Scenic Design for an Original Script: Dinner With The Louminauts

This thesis examines the process for the scene design for the production of Dinner with the Louminauts by Jason Cutler. The University of New Orleans produced the show in the Fall of 2006. My graduate committee chose this project for me as partial fulfillment of my Masters of Fine Arts degree. This paper will serve as a record of the process, execution, and response of the scene design for this production. The text will be accompanied by all of my research, renderings, draftings, and other supporting materials that are applicable to the design process

Acceptability and Feasibility of a Multicultural Orientation-Informed Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Caregivers of Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Candidates

Objective: The current study developed and assessed caregiver perspectives of acceptability and feasibility of a family-based multicultural-orientation Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT) intervention for use with adolescents with obesity pursuing bariatric surgery and their caregivers. The intervention aimed to increase adolescent and caregiver psychological flexibility specific to adolescent implementation and caregiver support of health and related values-consistent behaviors. The intervention was iteratively refined to enhance acceptability among families of diverse sociocultural identities while ensuring feasibility of its implementation during routine interdisciplinary pediatric weight-management clinic visits. Method: Adolescent-caregiver dyads were recruited to participate in two intervention sessions during routine pre-operative visits. They completed demographic, psychosocial functioning, and prospective acceptability surveys prior to the first session. Psychosocial and retrospective surveys were completed following both sessions. Therapist acceptability and FACT fidelity were assessed by interventionists during post-session audio-recoded conversations. Descriptive statistics were used to determine if a priori thresholds of acceptability and feasibility related to caregivers were met, and were calculated for all measures at each timepoint. Results: Using caregiver, clinic, and therapist perspectives of acceptability and feasibility, a family-based multicultural-orientation FACT intervention was developed for use with adolescents undergoing bariatric surgery and their caregivers. All families who arrived in clinic participated in the intervention, however completion of research surveys demonstrated some feasibility difficulties. Conclusion: Increased involvement of caregivers in interventions supporting adolescent bariatric surgery candidates is indicated. The current intervention can acceptably be used to fulfill this need. Future studies should assess further acceptability and efficacy of the BRAVO intervention in bariatric and other pediatric populations

Between Desire and Reality: Samuel Richardson\u27s Clarissa and the Single Woman in Eighteenth-Century England

This thesis examines the emergence of the woman as a main character and hero in a new genre of book, the novel. The author chose to write the main character as one of the first women in writing to be opposed to getting married. Though she did eventually marry in the novel, the fact that she was comfortable staying single for a while shows the beginning of a shift in attitudes of the eighteenth century in fiction and in reality

Scenic Design for an Original Script: Dinner With The Louminauts

This thesis examines the process for the scene design for the production of Dinner with the Louminauts by Jason Cutler. The University of New Orleans produced the show in the Fall of 2006. My graduate committee chose this project for me as partial fulfillment of my Masters of Fine Arts degree. This paper will serve as a record of the process, execution, and response of the scene design for this production. The text will be accompanied by all of my research, renderings, draftings, and other supporting materials that are applicable to the design process

Determining the Presence of BPA in Vaping Mouthpieces

As more and more teenagers and young adults begin to vape, whether it be to quit smoking or to look cool, there is a potential for them to be exposed to bisphenol-A (BPA) through the plastic mouthpieces on the vapes. BPA is a molecule that is added in many plastics to make the plastic harder (Houlihan, Lunder, & Jacob, 2008). Unfortunately, BPA is structurally similar to estrogen as can be seen in Figure 1. The closeness of the structures can cause issues in humans such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and reproductive problems (Houlihan, Lunder, & Jacob, 2008). In recent years, BPA has been removed from many items such as water bottles and Tupperware, but vaping mouthpieces remain unregulated, therefore, there is a possibility that BPA could be used in making them. People who vape come in contact with their mouthpieces multiple times throughout the day, risking exposure to any BPA that may be in the plastic. To examine the levels of BPA in vaping mouthpieces, several mouthpieces were tested for BPA content. There were two different test groups. The first was ceramic mouthpieces, which do not contain BPA. The second consisted of plastic mouthpieces, that could possibly contain BPA. In order to determine the amount of BPA that was released from each mouthpiece, the mouthpieces were submerged in 50/50 methanol-water. Samples were taken at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 120, 180, and 1440 minutes. The samples were tested using an FS5 Spectrofluorometer from Edinburgh Instruments to measure the amount of fluorescence given off by the sample, which was then used to determine the concentration of BPA in the methanol-water based off of calculations from a calibration curve

Primordial Black Hole Production in Natural and Hilltop Inflation

We consider the possibility of primordial black hole, PBH, formation sourced by a rise in the power spectrum. The power spectrum becomes large at late times due to decay of the inflaton into vectors through a $\phi F \tilde{F}$ coupling. Two background inflaton models which are well supported by current Planck data are considered, natural inflation and hilltop inflation. Many of the papers considering formation of PBHs have considered a peaked power spectrum where $P_{\zeta}$ gets small again at late times. This avoids overproducing miniature PBHs which would evaporate and could violate BBN and CMB bounds. This paper examines the other way of avoiding these bounds, producing PBHs from perturbations formed closer to the end of inflation such that the PBHs are too small to violate these bounds. This has the advantage of allowing for simpler models in that no additional feature is needed to be added to evade constraints. Although these black holes would have evaporated, they can be close to without exceeding current BBN bounds, making it possible the signature will be revealed in the future. We calculate how the various model parameters affect the mass and number of PBHs produced. Any evidence for PBHs sourced from an inflationary power spectrum would provide evidence for inflation on a drastically different energy scale from the CMB, and thus would be highly valuable in answering what occurred during inflation.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figure

Reheating predictions in single field inflation

Reheating is a transition era after the end of inflation, during which the inflaton is converted into the particles that populate the Universe at later times. No direct cosmological observables are normally traceable to this period of reheating. Indirect bounds can however be derived. One possibility is to consider cosmological evolution for observable CMB scales from the time of Hubble crossing to the present time. Depending upon the model, the duration and final temperature after reheating, as well as its equation of state, may be directly linked to inflationary observables. For single-field inflationary models, if we approximate reheating by a constant equation of state, one can derive relations between the reheating duration (or final temperature), its equation of state parameter, and the scalar power spectrum amplitude and spectral index. While this is a simple approximation, by restricting the equation of state to lie within a broad physically allowed range, one can in turn bracket an allowed range of $n_s$ and $r$ for these models. The added constraints can help break degeneracies between inflation models that otherwise overlap in their predictions for $n_s$ and $r$.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figures. Revised in response to comments on the original version, and in preparation for submission for publication. More references and a new figure were adde

“Reticent as the Sphinx as to his own Valour:” The War Experience of Lieutenant Samuel Honey, VC, DCM, MM

Lieutenant Samuel Honey, VC, DCM, MM served in the Canadian Corps from 1916 to his death on 30 September 1918 during the Hundred Days campaign. Based on Honey’s letters and correspondence, this article offers a new perspective into his wartime experiences, the challenge of leadership, and his own insight into his role as a hero. Le lieutenant Samuel Honey, VC, DCM, M.M. a servi dans le Corps canadien de 1916 à sa mort le 30 septembre 1918 pendant la campagne des Cent Jours. Inspiré des lettres et de la correspondance du lieutenant Honey, cet article apporte un nouveau regard sur ses expériences en temps de guerre, la difficulté de diriger et sa propre vision de son rôle de héros