Alternative perspectives of projectile point variability during the Levantine Neolithic

Ghwair I, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B community in southern Jordan, has an abundant projectile point assemblage that facilitates a thorough characterization and detailed techno-typological analysis of the projectile points recovered. It is concluded that current typologies tend to mask significant morphological aspects of the projectile points. To explore these aspects, other perspectives such as raw material selection and manufacture are considered; The low amounts of cortex, minimum retouch, and the frequency tertiary blades are shown to be reflections of a conscientious effort to secure fine quality chert for lithic production. The presence of the miniature points represents a deliberate effort by the inhabitants to utilize bladelets as a key production blank. In addition, the uniqueness and fragility of the cached projectile points are considered to reflect their social significance. Based on these findings, this investigation confirms that Ghwair I was a developed and socially complex community

La Leche League, the media, and the nursing mother: A broader perspective on persona theory

This dissertation builds on current breastfeeding-related scholarship by suggesting that the lived experiences of nursing mothers could be effective arguments for initial and continued breastfeeding. To do this, I analyzed archival materials related to La Leche League, specifically League newsletters, and media articles from publications across the United States to determine how the nursing mother functioned as a persona throughout the second half of the twentieth century. First, in my analysis of League newsletters I theorized a new category of personae, the constitutive persona, which includes personae used by a collective to attract new members and provide them with language to talk about their experiences. Second, in analyzing the media\u27s coverage of breastfeeding, I argued for an expanded conception of Wander\u27s (1984) third persona that explains how individuals or groups may be both present in a discourse and simultaneously negated. Finally, the dissertation demonstrates a broader perspective on persona theory—one which presents a more complete understanding of breastfeeding discourse and the role of the nursing mother as an advocate for breastfeeding

Asymmetric magnetic reconnection with a flow shear and applications to the magnetopause

We perform a theoretical and numerical study of anti-parallel 2D magnetic reconnection with asymmetries in the density and reconnecting magnetic field strength in addition to a bulk flow shear across the reconnection site in the plane of the reconnecting fields, which commonly occurs at planetary magnetospheres. We predict the speed at which an isolated X-line is convected by the flow, the reconnection rate, and the critical flow speed at which reconnection no longer takes place for arbitrary reconnecting magnetic field strengths, densities, and upstream flow speeds, and confirm the results with two-fluid numerical simulations. The predictions and simulation results counter the prevailing model of reconnection at Earth's dayside magnetopause which says reconnection occurs with a stationary X-line for sub-Alfvenic magnetosheath flow, reconnection occurs but the X-line convects for magnetosheath flows between the Alfven speed and double the Alfven speed, and reconnection does not occur for magnetosheath flows greater than double the Alfven speed. We find that X-line motion is governed by momentum conservation from the upstream flows, which are weighted differently in asymmetric systems, so the X-line convects for generic conditions including sub-Alfvenic upstream speeds. For the reconnection rate, while the cutoff condition for symmetric reconnection is that the difference in flows on the two sides of the reconnection site is twice the Alfven speed, we find asymmetries cause the cutoff speed for asymmetric reconnection to be higher than twice the asymmetric form of the Alfven speed. The results compare favorably with an observation of reconnection at Earth's polar cusps during a period of northward interplanetary magnetic field, where reconnection occurs despite the magnetosheath flow speed being more than twice the magnetosheath Alfven speed, the previously proposed suppression condition.Comment: 46 pages, 7 figures, abstract abridged here, accepted to Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physic

Durability of mitral valve reconstruction using the cosgrove edwards annuloplasty band at 5 years : From 23rd World Congress of the World Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons. Split, Croatia. 12-15 September 2013

