The Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury on Neuropsychological Functioning and Tau Accumulation Later in Life in Military Veterans

Abstract The following study examines aging veterans that experience a TBI while in service and compares to older veteran without a history of TBI. The objective is to look at cognitive profile later in life for military veterans with moderate to severe TBI different and compared to older veterans with no history of TBI. Is there a difference in tau accumulations on neuroimaging in military veterans with moderate to severe TBI compared to older veterans without a history of TBI? What is the relationship between the cognitive profile and tau imaging correlates for military veterans with moderate to severe TBI later in life? There were 39 participants in the TBI group and 65 participants in the non-TBI group that participated in neuropsychological testing. Out of the above participants 8 in the TBI group and 19 in the non-TBI group participated inPET 18F-AV1451 imaging to compare Braak regions. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for analysis of neuropsychological tests (Clock score, BNT, TMT-A, & TMT-B). T-test was used for analysis of neuropsychological test category fluency animals and one-way ANOVA was used for the analysis of Auditory Verbal Learning test. Additionally, Mann-Whitney U test was used for the analysis of PET imaging: BRAAK regions 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6. The results suggest no statistically significant differences between TBI and non-TBI groups in neuropsychological tests and Braak regions (all p’s \u3e .05). However, there was a trend noticed with TBI group having higher levels of tau in all Braak regions. Ultimately, this study showed that the TBI group and non-TBI did not differ in neuropsychological performance and tau accumulation in BRAAK regions

Identification and interpretive rights in the rhetoric of violent spectacle

"Identification and Interpretive Rights in the Rhetoric of Violent Spectacle" approaches lynching, the death penalty, and stealth torture as multimodal public discourse, comprised of violent events, their representations, and their surrounding debate. While the forms of violence I discuss all have avowed communicative purposes, I argue that the rhetorical emphasis on these messages often masks more important claims about group identity and the nature of punishment. Through examination of the physical and discursive constructions of these violent events, I argue that these spectacles serve as centers of identification through which rhetors reinforce divisions between groups and standards of violent and non-violent argument. Chapter One builds on the common claim that lynching was a performance that affirmed a version of white Southern identity by examining how pro-lynching rhetoric performed lynching's implicit refusal to deliberate. Chapter Two addresses the contemporary death penalty's shift away from live spectacle and examines how pro-death penalty rhetoric constructs the audience/execution relationship when visual access is not an option. Chapter Three discusses how rhetors circumscribe "the right to look" at illicit images of Saddam Hussein's execution and the torture at Abu Ghraib, illustrating how the "right" reaction to a violent image can be a marker of group membership. The Conclusion begins to expand the dissertation's argument by raising questions about understandings of justice, legal codifications of pain, and multimodal representations of violent events.Englis

An Exploration of Black National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) Sorority Membership as it Relates to Academic Achievement and Civic Engagement

The purpose of the study was to explore the experience of 13 Black, National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) sorority members as they relate to their academic achievement and civic engagement. Participants were female, upperclassmen students at four different Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), half private and the other public. Criterion, purposive, and snowball sampling were used to secure participants. Using the Community of Practice as a theoretical framework, which is comprised of five stages, participants’ experiences were described, analyzed, and interpreted to inform the study. Data were collected through individual phone interviews, using a semi-structured interview protocol, and were analyzed using inductive analysis. Four themes emerged from the inductive analysis and those themes derived subthemes: (a) Support- (1) academic support, (2) financial support, and (3) engaging and influence; (b) Academic Intention- (1) understanding academic achievement before sorority membership, and (2) understanding academic achievement after sorority membership; (c) Service- (a) civic engagement, (b) volunteering, and (c) filling a need; lastly, (d) Social Awareness- (a) personal service goals, (b) personal social responsibility, and (c) understanding civic engagement agents. The study provided implications for practitioners in higher education, such as the need to understand the historical significance, to advise these groups in a comprehensive manner, to conduct further research on the experiences of graduate chapter members caused by life experiences, and to identify sorority interests prior to membership for optimal outcomes. The study findings have implications for future support, research, and resources offered in helping these women navigate both student life and sorority membership. It is recommended that future researchers continue to examine the experiences of Black, NPHC sorority women, in order to inform higher education practitioners to better assist with their growth and development

The Effect of the Political Process on Education: Political Corruption and Education in Paterson, New Jersey

Paterson, New Jersey Public school system has continued to produce low-graduation rates, high drop-out rates, and low test scores despite being taken over by the state of New Jersey. In this qualitative paper, I see to place the blame for Paterson’s failing schools not on the teachers, parents and students—which other scholars have done—but on the politicians (namely the Board of Education) for their failures in leadership, being inept, and all out corruption. I propose solid solutions to the problem of Paterson failing schools. This study builds off of the scholarship of Lydia Segal, who worte Battling Corruption in America’s Public school, and placing it in the context of Paterson, New Jersey, where there is evident of high political corruption in education