Juana Alicia: a Case Study of the Artist as Critical Muralist

Much has been written on Mexican Muralism and on the resurgence of mural art in the United States, and Chicana/o murals in San Francisco in particular, but very little has been written about mural artist Juana Alicia specifically, and none of this material has been gathered into one document. This study focuses on Juana Alicia as an important community-educator-artist-leader-activist, what educator and mural artist Arturo Rosette defines in his doctoral dissertation as a “critical muralist.” In particular, this study analyzes Juana Alicia’s 2012 mural, The Spiral Word, and places it within the context of mural art that functions as activist art, especially as it pertains to education, i.e. critical muralism. This study argues that many of Juana Alicia’s murals function as means of critical pedagogy, and that the complex densely packed narrative structure of The Spiral Word is particularly effective in this regard. By researching the literary and other source material for each image in The Spiral Word, this study concludes that decoding the complex iconography is a successful method of critical consciousness-raising

Extended Conventional Therapy In Adult Xlh Patients

Context: Treatment of X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) with active vitamin D metabolites and phosphate can partially correct skeletal deformities. It is unclear if therapy influences the occurrence of two major long-term morbidities in XLH: enthesopathy and dental disease. Objective: To investigate the relationship between treatment and enthesopathy and dental disease in adult XLH patients. Design: Observational and cross-sectional. Setting: Academic medical center’s hospital research unit. Participants: 52 XLH patients aged \u3e= 18 at time of study. Interventions: None Main outcome measures: Number of enthesopathy sites identified by radiographic skeletal survey and dental disease severity (\u3e5 or \u3c=5 dental abscesses), identified historically. Methods: Associations between proportion of adult life and total life with treatment and number of enthesopathy sites were assessed using multiple linear regression, while associations between these exposure variables and dental disease severity were assessed using multiple logistic regression. All models were adjusted for confounding factors. Results: Neither proportion of adult nor total life with treatment was a significant predictor of extent of enthesopathy. In contrast, both of these treatment variables were significant predictors of dental disease severity (multivariate-adjusted global p-value =0.0080 and =0.0010 respectively). Participants treated 0% of adulthood were more likely to have severe dental disease than those treated 100% of adulthood (adjusted OR 25 [95% CI 1.2-520]). As proportion of total life with treatment increased, the odds of having severe dental disease decreased (multivariate-adjusted p-value for trend=0.015). Conclusions: Treatment in adulthood may not promote or prevent enthesopathy; however it may be associated with lower risk of experiencing severe dental disease

The Use of Web-Based Support Groups Versus Usual Quit-Smoking Care for Men and Women Aged 21-59 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Existing smoking cessation treatments are challenged by low engagement and high relapse rates, suggesting the need for more innovative, accessible, and interactive treatment strategies. Twitter is a Web-based platform that allows people to communicate with each other throughout the day using their phone. OBJECTIVE This study aims to leverage the social media platform of Twitter for fostering peer-to-peer support to decrease relapse with quitting smoking. Furthermore, the study will compare the effects of coed versus women-only groups on women’s success with quitting smoking. METHODS The study design is a Web-based, three-arm randomized controlled trial with two treatment arms (a coed or women-only Twitter support group) and a control arm. Participants are recruited online and are randomized to one of the conditions. All participants will receive 8 weeks of combination nicotine replacement therapy (patches plus their choice of gum or lozenges), serial emails with links to Smokefree.gov quit guides, and instructions to record their quit date online (and to quit smoking on that date) on a date falling within a week of initiation of the study. Participants randomized to a treatment arm are placed in a fully automated Twitter support group (coed or women-only), paired with a buddy (matched on age, gender, location, and education), and encouraged to communicate with the group and buddy via daily tweeted discussion topics and daily automated feedback texts (a positive tweet if they tweet and an encouraging tweet if they miss tweeting). Recruited online from across the continental United States, the sample consists of 215 male and 745 female current cigarette smokers wanting to quit, aged between 21 and 59 years. Self-assessed follow-up surveys are completed online at 1, 3, and 6 months after the date they selected to quit smoking, with salivary cotinine validation at 3 and 6 months. The primary outcome is sustained biochemically confirmed abstinence at the 6-month follow-up. RESULTS From November 2016 to September 2018, 960 participants in 36 groups were recruited for the randomized controlled trial, in addition to 20 participants in an initial pilot group. Data analysis will commence soon for the randomized controlled trial based on data from 896 of the 960 participants (93.3%), with 56 participants lost to follow-up and 8 dropouts. CONCLUSIONS This study combines the mobile platform of Twitter with a support group for quitting smoking. Findings will inform the efficacy of virtual peer-to-peer support groups for quitting smoking and potentially elucidate gender differences in quit rates found in prior research. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02823028; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT0282302

Exploring the Efficacy of Consumer Education with Regard to Consumption of Branded and Luxury Counterfeit Merchandise

This study presents the topic of counterfeiting, its negative consequences and the fight against this illegal business. Consumer education was explored as a method of altering future purchase intentions of counterfeit merchandise. Results indicate strong support for the efficacy of a consumer education seminar with regard to knowledge, attitudes, and planned behavior toward the consumption of counterfeit merchandise. on demographic factors. After the educational seminar, students had a greater understanding of counterfeiting, felt more knowledgeable about the topic, acknowledged that it is illegal, realized how it affects the global economy and retailers, and linked it to social issues such as organized crime, terrorism, child labor, and sweatshops. In congruence with scholars who suggest consumer education as a vehicle to decrease counterfeit consumption, participants agreed that this seminar was educational and informative, and an effective means towards minimalizing the consumption patterns of counterfeit merchandise

African-American student perceptions of their parents' and guardians' attitudes towards education and academic achievement

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on January 26, 2012Dissertation advisor: Dianne SmithVitaIncludes bibliographic references (p. 123-144)Thesis (Ed.D.)--School of Education. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2011The purpose of this study was to examine African-American student perceptions of their parents' and guardians' attitudes towards education and academic achievement at five urban schools in the Kansas City, Missouri School District. One hundred four sixth grade African-American students responded to 28 statements about their personal beliefs and attitudes as well as their perceptions of their parents' and guardians' attitudes towards learning and education. Fourteen statements on the survey invited students to consider their personal thoughts and opinions about school and academic achievement; 14 statements also required students to predict their parents' and guardians' attitudes and feelings about the same or similar educational concerns. The Likert scale was used as a measurement method for assessing student responses. Information from this study established significant common factors among students and their interpretations of their parents' and guardians' attitudes regarding academic achievement. The survey results shed light on the complex relationships between messages students hear and beliefs they deemed were actually held by parents and guardians. Convictions students believe were espoused by primary caregivers may affect their own opinions about the value of education and their performance at school.Introductions -- Review of literature -- Methodology -- Results -- Discussion -- Appendix A. University of Missouri-Kansas City IRB approval letter -- Appendix B. Letter of Consent from the KCMSD Superintendent's Office -- Appendix C. Student survey assent form -- Appendix D. Parent/Guardian survey consent form -- Appendix E. Survey statements -- Appendix F. Student perception survey -- Appendix G. Definition of term