Merry Christimas, Papa

Prose by Sarah Coffing

Retaliation

Prose by Sarah Coffing

Additions to the Algal Flora of Indiana

In January, 1933. the writer began working on a special problem in the identification of the plankton algae of the canal which cuts through the Butler University campus. The primary purpose of the problem is the study of the periodicity of the algae of the canal. It is planned to consider in a later paper this study of periodicity which will include both seasonal and weekly variations which occurred in the kinds of algae and the effect of temperature of water and amount of precipitation upon the algal flora. From January 30 to October 30 the algae from forty samples of water were identified. It is hoped that the later paper on periodicity will include fifty-two samples, a sample being taken once a week at regular intervals

Schematic Design and Peer Review of Gayaza Medical Center and Walk-In Clinic

This report outlines the structural portion of the work done for the Gayaza Medical Center in Kampala, Uganda. This project was funded by HIINGA, an impact fund doing work in Eastern Africa, who tasked an interdisciplinary group of Cal Poly students with developing a preliminary design for the the medical center. The team consisted of Annebel van der Meulen (architecture), Abigail Coffing and Alexis Buhr (structural), and Arley Landis and Brett Shank (construction management). After completing the initial design, the structural team at Cal Poly rejoined the project the following quarter to do a peer analysis of the finalized structural drawings for the engineering team in Uganda

A quantitative study of the phytoplankton of the White River canal, Indianapolis, Indiana

Numerous quantitative investigations of lake and river plankton are recorded for this country, but there seems to have been little work done on quantitative studies of canal phytoplankton. The present quantitative investigation of one year on the phytoplankton of the White river canal in Indianapolis, Indiana, follows a previous year of study of the taxonomy and periodicity of the plankton flora of that canal. There are apparently no published records of quantitative studies of plankton made in the vicinity of Indianapolis

Adherence to Surveillance Guidelines in Nondysplastic Barrett’s Esophagus

Introduction: Surveillance patterns in Barrett's esophagus (BE) are not well characterized. Guidelines published between 2002 and 2008 recommended surveillance esophagogastroduodenoscopy (sEGD) at 3-year intervals for nondysplastic BE (NDBE). We assessed guideline adherence in incident NDBE in a Veterans Affairs (VA)-based study. Methods: At a single VA center, we identified incident cases of biopsy-confirmed NDBE between January, 2006 and December, 2008. We excluded patients aged 76 years and above and those who developed BE-associated dysplasia or cancer during follow-up. All sEGDs through October, 2014 were documented. Our primary criteria classified cases as guideline adherent if a sEGD was performed within 6 months of each expected 3-year surveillance interval; in cases with >=2 sEGDs, 1 sEGD >6 months, and <=1 year outside an interval was allowed if the average interval was between 2.5 and 3.5 years. Comorbidity, primary care encounters, presence of long-segment BE (LSBE), endoscopist recommendations, and Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) were assessed. Results: We identified 110 patients (96.4% male, 93.6% white) with mean age 58.9+/-8.5 years at index EGD. Median follow-up was 6.7 years (range, 3.7 to 8.6). Thirty-three (30.0%) cases were guideline adherent; 77 (70.0%) cases were nonadherent, including 52 (47.3%) with irregular surveillance and 25 (22.7%) with no surveillance. Forty cases (14 adherent) had 1 sEGD, 36 (18 adherent) had 2, 8 (1 adherent) had 3, and 1 nonadherent case had 4. Adherent cases were significantly older (61.5 vs. 57.9 y, P=0.04), and tended to have more LSBE (33.3% vs. 20.8%, P=0.16). There were no differences between adherent and nonadherent cases in annual primary care encounters (72.7% vs. 66.2%, P=0.66), CCI>=4 (15.2% vs. 15.6%, P=0.95), biopsy-positive sEGDs (75.8% vs. 76.6%, P=0.92), and any recommendation for subsequent surveillance (81.8% vs. 77.9%, P=0.65). A logistic regression model using age, CCI, and LSBE showed an independent association between adherence and older age (P=0.03). Conclusions: In a single-center VA cohort, sEGD of NDBE was mostly nonadherent to guidelines. Adherent cases were older at baseline with a trend toward more LSBE. A larger study is needed to identify medical and social factors associated with adherence or nonadherence to surveillance

Predictive Factors of Bullshit Receptivity Among Adults

Bullshit receptivity is a relatively new concept in the field of psychology and refers to people’s susceptibility to providing meaning to meaningless claims. Ascribing meaning to meaningless claims is a way to make inaccurate judgments regarding the behaviors, events, and interactions around each person. The research on bullshit receptivity is scant. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional survey design study was to investigate whether critical thinking, individualism–collectivism, political ideology, religiosity, right-wing authoritarianism, social–dominance orientation, and need for closure predict bullshit receptivity. These variables were selected to represent a greater conglomeration of daily internal and external factors that affect a person’s processing of data both to oneself and toward others. Kruglanski’s lay epistemic theory was used as the backdrop for this study. Participants of this study were 167 English-speaking adults who completed an online survey and were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. A stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine if the predictor variables or a subset of these variables predicted the criterion variable of bullshit receptivity. Results of this study indicated that critical thinking and vertical collectivism were significant predictors of bullshit receptivity. The results of this study have the potential implications for positive social change by raising awareness about how critical factors relate to bullshit receptivity. The potential to understand what makes individuals more receptive or resistant toward bullshit claims can help determine what factors contribute to falling for bullshit. Maintaining dialogue or engaging in open debates is difficult when people are not critical about evaluating statements

Design and modeling of a high current switching regulator

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-231).by Danielle Coffing.M.Eng