Pornography, the LGBTQ+ Community, and the Queer Alternative

Pornography is a complicated and controversial topic. Much has been said about how porn may or may not affect individuals, but very little has been done in the academic community on how pornography affects the LGBTQ+ community. In debates of censorship and regulation of porn, their voices are often ignored in public debate in favor of straight, feminist, or puritanical, religious discourses. This is problematic because pornography, particularly queer pornography, has done much for the evolution and self-affirmation of the LGBTQ+ community. It would be remiss if such positive effects of such a controversial exploit were to go unacknowledged. In conjunction with my academic readings, I interviewed a contact in the queer porn and Burlesque world named Max Shaw to better understand the finer points of queer porn production and the effects it has on its participators and viewers. Interestingly, the interview often lined up with themes that occurred in some of the more current literature referencing queer porn while giving a specific emphasis on the current issue of censorship of LGBTQ+ sexuality in the public and private spheres as well as an intersectional analysis of the queer porn industry. I will break down my research into three sections beginning with issues of mainstream porn for LGBTQ+ individuals. Then, I will shift to queer porn and discuss how it differs from mainstream porn and how those differences make it a better alternative to the current mainstream LGBTQ+ porn categories. Finally, I will discuss the issues of censorship that have arisen, as well as the merits of porn literacy programs and how they might help dispel some of the main concerns people have over adolescents’ access to pornography

How to Use Fewer Markers in Admixture Studies

Swiss Fleckvieh has been established from 1970 as a composite of Simmental and Red Holstein Friesian cattle. Breed composition is currently reported based on pedigree information. Information on ancestry informative molecular markers potentially provides more accurate information. For the analysis Illumina Bovine SNP50 Beadchip data for 495 bulls were used. Markers were selected based on difference in allele frequencies in the pure populations, using FST as an indicator. Performance of sets with decreasing number of markers was compared. The scope of the study was to see how much we can reduce the number of markers based on FST to get a reliability that is close to that with the full set of markers. On these sets of markers hidden Markov models (HMM) and methods used in genomic selection (BayesB, partial least squares regression, LASSO variable selection) were applied. Correlations of admixture levels were estimated and compared with admixture levels based on pedigree information. FST chosen SNP gave very high correlations with pedigree based admixture. Only when using 96 and 48 SNP with the highest FST, correlations dropped to 0.92 and 0.90, respectively

A study of the effect of labeling on political attitudes

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Postsecondary Online Students’ Preferences for Text-Based Instructor Feedback

Misalignment between student preferences and instructor practices regarding writing feedback may impede student learning. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study addressed postsecondary online students’ preferences and the reasons for their preferences. A survey was used to collect 93 responses from postsecondary students attending a large private online university; data collection included interviews with a subsample of 4 participants. Findings indicated students preferred proximal, detailed, supportive feedback to enhance their writing skills and to understand deductions assessed by instructors. Findings may increase instructor awareness of students’ preferences and enhance collaboration in the feedback process to promote writing skill development and improve academic outcomes

Ability of a mass media campaign to influence knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about sugary drinks and obesity

AbstractObjectiveWe examined the impact of a mass media campaign that was designed to educate residents about the amount of added sugars in soda and other sugary drinks, as well as the health impacts of consuming such drinks.MethodThe campaign was implemented in Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon in 2011 and included paid and unpaid media on the web, television, billboards, and transit. A telephone survey (n=402) measured campaign awareness, attitudes toward obesity, knowledge about health problems of excessive sugar, and behavioral intentions and behaviors around soda and sugary drink consumption.ResultsNearly 80% of people who were aware of the media campaign intended to reduce the amount of soda or sugary drinks they offered to a child as a result of the campaign ads. Those who were aware of the campaign were more likely to agree that too much sugar causes health problems (97.3% vs. 85.9%). There was no significant change in self-reported soda consumption.ConclusionMedia campaigns about sugary drinks and obesity may be effective for raising awareness about added sugars in beverages, increasing knowledge about health problems associated with excessive sugar consumption, and prompting behavioral intentions to reduce soda and sugary drink consumption

Das virtualisierte Variophon

In den 1970-er Jahren wurde in Deutschland für kurze Zeit ein elektronisches Instrument gebaut, das in seiner Art einzigartig ist: das Variophon, ein, analoger Blassynthesizer, der in der Lage war, etliche unterschiedliche Blasinstrumente nachzustellen. Die überzeugende Nähe zum Originalklang der emulierten Instrumente erreichte das Variophon u.a. durch die Umsetzung der Impulsformung. Obwohl diese Synthesemethode als ein exaktes Modell der Klanggenerierung von Blasinstrumenten angesehen werden kann, wurde sie sonst in keinem anderen elektronischen Klangerzeuger eingesetzt. Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit dem Variophon und seinen digitalen Emulationen. Eine erste virtuelle Version existiert seit 2007, sie wurde von Michael Oehler im Rahmen einer Analyseplattform zur digi-talen Impulsformung entwickelt. Eine weitere Virtualisierung, die mit Hilfe von frei zugänglicher Software entwickelt wird, liegt in einer ersten Version vor. Diese enthält auch eine komplette optische Umsetzung des Originalgerätes, im akustischen Bereich orientiert sie sich an den Erkenntnissen von Oehler. Zwischen dem analogen Gerät und den digitalen Versionen liegen vier Jahrzehnte des Fortschrittes in elektronischer Klangerzeugung und Audiobearbeitung. Dazu zählen die konstante Verbesserung der Synthesizer, die Ablösung analoger Verfahren durch digitale und die breite Verfügbarkeit von Softwarelösungen, die mit der rasanten Entwicklung des Personal Computers auch im privaten Bereich genutzt werden können. Gemeinsam mit den elektrischen bzw. elektronischen Klangerzeugern der Vor-Synthesizer-Zeit und den Synthesizern selbst zählt der erwähnte Fortschritt zum Vorfeld, auf dem die Entwicklung der digitalen Versionen basiert. Diesem Vorfeld ist auch ein Teil dieser Arbeit gewidmet. Die historische Entwicklung der elektronischen Klangerzeuger, im speziellen der Synthesizer wird zusammengefasst. Die Funktionsweise einzelner Synthesizer-Bausteine und deren Zusammenspiel werden beschrieben. Die Impulsformung als theoretische Grundlage zur Erzeugung von Blasinstrumentenklängen wird ebenfalls erklärt. Neben dieser werden auch alle anderen gängigen Synthesemethoden erläutert. Dies alles soll den Zugang zum Kernthema dieser Arbeit erleichtern: der vom Verfasser erstellten Emulation des Variophons mit MIDI-Steuerung, die als VST verfügbar ist und derzeit Basisversionen von Fagott und Oboe enthält

