The Farm Books: On Keeping, and Giving Up, a Book Collection

Graduate Winner: 2nd Place, 2008. 21st Annual Carl Neureuther Student Book Collection Competition

Rural Modernity in Twentieth-Century Poetry

Rural Modernity in Twentieth Century Poetry considers the work of English and Irish poets alongside the environmental, cultural, and economic changes that radically altered rural place during this period. Both historical context and close readings reveal the contours of the modern rural condition, a state defined by its doubled, and often contradictory, experience of spatial and temporal categories and its conflicting engagement with vernacular and literary modes of expression. As these locales are affected by trends in agricultural modernization and widespread depopulation, and by the emergence of a transatlantic rural diaspora, these poets articulate the dimensions of a landscape, and a cultural identity, that understands the rural as estranged from itself. From Thomas Hardy to Paul Muldoon, this work charts the rural terrain not as pastoral, or anti-pastoral, but as a built environment revealed through the creative act. Poets such as Seamus Heaney and John Montague expand upon this work\u27s refusal to rely upon nostalgic mourning, or an alternative sense of recuperation or reclamation, instead conceiving of poetry\u27s mission as a negotiation, often ambivalent, between these bifurcated states of time, space, language, and landscape that mark the experience of rural modernity

Development of Metal Substrate for Denox Catalysts and Particulate Trap

The objective of this project was to develop advanced metallic catalyst substrate materials and designs for use in off-highway applications. The new materials and designs will be used as catalyst substrates and diesel particulate traps. They will increase durability, reduce flow resistance, decrease time to light-off, and reduce cost relative to cordierite substrates. Metallic catalyst substrates are used extensively for diesel oxidation catalysts and have the potential to be used in other catalytic systems for diesel engines. Metallic substrates have many advantages over ceramic materials including improved durability and resistance to thermal shock and vibration. However, the cost is generally higher than cordierite. The most common foil material used for metallic substrates is FeCr Alloy, which is expensive and has temperature capabilities beyond what is necessary for diesel applications. The first task in the project was Identification and Testing of New Materials. In this task, several materials were analyzed to determine if a low cost substitute for FeCr Alloy was available or could be developed. Two materials were identified as having lower cost while showing no decrease in mechanical properties or oxidation resistance at the application temperatures. Also, the ability to fabricate these materials into a finished substrate was not compromised, and the ability to washcoat these materials was satisfactory. Therefore, both candidate materials were recommended for cost savings depending on which would be less expensive in production quantities. The second task dealt with the use of novel flow designs to improve the converter efficiency while possibly decreasing the size of the converter to reduce cost even more. A non-linear flow path was simulated to determine if there would be an increase in efficiency. From there, small samples were produced for bench testing. Bench tests showed that the use of non-linear channels significantly reduced the light-off temperature for diesel oxidation catalytic converters. Finally, the third task was to implement these materials and designs into a full-size converter. Hot shake testing of 13-inch diameter straight channel substrates showed no significant difference in durability between the current material and the two proposed materials. At the time that this program ended, preparations were being made for full-scale emissions testing of the new design converter for comparison to a traditional straight channel with equal catalyst loading

The Testosterone Trials: Seven coordinated trials of testosterone treatment in elderly men

Background The prevalence of low testosterone levels in men increases with age, as does the prevalence of decreased mobility, sexual function, self-perceived vitality, cognitive abilities, bone mineral density, and glucose tolerance, and of increased anemia and coronary artery disease. Similar changes occur in men who have low serum testosterone concentrations due to known pituitary or testicular disease, and testosterone treatment improves the abnormalities. Prior studies of the effect of testosterone treatment in elderly men, however, have produced equivocal results. Purpose To describe a coordinated set of clinical trials designed to avoid the pitfalls of prior studies and to determine definitively whether testosterone treatment of elderly men with low testosterone is efficacious in improving symptoms and objective measures of age-associated conditions. Methods We present the scientific and clinical rationale for the decisions made in the design of this set of trials. Results We designed The Testosterone Trials as a coordinated set of seven trials to determine if testosterone treatment of elderly men with low serum testosterone concentrations and symptoms and objective evidence of impaired mobility and/or diminished libido and/or reduced vitality would be efficacious in improving mobility (Physical Function Trial), sexual function (Sexual Function Trial), fatigue (Vitality Trial), cognitive function (Cognitive Function Trial), hemoglobin (Anemia Trial), bone density (Bone Trial), and coronary artery plaque volume (Cardiovascular Trial). The scientific advantages of this coordination were common eligibility criteria, common approaches to treatment and monitoring, and the ability to pool safety data. The logistical advantages were a single steering committee, data coordinating center and data and safety monitoring board, the same clinical trial sites, and the possibility of men participating in multiple trials. The major consideration in participant selection was setting the eligibility criterion for serum testosterone low enough to ensure that the men were unequivocally testosterone deficient, but not so low as to preclude sufficient enrollment or eventual generalizability of the results. The major considerations in choosing primary outcomes for each trial were identifying those of the highest clinical importance and identifying the minimum clinically important differences between treatment arms for sample size estimation. Potential limitations Setting the serum testosterone concentration sufficiently low to ensure that most men would be unequivocally testosterone deficient, as well as many other entry criteria, resulted in screening approximately 30 men in person to randomize one participant. Conclusion Designing The Testosterone Trials as a coordinated set of seven trials afforded many important scientific and logistical advantages but required an intensive recruitment and screening effort