Catherine Carse to Mr. Meredith (2 October 1962)

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/mercorr_pro/1502/thumbnail.jp

Trust as Robustly Moral

Trust is more than mere reliance on another person. To trust someone is to rely on her goodwill for the care of something valuable. It is to have a confident expectation that the other person will take care of the valuable thing because she recognizes its value to you. It is to expect her to take care of it because she recognizes that she should take care of it. Therefore trust is a robustly moral attitude

Characterisation of human surfactant protein A and recombinant human vimentin in their modulation of HPV16 pseudovirus infection

Infection by oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary cause of cervical cancer, where low-and middle-income countries (LMIC) have the highest incidence. Prophylactic HPV vaccines exist but LMIC have limited access. Therefore, alternative preventative measures against HPV infection and cervical cancer progression are needed. Two human proteins have been identified in our laboratory that modulate HPV16 pseudovirus (HPV16-PsVs) infection in vitro, namely surfactant protein A (SP-A) and recombinant human vimentin (rhVim). Previous work suggested SP-A mediated immune recognition of HPV since SP-A-coated HPV16- PsVs enhanced viral uptake by RAW264.7 murine macrophages. These initial observations were confirmed using a murine C57BL/6 cervicovaginal challenge model: pre-incubation of HPV16- PsVs with purified human SP-A significantly reduced the level of HPV16-PsV infection in vivo. Moreover, when isolated cells from female reproductive tracts of naïve C57BL/6 mice were incubated with HPV16-PsVs and stained for selected innate immune cell populations by flow cytometry, significant increases in viral uptake by eosinophils, neutrophils, monocytes and macrophages were observed over time using SP-A-pre-coated virions compared to control particles. Compared to SP-A mediated modulation of HPV infection through activation of innate immune responses, rhVim was suggested to directly interfere with HPV entry into host cells. Indeed, supplementation with non-filamentous rhVim resulted in decreased viral uptake by NIKS cells which was confirmed in vivo using the murine C57BL/6 cervicovaginal HPV16-PsVs challenge model. Co-localisation analysis employing confocal imaging, revealed that rhVim-coated HPV16- PsVs co-localised, to a lesser degree, with surface-expressed heparan sulphate proteoglycans (HSPGs) than control particles. Removal of surface HSPGs on NIKS cells decreased HPV16-PsVs cell surface binding and internalisation, while pre-incubation of HPV16-PsVs with rhVim decreased viral particle binding and internalisation to a greater extent. This indicates that rhVim may modulate HPV16 infection by interfering with its attachment to HSPGs as well as viral engagement with the yet unknown entry receptor(s). In summary, both SP-A and vimentin modulate HPV16-PsVs infection by different mechanisms. These in vivo studies strongly confirm previous in vitro observations, rendering both proteins potentially suitable for further development into possible candidates for use in topical microbicides, which may provide protection against new HPV infections

Taking the Drudgery Out of Ironing Day

The ironing is done for another week, and I\u27m dead tired, as usual. This remark, or a similar one, is heard in a great many homes every Tuesday

Parent-Focused Interventions, Family Need, and Family Adjustment for Parents of Children with Autism

Children with autism often have disability-specific deficits such as delays in communication and social interaction, restricted interests, rigid thinking patterns, repetitive behaviors, atypical responses to sensory experiences, and challenging behaviors (Balbouni et al., 2016; Bishop et al., 2012; Chistol et al., 2017; Anixt et al., 2018). As a result, parents of children with autism face unique challenges compared to parents of neurotypical children and report high levels of stress, especially towards their child’s challenging behaviors (Stadnick et al., 2017). Parent stress has been shown to cause dysfunction in family adjustment (Keen et al., 2010). Families may seek child-focused or parent-focused interventions to improve their child’s communication, social skills, and behavior. Parents of children with autism also report unmet needs related to information about their child’s disability, behavior management, and treatment avenues (Brown et al., 2012). Due to unique deficits and their impact on parent stress, children with autism are typically the main focus of research with parent stress also being a lead interest of parent-focused research. However, the influence of parent-focused interventions on factors like family adjustment and family need is currently understudied. This quantitative survey study explored the relation between family adjustment and family need as well as the relation between specific parent-focused interventions with family adjustment and family need for a sample of 62 caregivers of school-aged children with autism. Analyses included conducting descriptives and a series of multiple regression analyses. The results suggested family adjustment was a significant predictor of family need. Specifically, increased ratings of family maladjustment were consistent with more unmet needs reported by a family. The specific type of parent-focused intervention received by a family was not significant in predicting family needs or family adjustment. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed

Development of an alternative transport appraisal technique: the transport quality of life model

This thesis justifies, designs and tests a new transport appraisal technique – the Transport Quality of Life (TQoL) model. In the United Kingdom the New Approach to Transport Appraisal (NATA) is presently used to appraise the economic, environmental and social impacts of transport projects. Although recently updated, NATA still does not include the assessment of individual’s travel experience – and yet, to make fully informed decisions on the impact of future schemes, it is important to understand more about passenger’s current journey quality. This thesis thus explores the potential of Quality of life (QoL) techniques as one means of addressing this gap in appraisal methods and scope. For the purposes of this thesis, TQoL is defined as the passenger experience of travel. Through the thesis a TQoL model was progressively refined and developed –from an initial Mark I model to a more evolved and developed Mark III model - to produce an appraisal tool that highlights differences in journey experience. To develop the model and to determine whether a TQoL approach was a valuable addition to transport appraisal, QoL techniques were applied to the transport networks of Glasgow and Manchester. In each city three modes of public transport were analysed to identify the mode providing the highest TQoL. A two-part household survey was used to gather data. The first survey was city-wide to gain the weightings for the TQoL indicators. The second was collected from selected transport corridors to evaluate TQoL. The results were quantified and presented in spider diagrams. T-tests were then used to identify the significant differences in TQoL. Factor analysis on the data from both Glasgow and Manchester showed that a TQoL model can be based on five factors - access and availability, sustainable transit, environment, personal safety and transport costs. Applying the final TQoL model showed that in both locations fixed modes - particularly Light Rapid Transport - provide a significantly higher TQoL compared to bus TQoL. By evaluating transport from the passenger’s viewpoint, the TQoL model can make transport appraisal more comprehensive. The thesis therefore concludes that the TQoL model should be used to supplement existing techniques to enable policy makers and practitioners make better informed decisions about improving the quality of transport

Are Auditor and Audit Committee Report Changes Useful to Investors? Evidence from the United Kingdom

Recently, U.S. and international regulators have proposed significant changes to auditor and audit committee reporting with the stated intention of delivering more useful information to stakeholders. Whether new disclosure requirements achieve this intended benefit, however, is unknown. Exploiting the exogenous shock of the recent changes to auditor and audit committee reports in the United Kingdom, I find that information asymmetry significantly decreased following the implementation of the new disclosure regime. Furthermore, I find that reductions in information asymmetry are greater for firms with weaker information environments, suggesting that the new disclosure requirements particularly benefit investors in these firms. Additionally, I find some evidence that companies employing auditors that tend to provide more (less) detailed audit reports under the new regime experience more (less) significant reductions in information asymmetry. Overall, it appears that additional required disclosures from audit committees and auditors provide new and useful information to investors and serve to reduce information asymmetry. The results of this study provide important information to regulators, auditors, audit committees, public companies, and capital markets worldwide

A follow-up study and job-activity analysis of the 1953-1958 secretarial graduates of Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Older adult requirement data - what designers want!

It is well recognised that many products do not meet the requirements of the rapidly growing older adult population. The research described in this paper aims to provide designers with relevant and useable older adult requirement data. Data relating to older adults capabilities is being produced largely by the biomechanics community however, there is little evidence of its adoption in the design of everyday products. This project focused specifically on the design of everyday consumer packaging. Poorly designed packaging can present a significant barrier to achieving one of the most important basic activities of daily living - being able to feed oneself. Initially, a study of practicing packaging designers was conducted to establish how they currently design for older adults, what data they use and why. Relevant "new" design data was developed from biomechanical analysis undertaken in this project. This was presented to packaging designers in a series of interviews which established exactly what data designers want and the best formats for integration in the design process. This paper focuses on the findings of the initial study of practicing designers and the follow up interviews