas sobre las prácticas escénicas independientes platenses en la última dictadura: entre lo dicho y lo no dicho

El presente trabajo forma parte de una investigación acerca de las prácticas escénicas que tuvieron lugar en la época de la dictadura cívico eclesiástico militar de 1976 a 1983 en la ciudad de La Plata, en el ámbito independiente. La metodología para llevar adelante este trabajo incluyó la recopilación de fuentes teóricas y testimonios orales de diferentes dramaturgos de la época para que, a través de sus relatos, se pueda reconstruir lo sucedido en estos espacios, vinculándolos, además a los hechos que repercutieron durante el autodenominado Proceso de Reorganización Nacional en el ámbito artístico teatral en todo el país, acarreando como consecuencia de la represión cultural el exilio y/o desaparición forzada de una gran cantidad de artistas argentinos. Esta investigación pretende realizar un aporte de nuevos saberes sobre la historia teatral, indagando las memorias construidas respecto de las prácticas artísticas de la escena durante la última dictadura cívico militar, analizar los recursos estéticos-políticos de las obras de resistencia teatral y cuestionar el rol del artista-obra-público en dicho contexto.Facultad de Arte

RN Perception of Mentoring in a Hospital Environment

Background: Baptist Health South Florida currently has a formal mentoring program. Although there has been good attendance with the mentoring classes, the participants fail to commit to formal mentoring. Consequently, system-wide, there are few formally trained mentors. Purpose:This study was to understand the nurse mentoring culture within a hospital environment as well as identify and analyze the barriers to nurse mentoring using a focus group methodology. Methods: This qualitative study explored nurse perceptions of a mentoring culture within a hospital environment. Open-ended, conversational-style interviewing techniques with a semi-structured interview guide followed by probes to elicit more specific information were used to gain a full description of each nurse’s perceptions. Results: A structural model of mentoring as perceived by hospital nurses was developed from the data. Five overarching themes with corresponding subthemes emerged from the focus group data. (1) Mentoring culture: various mentoring models, informal vs formal, leader focused, and evolving. (2) Benefits: connections, development, retention, stability, patient safety, and making a difference. (3) Barriers: time, patients/patience, competition, knowledge deficit regarding mentor verses preceptor roles, lack of incentives, receptiveness, and voluntold. (4) Experience with mentoring: going above and beyond, lifetime relationships, personal/professional growth, feeling cared for. (5) Paradigm shift: match generational and cultural differences, resources, face to face, and voluntary. Conclusions: The study results have identified mentoring as an integral aspect of personal and professional growth within the hospital environment. The rewards of mentoring or being mentored translated into increased retention, and nurse satisfaction. However there are identified barriers that need to be overcome. The most notable finding was the distinct knowledge deficit regarding the role and responsibilities of a mentor verses a preceptor in the hospital environment