Tiny and Fragmented Votive Offerings from Classical Antiquity

This chapter focuses on votive offerings from the ancient Greco-Roman world— objects that were left for the gods in sanctuaries or other sacred places. Votive offerings intersect closely with this volume’s themes: many offerings are tiny (or at least “miniaturized”) representations of larger bodies or objects; in turn, many votives can also be understood as fragments—whether because they are deliberately broken objects, or because they show clear signs of incidental “wear and tear,” or because they represent isolated parts of human bodies such as legs, arms, or heads. The first half of this chapter discusses these different types of votive fragmentation, arguing that such deliberate or accidental fragmentation frequently increased the symbolism and perceived value of the offering in the eyes of both the community and the recipient deity. I also introduce the further possibility that all votives might in some sense be seen as fragments, insofar as they constitute part of a worshiper’s property or converted wealth—an idea inherent in the ancient concepts of dekatē and aparchē. The second part of this chapter focuses on one particular type of fragmentary votive—the anatomical model—and explores this object-type from the perspective of the miniature. Tiny body parts made in clay and metal began to be dedicated in the Middle Minoan (ca. 2100–1600 BCE) and then the Archaic Greek (ca. 800– 480 BCE) eras, and continued to appear alongside the life-sized (or near life-sized) anatomical votives that were a feature of Hellenistic and Roman ritual. In my discussion of the miniature anatomicals, I explore some of the possible resonances of these votives’ tiny sizes, focusing in particular on the ways in which these objects facilitate, or even demand, intimate touch and handling. I suggest that the act of touching the votives—whether this was performed, remembered, or simply imagined—had a special valency in the sphere of healing, in which divine touch often played a central therapeutic role. More generally, I suggest that such real or imagined touch could also imprint the votive with a sort of “sensory memory,” enhancing its ability to function as an indexical trace of the person who dedicated it [3]. Finally, I raise the possibility that the miniature votives in Hellenistic and Roman times may have harkened back to the tiny votives of earlier periods, thus enabling the votive to function not only as a token of thanks or hope but also as a tool of cultural memory

Analyzing policy issues in presidential speeches and the media: An Agenda-setting study

For decades, researchers have maintained that the president has a significant role in setting the policy-making agenda. In this study, a grounded theory approach was applied to determine President George W. Bush\u27s success in focusing the media\u27s attention toward policies mentioned in his State of the Union Addresses (2002-2008). Bush\u27s issue priorities were determined by coding individual paragraphs as themes. To identify the frequency of these same themes in the media, the front pages of The L.A. Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post were analyzed one week before and after each address. Coding was limited to every other speech year. Once themes were collapsed, Pearson\u27s chi square tests indicate changes in theme frequency for subsequent media coverage of speech issues in 2002 and 2006: Results suggest, however, that the speech only seemed to affect media coverage in 2002, which could be attributed to Bush\u27s waning public approval

Examining the Effects of Communication and Acculturation on Relationship Satisfaction and Postpartum Depressive Symptomatology in Latino Couples

The present study builds on prior research that has evaluated the longitudinal association between relationship adjustment and depressive symptoms during pregnancy and the postpartum period by focusing on a group of women at high risk for perinatal depression, in this case, Latinos. Most studies have evaluated the association between relationship functioning and depressive symptoms during the postpartum period. However, depression occurs as frequently during pregnancy as in the postpartum period (Evans et al., 2001) and has been shown to be an important predictor of postpartum depression (Milgrom et al., 2008) in Caucasian samples. Since poor communication has been linked to higher levels of marital dissatisfaction in Caucasian samples, it is crucial to explore how communication may play a role in the relationship between marital dissatisfaction and depression in Latinos. Additionally, acculturation levels may not only impact the relationship between marital satisfaction and depression, it may also impact communication. Knowledge in this area could contribute more information on how to effectively intervene with Latinos, and the variables that need to be targeted in order to prevent the onset, recurrence, and greater severity of depression. 175 couples living in a small Southeastern city participated in the study as part of a larger longitudinal study. SEM analyses indicated that relationship satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between communication and postpartum depression. Results also indicated that acculturation did not moderate the relationship between communication and relationship satisfaction, and that the indirect effect was not significant at varying levels of acculturation. However, communication did significantly predict relationship satisfaction for men but not women. Further exploratory analyses indicated that women’s level of acculturation marginally predicted women’s depressive symptoms at 12 months following enrollment. Specifically, the less acculturated women were, the more depressed they were. Findings also replicate previous findings from Caucasian samples that show that satisfaction and communication are significantly related across time points both within their own repots as well as with reports of their partner. Implications are discussed

