Pleasing 'the common sort exceedingly well': An interdisciplinary repositioning of the British Portrait Miniature c. 1520-1650

This thesis re-positions the portrait miniature within its original social and cultural milieu. To-date scholarship has focussed on the miniature within the homes of the nobility and has explored the role of the art form as a means whereby the owner and the viewer could create and maintain their own mutually dependant elite positions. This thesis, however, explores the position of the miniature within the lives of the middling sort. In order to do this, it examines a wider range of miniatures than has previously been explored and brings together a new set of visual objects referred to as 'small pictures' alongside the now better-known portrait miniatures. By considering the art form across a number of disciplines, including English literature, art history, history, and drama this thesis seeks to understand the miniature as both a material object and as a complex and shifting concept throughout the period from c. 1520 to 1650. To find out how miniatures were considered by their contemporary audiences I examine in chapter one what was written about them and the contexts in which writers positioned the art form. Building upon this, the thesis investigates who might have been interested in this written knowledge and will explore how the information could be used differently by artisans, scholars, heralds and leisured readers. This chapter, thereby, establishes the range of different audiences who had access to and defined how a miniature could be understood. The second chapter examines what a miniature looked like for contemporary audiences. It analyses the results of a study of over one thousand miniatures to determine the material characteristics and physical appearance of these objects. This miniature database is included as appendix 1 at the end of the thesis. The chapter includes well-known examples of the art form, now commonly referred to as 'portrait miniatures', which form approximately half of the database, alongside the new category of 'small pictures', which form the other half of the database. These small pictures share many of the same similarities as the portrait miniatures, but they are not all executed in watercolour on vellum as the portrait miniatures are, some are larger than 80 mm in length and could be considered cabinet paintings and some were not made by painters working predominantly in Britain. This re-establishes the wider range of miniature art which early audiences had access to but which has been absent from recent scholarship. This latter group of hitherto under-explored small pictures include those which represent the faces of now unknown sitters, those made by amateur painters, and those painters who were working in a different aesthetic from the now better-known courtly style. The chapter ends with an analysis of the similarities and differences between miniatures representing individuals of different degrees. The third chapter investigates who owned the miniatures. It analyses the results of over one thousand probate inventory records which detail the possessions of both nobles and non-nobles residing in Bristol, Ipswich, Chesterfield, Stratford-upon-Avon and Banbury. This informs a consideration of the reasons behind the growing fashionability of miniatures, the significance of the rooms in which small pictures were placed, and how individuals could have acquired these pictures. The second part of this chapter is a case study of Bristol, situated over one hundred miles from London, which highlights the access to visual culture in regional centres. By using the information in chapters one and two of the thesis it explores what the 'small pictures' may have looked like in the homes of the middling sort and how their owners and viewers may have considered them. The fourth chapter examines drama which features miniatures in order to understand how the art form was positioned conceptually. It focusses on three plays, John Redford's Wit and Science (c. 1540), William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will (c. 1601) and Philip Massinger's The Picture (1629) to explore the different discourses to which miniatures contributed. This final chapter also investigates how the ideas surrounding miniatures may have been interpreted differently by audiences, depending upon their individual familiarity with visual culture and how these ideas shifted over time and place

Polarization and Presidential Elections: How Polarization Influences Political Participation and Turnout in the U.S. South

In an increasingly polarized American political climate, it is important to consider how this environment impacts citizens across different states and regions. Previous literature has stated that the more polarized and ideologically extreme citizens are, the more likely they are to become politically involved. These citizens are more likely to become involved in a campaign, and to donate to a political cause. This information is particularly relevant when considering the Southern region in the United States, states that have become more politically engaged, and increasingly of interest in presidential elections. In my analysis I study states in the Southern region to discover if political behavior is different in swing states versus more homogenous states. The results suggest that individuals with higher levels of ideological extremity tend to engage in more political participation, and campaign contribution, but do not see as large of a difference between the two political parties.Bachelor of Art

Outdated? No Way!

A poster presented by Maxxwel Megibben, Kyra Renner, Cat Cox and Gabe Lindsey for the class Libraries and Literacies: Plans for the Future of Libraries.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/gsp_projects_2019/1009/thumbnail.jp

Expanding Full-Service Community Schools into Rural Minnesota

Communities throughout rural Minnesota would greatly benefit from full-service community schools to support academic achievement and contribute to thriving communities. Lack of health and human services, mental health disparities, and cultural divides are among the greatest concerns for students in rural areas. One in 5 children birth to eighteen has a diagnosable mental health condition and 1 out of every 10 children experience a mental health problem that is severe enough to impair how they function at home, in school, and in their communities. When youth come to school hungry or experiencing in-home trauma, academic success is hard to achieve. Many children who have mental health needs and are referred to services do not attend the first appointment. Up to three-quarters of youth end services prematurely. The full-service community school model is an approach demonstrated to increase enrollment, and improve attendance and academic outcomes. Full-service community schools around the nation are providing supports, uniting communities, reducing barriers, improving educational achieve, and reducing educational gaps. It is vital that local health and human service agencies work together with community schools to improve service delivery for students and their families. Minnesota needs to increase its investment in the full-service community school model by expanding the availability of full-service community schools throughout every region of greater Minnesota

Reliability estimation based on operational data of manufacturing systems

Maintenance management has a direct influence on equipment reliability and safety. However, a large portion of traditional maintenance models and reliability analysis methods usually assumes that only perfect maintenance is performed on the system and the system will restore to as good as new regardless of the kind of preventive maintenance work-order that is performed. This is not practical in reality and may result in an inaccurate parametric estimation. The research objective of this paper is to develop a maximum likelihood estimation method to obtain more accurately estimated parameters based on the operational data of manufacturing systems, taking into consideration the difference between perfect and imperfect maintenance work-orders. Weibull distribution is specifically studied for this purpose. A practical case study based on industrial operational data from an automotive assembly line is performed to illustrate the implementation and efficiency of the proposed reliability estimation method. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61212/1/959_ftp.pd

