Liberation is not always so liberating: Rethinking Paulo Freire\u27s critical pedagogy for the writing classroom

The goal of this project is to reconsider the ways in which liberatory and/or critical pedagogy, and its desire to combat the banking method of education, can unintentionally create some of the same institutional and ideologically oppressive classroom conditions that more traditional methods of instruction have been charged with creating. This thesis first discusses the origins of liberatory pedagogy and its effect upon education, the writing classroom, and critical pedagogues

The bearing power of soils

Thesis (B.S.)--University of Illinois, 1910.Typescript, ms. and blueprint copies of ms

Enhancing the Intelligibility of Speech in Speech Noise

A brief introduction to a proposed project on integrating different source separation techniques to improve intelligibility resulting from speech separation from interfering speech

Hearing the light: neural and perceptual encoding of optogenetic stimulation in the central auditory pathway

Optogenetics provides a means to dissect the organization and function of neural circuits. Optogenetics also offers the translational promise of restoring sensation, enabling movement or supplanting abnormal activity patterns in pathological brain circuits. However, the inherent sluggishness of evoked photocurrents in conventional channelrhodopsins has hampered the development of optoprostheses that adequately mimic the rate and timing of natural spike patterning. Here, we explore the feasibility and limitations of a central auditory optoprosthesis by photoactivating mouse auditory midbrain neurons that either express channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) or Chronos, a channelrhodopsin with ultra-fast channel kinetics. Chronos-mediated spike fidelity surpassed ChR2 and natural acoustic stimulation to support a superior code for the detection and discrimination of rapid pulse trains. Interestingly, this midbrain coding advantage did not translate to a perceptual advantage, as behavioral detection of midbrain activation was equivalent with both opsins. Auditory cortex recordings revealed that the precisely synchronized midbrain responses had been converted to a simplified rate code that was indistinguishable between opsins and less robust overall than acoustic stimulation. These findings demonstrate the temporal coding benefits that can be realized with next-generation channelrhodopsins, but also highlight the challenge of inducing variegated patterns of forebrain spiking activity that support adaptive perception and behavior

Microvolt T-Wave Alternans and the Risk of Death or Sustained Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients With Left Ventricular Dysfunction

ObjectivesThis study hypothesized that microvolt T-wave alternans (MTWA) improves selection of patients for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) prophylaxis, especially by identifying patients who are not likely to benefit.BackgroundMany patients with left ventricular dysfunction are now eligible for prophylactic ICDs, but most eligible patients do not benefit; MTWA testing has been proposed to improve patient selection.MethodsOur study was conducted at 11 clinical centers in the U.S. Patients were eligible if they had a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤0.40 and lacked a history of sustained ventricular arrhythmias; patients were excluded for atrial fibrillation, unstable coronary artery disease, or New York Heart Association functional class IV heart failure. Participants underwent an MTWA test and then were followed for about two years. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality or non-fatal sustained ventricular arrhythmias.ResultsIschemic heart disease was present in 49%, mean LVEF was 0.25, and 66% had an abnormal MTWA test. During 20 ± 6 months of follow-up, 51 end points (40 deaths and 11 non-fatal sustained ventricular arrhythmias) occurred. Comparing patients with normal and abnormal MTWA tests, the hazard ratio for the primary end point was 6.5 at two years (95% confidence interval 2.4 to 18.1, p < 0.001). Survival of patients with normal MTWA tests was 97.5% at two years. The strong association between MTWA and the primary end point was similar in all subgroups tested.ConclusionsAmong patients with heart disease and LVEF ≤0.40, MTWA can identify not only a high-risk group, but also a low-risk group unlikely to benefit from ICD prophylaxis