Discord and Direction: The Postmodern Writing Program Administrator

Postmodernism\u27s central moves include questioning hierarchy, valuing paratactic associations, and rejecting grand narratives, and the work of a Writing Program Administrator, most days, includes those moves as well. The argument of this collection is that the cultural and intellectual legacies of postmodernism impinge, significantly and daily, on the practice of the Writing Program Administrator. WPAs work in spaces where they must assume responsibility for a multifaceted program, a diverse curriculum, instructors with varying pedagogies and technological expertise—and where they must position their program in relation to a university with its own conflicted mission, and a state with its unpredictable views of accountability and assessment. The collection further argues that postmodernism offers a useful lens through which to understand the work of WPAs and to examine the discordant cultural and institutional issues that shape their work. Each chapter tackles a problem local to its author\u27s writing program or experience as a WPA, and each responds to existing discord in creative ways that move toward rebuilding and redirection. It is a given that accepting the role of WPA will land you squarely in the bind between modernism and postmodernism: while composition studies as a field arguably still reflects a modernist ethos, the WPA must grapple daily with postmodern habits of thought and ways of being. The effort to live in this role may or may not mean that a WPA will adopt a postmodern stance; it does mean, however, that being a WPA requires dealing with the postmodern.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1154/thumbnail.jp

Lipids, Lipoproteins, and Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among the elderly. While excellent treatment has emerged for neovascular disease, treatment for early AMD is lacking due to an incomplete understanding of the early molecular events. A prominent age-related change is the accumulation of neutral lipid in normal Bruch's membrane (BrM) throughout adulthood and also disease-related BrM accumulations called basal deposits and drusen. AMD lesion formation has thus been conceptualized as sharing mechanisms with atherosclerotic plaque formation, where low-density lipoprotein (LDL) retention within the arterial wall initiates a cascade of pathologic events. However, we do not yet understand how lipoproteins contribute to AMD. This paper explores how systemic and local production of lipoproteins might contribute to the pathogenesis of AMD

Intraluminal measurement of papillary duct urine pH, in vivo: a pilot study in the swine kidney

We describe the in vivo use of an optic-chemo microsensor to measure intraluminal papillary duct urine pH in a large mammal. Fiber-optic pH microsensors have a tip diameter of 140-µm that allows insertion into papillary Bellini ducts to measure tubule urine proton concentration. Anesthetized adult pigs underwent percutaneous nephrolithotomy to access the lower pole of the urinary collecting system. A flexible nephroscope was advanced towards an upper pole papilla with the fiber-optic microsensor contained within the working channel. The microsensor was then carefully inserted into Bellini ducts to measure tubule urine pH in real time. We successfully recorded tubule urine pH values in five papillary ducts from three pigs (1 farm pig and 2 metabolic syndrome Ossabaw pigs). Our results demonstrate that optical microsensor technology can be used to measure intraluminal urine pH in real time in a living large mammal. This opens the possibility for application of this optical pH sensing technology in nephrolithiasis

Mechanism by which shock wave lithotripsy can promote formation of human calcium phosphate stones

Human stone calcium phosphate (CaP) content correlates with higher urine CaP supersaturation (SS) and urine pH as well as with the number of shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) treatments. SWL does damage medullary collecting ducts and vasa recta, sites for urine pH regulation. We tested the hypothesis that SWL raises urine pH and therefore Cap SS, resulting in CaP nucleation and tubular plugging. The left kidney (T) of nine farm pigs was treated with SWL, and metabolic studies were performed using bilateral ureteral catheters for up to 70 days post-SWL. Some animals were given an NH4Cl load to sort out effects on urine pH of CD injury vs. increased HCO3 (-) delivery. Histopathological studies were performed at the end of the functional studies. The mean pH of the T kidneys exceeded that of the control (C) kidneys by 0.18 units in 14 experiments on 9 pigs. Increased HCO3 (-) delivery to CD is at least partly responsible for the pH difference because NH4Cl acidosis abolished it. The T kidneys excreted more Na, K, HCO3 (-), water, Ca, Mg, and Cl than C kidneys. A single nephron site that could produce losses of all of these is the thick ascending limb. Extensive injury was noted in medullary thick ascending limbs and collecting ducts. Linear bands showing nephron loss and fibrosis were found in the cortex and extended into the medulla. Thus SWL produces tubule cell injury easily observed histopathologically that leads to functional disturbances across a wide range of electrolyte metabolism including higher than control urine pH

Hyperstrong Radio-Wave Scattering in the Galactic Center. II. A Likelihood Analysis of Free Electrons in the Galactic Center

The scattering diameters of Sgr A* and several nearby OH masers (~ 1" at 1 GHz) indicate that a region of enhanced scattering is along the line of sight to the Galactic center. We combine radio-wave scattering data and free-free emission and absorption measurements in a likelihood analysis that constrains the following parameters of the GC scattering region: The GC-scattering region separation, d; the angular extent of the region, \psi_l; the outer scale on which density fluctuations occur, l_0; and the gas temperature, T. The maximum likelihood estimates of these parameters are d = 133_{-80}^{+200} pc, 0.5 degrees <= \psi_l <~ 1 degrees, and (l_0/1 pc)^{2/3}T^{-1/2} = 10^{-7 +/- 0.8}. As host media for the scattering, we consider the photoionized surface layers of molecular clouds and the interfaces between molecular clouds and the 10^7 K ambient gas. We are unable to make an unambiguous determination, but we favor an interface model in which the scattering medium is hot (T ~ 10^6 K) and dense (n_e ~ 10 cm^{-3}). The GC scattering region produces a 1 GHz scattering diameter for an extragalactic source of 90", if the region is a single screen, or 180", if the region wraps around the GC, as appears probable. We modify the Taylor-Cordes model for the Galactic distribution of free electrons in order to include an explicit GC component. Pulsars seen through this region will have a dispersion measure of approximately 2000 pc cm^{-3}, of which 75% arises from the GC component. We stress the uniqueness of the GC scattering region, probably resulting from the high-pressure environment in the GC.Comment: 39 pages with 9 PostScript figures; LaTeX2e with AASTeX macro aaspp4, to be published in Ap