Online Pilot Grocery Intervention among Rural and Urban Residents Aimed to Improve Purchasing Habits

Online grocery shopping has the potential to improve access to food, particularly among low-income households located in urban food deserts and rural communities. The primary aim of this pilot intervention was to test whether a three-armed online grocery trial improved fruit and vegetable (F&V) purchases. Rural and urban adults across seven counties in Kentucky, Maryland, and North Carolina were recruited to participate in an 8-week intervention in fall 2021. A total of 184 adults were enrolled into the following groups: (1) brick-and-mortar “BM” (control participants only received reminders to submit weekly grocery shopping receipts); (2) online-only with no support “O” (participants received weekly reminders to grocery shop online and to submit itemized receipts); and (3) online shopping with intervention nudges “O+I” (participants received nudges three times per week to grocery shop online, meal ideas, recipes, Facebook group support, and weekly reminders to shop online and to submit itemized receipts). On average, reported food spending on F/V by the O+I participants was USD 6.84 more compared to the BM arm. Online shopping with behavioral nudges and nutrition information shows great promise for helping customers in diverse locations to navigate the increasing presence of online grocery shopping platforms and to improve F&V purchases

Bivariate Interval-Censored Failure Time Data

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Cook, R. J., Zeng, L. and Lee, K.-A. (2008), A Multistate Model for Bivariate Interval-Censored Failure Time Data. Biometrics, 64: 1100–1109. doi: 10.1111/j.1541-0420.2007.00978.x, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-0420.2007.00978.x/abstract. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving. The definitive version is available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-0420.2007.00978.x/abstract’Interval-censored life-history data arise when the events of interest are only detectable at periodic assessments. When interest lies in the occurrence of two such events, bivariate-interval censored event time data are obtained. We describe how to fit a four-state Markov model useful for characterizing the association between two interval-censored event times when the assessment times for the two events may be generated by different inspection processes. The approach treats the two events symmetrically and enables one to fit multiplicative intensity models that give estimates of covariate effects as well as relative risks characterizing the association between the two events. An expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm is described for estimation in which the maximization step can be carried out with standard software. The method is illustrated by application to data from a trial of HIV patients where the events are the onset of viral shedding in the blood and urine among individuals infected with cytomegalovirus.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN 155849); Canadian Institutes for Health Research (FRN 13887); Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) – CIHR funded (950-226626

Prevalence and nature of bullying in schoolchildren aged 10–14 years and its association with malocclusion: A cross-sectional study in the South East of the UK

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of, and relationship between, bullying and malocclusion in schoolchildren aged 10–14 years in the South East of the UK. Design: Cross-sectional cohort study. Setting: Sixteen primary and secondary schools in South East of the UK. Participants: Schoolchildren aged 10–14 years who were consented to participate. Methods: The prevalence and nature of bullying were measured using a questionnaire. Traits of malocclusion and the need for orthodontic treatment was assessed by clinical examination and determined by the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) Dental Health (DHC) and Aesthetic components (AC). Results: Complete data were collected for 698 participants. The number defined as being bullied was 68 (9.7%). There was no difference in the prevalence of bullying between gender, ethnicity or age. Higher rates of bullying were reported in mixed sex schools ( P = 0.03). Participants with an increased overjet ( P = 0.02) and/or a greater need for treatment, as measured by IOTN DHC ( P = 0.01) and AC ( P = 0.01), reported higher rates of bullying. While there was no difference in the overall prevalence of bullying between genders, boys were more likely than girls to experience physical bullying ( P <0.001) and being called names ( P = 0.03) Conclusion: A significant relationship was evident between being bullied and certain traits of malocclusion

Prodromal Glutamatergic Modulation with Riluzole Impacts Glucose Homeostasis and Spatial Cognition in Alzheimer\u27s Disease Mice.

BACKGROUND: Prior research supports a strong link between Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) and metabolic dysfunction that involves a multi-directional interaction between glucose, glutamatergic homeostasis, and amyloid pathology. Elevated soluble amyloid-β (Aβ) is an early biomarker for AD-associated cognitive decline that contributes to concurrent glutamatergic and metabolic dyshomeostasis in humans and male transgenic AD mice. Yet, it remains unclear how primary time-sensitive targeting of hippocampal glutamatergic activity may impact glucose regulation in an amyloidogenic mouse model. Previous studies have illustrated increased glucose uptake and metabolism using a neuroprotective glutamate modulator (riluzole), supporting the link between glucose and glutamatergic homeostasis. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that targeting early glutamatergic hyperexcitation through riluzole treatment could aid in attenuating co-occurring metabolic and amyloidogenic pathologies with the intent of ameliorating cognitive decline. METHODS: We conducted an early intervention study in male and female transgenic (AβPP/PS1) and knock-in (APPNL - F/NL - F) AD mice to assess the on- and off-treatment effects of prodromal glutamatergic modulation (2-6 months of age) on glucose homeostasis and spatial cognition through riluzole treatment. RESULTS: Results indicated a sex- and genotype-specific effect on glucose homeostasis and spatial cognition with riluzole intervention that evolved with disease progression and time since treatment. CONCLUSION: These findings support the interconnected nature of glucose and glutamatergic homeostasis with amyloid pathology and petition for further investigation into the targeting of this relationship to improve cognitive performance