Oral presentation: 23rd World Congress of the World Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons. Split, Croatia. 12-15 September 2013. Background: In the past, questions have been raised, whether an open flexible annuloplasty band can reliably prevent recurrent mitral valve regurgitation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the durability of mitral valve repair at midterm, using the Cosgrove-Edwards annuloplasty band in a homogenic patient cohort. Methods: From January 2004 to December 2007, 157 consecutive patients with degenerative mitral valve disease were included in the study. All had quadrangular resection of a P2 prolapse and annuloplasty with a Cosgrove-Edwards annuloplasty band. Clinical and echocardiography follow-up was complete. Results: There was no intraoperative or 30 day mortality. After a mean follow-up of 5.0 ± 1.9 years, survival was 94.3%. At midterm, freedom from reoperations was 98.9%, freedom from thromboembolism was 97.5% and freedom from endocarditis was 99.4%. Echocardiography follow-up showed recurrent mitral valve regurgitation higher than grade 2 in two patients. Mean ejection fraction was 60.3 ± 10.2%, left atrial diameter was 42 ± 7 mm, mean gradient was 3.2 ± 1.4 mmHg, effective orifice area was 3.3 ± 1.3cm², mitral leaflet coaptation length was 7.5 ± 1.9 mm and mitral leaflet tethering height was 6.2 ± 2.3 mm. Conclusion: Mitral valve repair using the Cosgrove annuloplasty band for degenerative mitral valve disease provides an effective and durable form of reconstruction

Oblique radiative shocks, including their interactions with nonradiative polytropic shocks

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98755/1/PhysPlasmas_18_056901.pd

Environmental Adaptations at Neolithic Ghwair I as seen from a Zooarchaeological Perspective

Understanding the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) environmental adaptations, subsistence patterns, and lifestyles in the southern Levant is pivotal in investigating the consequences of the human transformation from the exploitation of wild resources to the production of food through domestication or, the Neolithic Revolution . At the most fundamental level, this investigation provides a comprehensive zooarchaeological study of the archaeological faunal assemblage from Ghwair I, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) community in southern Jordan, in effort to explore local exploitation patterns and refine our understanding of the community\u27s social and economic systems. This type of investigation enhances our current understanding of the spatial organization, village life, and the eventual abandonment of villages at the end of the PPNB. This research was designed to address the following questions: (1) What were the economic strategies and adaptations utilized at Ghwair I during the PPNB? (2) Was Ghwair I an autonomous village structured to meet local subsistence demands and focused on self-sufficiency, or was it part of a regional system? and (3) What role did the subsistence strategies play in social organization of the community at Ghwair I? The combined results of an extensive archaeological investigation at Ghwair I and a comprehensive zooarchaeological analysis that integrates faunal taxonomic identification, quantification, assemblage composition and characterization, has yielded the following interpretations: 1) The macrofaunal assemblage at Ghwair I reflects a pastoral animal economy focused heavily on goat herding, supplemented with exploitation of a range of other wild species. Ecological degradation is not suggested. 2) The inhabitants of Ghwair I appear to have made a deliberate choice to rely on goats over other animal resources available in their environmental zone. The presence of wild animals in the assemblage indicates their availability to the community as a resource, even if they were only utilized on a limited bases or for special occasions. 3) Social complexity and differentiation within the community is implicated by the unequal distribution to aurochs across the community and suggests that aurochs was primarily utilized during feasting to build and maintain solidarity. 4) The presence and location of cache of several goat skulls, aBos primigeniusskull, and a very well preserved horn core suggests their use as dedicatory items for an associated infant burial, thus hinting at a level of social complexity that included ascribed status and some level of inequality within the community that was heredity based. This investigation confirms that Ghwair I was a developed and socially complex community and provides researches with data to explore new ideas about human adaptations during the PPNB in the southern Levant

Theorizing the Transcendent Persona: Amelia Earhart’s Vision in The Fun of It

In this article, we define and theorize the ‘‘transcendent persona,’’ a discursive strategy in which a rhetor draws from a boundary-breaking accomplishment and utilizes the symbolic capital of that feat to persuasively delineate unconventional ways of communicating and behaving in society. Aviator Amelia Earhart’s autobiography The Fun of It (1932) functions as an instructive representative anecdote of this concept and demonstrates that the transcendent persona’s persuasive force hinges on one’s ability to balance distance from audiences with similarities to them. Striking such a balance creates a platform for rhetors to promote transformative visions of society. Earhart utilized the transcendent persona to illustrate an alternative vocabulary of what contemporary theorists might call feminine gender performativity. The article concludes by exploring the implications of the transcendent persona as an enduring, rhetorical resource for communicators, as well as for scholars of persuasion and social change, religious communication, and communication history