Through ‘the Gauntlet’: creating multi-representative practices of community and ‘dialogic gaze’ using compassion-based exercises in a feminist actor training

This thesis explicates a practice as research exploration of how we can create multirepresentative (‘inclusive’) practices in ensemble actor training through the use of compassion-based practices. The main argument is that compassion-based practices in ensemble actor training create community as a transformative entity per bell hooks’s and Audre Lorde’s definitions. The understanding of self and others’ similarities and differences are necessary for community and enabled through reciprocal exchange, which Mikhail Bakhtin calls ‘dialogic’. Understood in this way, community both enables and requires a practice I offer called the ‘dialogic gaze’, a critical perspective that interrogates rehearsal and performance communications and interactions on behalf of the representation of the identities and experiences of all members. My practice-based methodology explores compassion-based exercises for their potential to create community and dialogic gaze. The through-line of these explorations is ‘the Gauntlet’, an exercise focusing on voiced acknowledgments of similarity that I have adapted to also recognize difference. I locate myself as a pedagogic practitioner-researcher and thus facilitate these practices in three different training workshops with three various ensembles. Using qualitative methods, I garner and analyse behaviours, communications, and feedback from ensemble members during rehearsal and performance of a subsequent group devised piece. Through moments of dialogic gaze and community, these practices support multi-represented ensemble work towards autonomy in theatre making that challenges ingrained patterns of cultural production and process, and aid practice in the dissolution of wider social oppressions that may evidence in rehearsal and training rooms. My research has both conceptual and practical contributions: in the dialogic gaze as a named, multi-representative practice, and in the compassion-based practices that create and perpetuate both dialogic gaze and community in ensemble actor training. These can be extrapolated to ensemble practice in industry and societal groups beyond

Strength Through Diplomacy: A Fundamental Review of the Relationship between North Korea and the United States

At the time that this thesis is printed, we are reminded of the tumultuous relationship between North Korea and the United States every day. If we follow the mainstream news regularly, it seems like we are on a steady path to war. Ultimately, this paper is centered around the question: what is the best foreign policy strategy for both countries to achieve respective goals, without descending into armed conflict? Specifically, I evaluated the failures of the last three U.S. Presidents and used their shortcomings to explain limitations in current foreign policy strategy. I also attempted to show North Korean concerns and perspectives regarding these issues, as our cultural and national biases often prevent us from seeing this issue with true clarity. For some background, I combined personal experience with a primary source interview. I then used scholarly articles from a variety of ideological lenses to analyze events from multiple viewpoints. Throughout the paper, I try to force readers to think critically about these events, rather than consume them through short headlines on the evening news. I learned that there is major potential for diplomatic alternatives to armed conflict in this relationship. I also learned that the current foreign policy strategies both countries are engaging in do not serve their best interests, or help to achieve foreign policy goals. These ideas are crucial to understand, as the likelihood for war between North Korea and the United States becomes greater each day. Furthermore, this war would result in immense loss of life and the displacement of millions of innocent people

Application of the ERTS system to the study of Wyoming resources with emphasis on the use of basic data products

Many potential users of ERTS data products and other aircraft and satellite imagery are limited to visual methods of analyses of these products. Illustrations are presented from Wyoming studies that have employed these standard data products for a variety of geologic and related studies. Possible economic applications of these studies are summarized. Studies include regional geologic mapping for updating and correcting existing maps and to supplement incomplete regional mapping; illustrations of the value of seasonal images in geologic mapping; specialized mapping of such features as sand dunes, playa lakes, lineaments, glacial features, regional facies changes, and their possible economic value; and multilevel sensing as an aid in mineral exploration. Examples of cooperative studies involving botanists, plant scientists, and geologists for the preparation of maps of surface resources that can be used by planners and for environmental impact studies are given

On Strong Zero-Dispersion Asymptotics for Benjamin-Ono Soliton Ensembles

A soliton ensemble is a particular kind of approximation of the solution of an initial-value problem for an integrable equation by a reflectionless potential that is well adapted to singular asymptotics like the small-dispersion limit. We show how soliton ensembles for the Benjamin-Ono equation can be analyzed in this limit via the construction of local approximations that capture highly oscillatory features of the solution and hence provide more information than weak convergence results that are easier to obtain. These local approximations are deduced from the distributions of eigenvalues of two related matrices, one Hermitian and another non-Hermitian. We perform careful numerical experiments to deduce the asymptotic behavior of the eigenvalues of these matrices in the small-dispersion limit, and formulate conjectures reflecting our observations. Then we apply the conjectures to construct the local approximations of slowly varying profiles and rapidly oscillating profiles as well. We show that the latter profiles are consistent with the predictions of Whitham modulation theory as originally developed for the Benjamin-Ono equation by Dobrokhotov and Krichever.Comment: 57 pages, 15 figure