Postsecondary Online Students\u27 Preferences for Instructor Feedback

Misalignment between student preferences and instructor assumptions regarding feedback may impede student learning. Researchers have investigated postsecondary students\u27 preferences for types of instructor feedback including written, audio, and video. However, postsecondary online students\u27 preferences have not been explored in a large-sample study. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was conducted to describe postsecondary online students\u27 preferences and the reasons for those preferences. Vygotsky\u27s social-constructivist theory was used to frame instructor feedback as a scaffolding tool to promote self-regulation in student writing. A survey containing quantitative and qualitative questions was used to collect 93 responses from undergraduate and graduate students attending a large private online university; data collection also included interviews with a subsample of 4 volunteer participants who were selected using maximum variation sampling according to their degree program. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive frequencies; qualitative data were analyzed for emerging themes. Findings indicated that students preferred proximal, detailed, supportive feedback. Students\u27 preferences were based on the desire to enhance their writing skills and understand point deductions assessed by instructors. Implications for social change include increasing instructor awareness of students\u27 preferences and enhancing collaboration in the feedback process to promote writing skill development and improve academic outcomes among postsecondary students, especially those matriculated in online programs

Accuracy of 54K to HD gebotype imputation in Brown Swiss cattle

Imputation of genotypes can be used to reduce the implementation costs of genomic selection. In this study, we evaluated the accuracy of genotype imputation from Illumina 54k to Illumina High Density (HD) in Brown Swiss cattle. Genotype data comprised 6,106 54k and 880 HD genotyped bulls and cows of Brown Swiss and Original Braunvieh cattle. Genotype data was checked for parentage conflicts and SNP were excluded if MAF was below 0.5% and SNP call rate was lower than 90%. The final data set included 39,004 SNP for the 54k and 627,306 SNP for the HD chip. HD genotypes of animals born between 2004 and 2008 (n=365) were masked to mimic animals genotyped with the 54k chip. Methods used for imputation were FImpute and Findhap V2. Both programs use pedigree information for imputation. The accuracy of imputation was assessed by the correlation (r) between true and imputed genotypes, the percentage of correctly and incorrectly imputed genotypes. Both programs gave high imputation accuracy with FImpute outperforming Findhap. Accuracy of imputation increased with increasing relationship between the HD genotyped reference population and 54k genotyped imputation candidates. Average r for FImpute and Findhap were 0.992 and 0.988 when both parents of the 54k genotyped candidate were HD genotyped, respectively. Correlations were lower when no direct relatives were HD genotyped (0.971 and 0.918 for FImpute and Findhap, respectively). Accuracy of imputation highly depended on MAF of the imputed SNP. For FImpute, average r ranged between 0.89 (MAF <0.025) and 0.99 (MAF between 0.4 and 0.5)

Accuracy of estimated genomic breeding values for wool and meat traits in a multi-breed sheep population

Estimated breeding values for the selection of more profitable sheep for the sheep meat and wool industries are currently based on pedigree and phenotypic records. With the advent of a medium-density DNA marker array, which genotypes ∼50000 ovine single nucleotide polymorphisms, a third source of information has become available. The aim of this paper was to determine whether this genomic information can be used to predict estimated breeding values for wool and meat traits. The effects of all single nucleotide polymorphism markers in a multi-breed sheep reference population of 7180 individuals with phenotypic records were estimated to derive prediction equations for genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV) for greasy fleece weight, fibre diameter, staple strength, breech wrinkle score, weight at ultrasound scanning, scanned eye muscle depth and scanned fat depth. Five hundred and forty industry sires with very accurate Australian sheep breeding values were used as a validation population and the accuracies of GEBV were assessed according to correlations between GEBV and Australian sheep breeding values . The accuracies of GEBV ranged from 0.15 to 0.79 for wool traits in Merino sheep and from 0.07 to 0.57 for meat traits in all breeds studied. Merino industry sires tended to have more accurate GEBV than terminal and maternal breeds because the reference population consisted mainly of Merino haplotypes. The lower accuracy for terminal and maternal breeds suggests that the density of genetic markers used was not high enough for accurate across-breed prediction of marker effects. Our results indicate that an increase in the size of the reference population will increase the accuracy of GEBV