Automated Data Management Information System (ADMIS)

ADMIS stores and controls data and documents associated with manned space flight effort. System contains all data oriented toward a specific document; it is primary source of reports generated by the system. Each group of records is composed of one document record, one distribution record for each recipient of the document, and one summary record

Healthy diets can create environmental trade-offs, depending on how diet quality is measured

Background: There is an urgent need to assess the linkages between diet patterns and environmental sustainability in order to meet global targets for reducing premature mortality and improving sustainable management of natural resources. This study fills an important research gap by evaluating the relationship between incremental differences in diet quality and multiple environmental burdens, while also accounting for the separate contributions of retail losses, inedible portions, and consumer waste. Methods: Cross sectional, nationally-representative data on food intake in the United States were acquired from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005–2016), and were linked with nationally-representative data on food loss and waste from published literature. Survey-weighted procedures estimated daily per capita food retail loss, food waste, inedible portions, and consumed food, and were summed to represent Total Food Demand. Diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index-2015 and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010. Data on food intake, loss, and waste were inputted into the US Foodprint Model to estimate the amount of agricultural land, fertilizer nutrients, pesticides, and irrigation water used to produce food. Results: This study included dietary data from 50,014 individuals aged ≥2 y. Higher diet quality (HEI-2015 and AHEI-2010) was associated with greater per capita Total Food Demand, as well as greater retail loss, inedible portions, consumer waste, and consumed food (P \u3c 0.001 for all comparisons). Consumed food accounted for 56–74% of agricultural resource use (land, fertilizer nutrients, pesticides, and irrigation water), retail loss accounted for 4–6%, inedible portions accounted for 2–15%, and consumer waste accounted for 20–23%. Higher diet quality was associated with lower use of agricultural land, but the relationship to other agricultural resources was dependent on the tool used to measure diet quality (HEI-2015 vs. AHEI-2010). Conclusions: Over one-quarter of the agricultural inputs used to produce Total Food Demand were attributable to edible food that was not consumed. Importantly, this study also demonstrates that the relationship between diet quality and environmental sustainability depends on how diet quality is measured. These findings have implications for the development of sustainable dietary guidelines, which requires balancing population-level nutritional needs with the environmental impacts of food choices

Geriatric Hip Fracture Quality Initiative

Introduction: Multiple studies demonstrate increased morbidity, mortality, and loss of independence after hip fractures in geriatric patients. The 1-year mortality rate after a hip fracture has been estimated at anywhere from 14% to 58%. Hip fractures are one of the most common injuries evaluated by the UNM Orthopedic department. Geriatric hip fracture protocols have shown improved outcomes at many other centers with regard to improved functionality and decreased morbidity. The goal of this initiative is to improve outcomes with regard to length of hospital stay, functionality after surgery, and as a result, decreased morbidity and mortality. Materials/methods: All deaths in the orthopedic department were reviewed and analyzed from June 2009 to July 2019. Deaths were identified from morbidity and mortality submissions and NSQIP data. The geriatric hip fracture protocol was developed and implemented in Fall 2019, with non-critical care patients being primarily admitted to orthopedics, with hospitalist co-management. Specific post-operative and pain order sets were developed for efficiency and improved standard of care. Results: Early results of the newly developed geriatric hip fracture protocol demonstrate decreased length of stay in the hospital and earlier time to surgical intervention. It is too early to determine if morbidity and mortality has seen any decrease, however this can be anticipated with earlier time to surgery and decreased time in the hospital. Conclusions: We identified a need and successfully developed an initiative to improve care for geriatric patients with hip fractures. Implementation of this protocol decreased length of hospital stay as well as time to surgery. The analysis of the effect of this protocol on overall morbidity and mortality is ongoing

The provision of fire services in rural areas

Fire services have been neglected in discussions of public service provision in rural areas. The way in which they are provided has a broader significance in terms of current debates about risk management. Fire service policy was transferred away from the Home Office, but the Bain Report provided the major stimulus to change. Early central government attempts to stimulate fire service provision in rural area were hampered by a lack of cooperation between local authorities. Rates of death from fire are influenced by attendance times and are particularly high in remote rural areas. The development of national standards of fire cover was focused on protecting property rather than saving lives with disproportionate funding being provided for urban areas. Social changes in rural areas have made it more difficult to secure sufficient numbers of retained fire fighters. It has proved particularly difficult to provide an adequate service in remote rural areas such as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, despite recent policy initiatives there. Problems of providing fire cover are particularly acute on isolated islands. The development of integrated risk management plans should offer a more fine grained approach to providing fire cover. However, they may be too sophisticated for the task in rural areas and more traditional democratic mechanisms for expressing perceived community needs may have a greater relevance