The Forgotten Disciples: The Faithful Witness of Women in Early Christianity

At its earliest, Christianity is a religion of respect and dignity for women. This paper examines the experience and contributions of women to Christianity, beginning at the time of Christ and continuing to through to approximately 300 A.D., or shortly before the Nicene Creed was developed. This paper demonstrates the way the church, from the outset, has largely relied on the contributions and gifts of women in order to fulfill its mission. This paper then applies this historic context to the American church in issues of life and gender, concluding that it is the recognition and partnership with women, not the segmentation of gender roles, that will bring clarity to issues of great interest to American Christians: pro-life ethic, gender confusion, and feminism

Borrelia burgdorferi surface-localized proteins expressed during persistent murine infection and the importance of BBA66 during infection of C3H/HeJ mice

Select members of the group Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato are the causative agents of Lyme disease (LD), a multisystem, potentially chronic disorder with debilitating clinical manifestations including Lyme arthritis, carditis, and neuroborreliosis. Current knowledge regarding the expression of virulence factors encoded by B. burgdorferi and the breadth of their distribution amongst Borrelia species within or beyond the sensu lato group is limited. Some genes historically categorized into paralogous gene family (pgf) 54 have been suggested to be important during transmission to and/or infection of mammalian hosts. By studying the factors affecting the expression of this gene family and its encoded proteins, their distribution, and the disease profile of a bba66 deletion isolate, we aimed to determine the importance of pgf 54 genes in Lyme disease and their conservation amongst diverse Borrelia species. The culmination of the studies discussed in this thesis describe the association of select genes historically categorized into pgf 54 with infectious phenotypes, with the borrelial sigma factor cascade, and the localization of their encoded proteins to the outer surface of the bacterial cell. Together, the expression profiles and localization of these genes/proteins demonstrates that they are regulated by the ċN-ċS cascade, similarly to the known virulence factor, OspC, and that they are found on the outer surface of the cell where they would have the potential to interact with or sense host factors. Moreover, putative orthologs of these genes were detected by Southern blotting and PCR in diverse Borrelia species associated with both Lyme disease and relapsing fever, some of which expressed pH-responsive proteins that were cross-reactive with antibodies specific for orthologs expressed by B. burgdorferi isolate B31. Finally, an insertion-deletion of one of these genes, bba66, was examined in vivo and was found to be infectious in C3H/HeJ mice. Though bba66 was not found to be absolutely required for murine infection in the study presented here, we and other groups hypothesize that bba66 may instead be important during dissemination or adherence to murine cardiac tissue. Thus, future studies are aimed to determine the function and putative importance of BBA66 beyond the establishment of murine infection

Implementation of Stress Management and Resiliency Training to Address Nursing Burnout in a Neuroscience Critical Care Unit

In the United States, over one-third of nurses experience symptoms of burnout (Reith, 2018). If left unchecked, poor stress management and resiliency skills can contribute to nursing burnout, leading to costly employee turnover. Stress management and resiliency training (SMART) provides the tools necessary to develop resiliency, improve stress management and decrease burnout (Resilient Option, 2020). Nursing staff under the age of 36, who work in a Neurosciences Critical Care Unit (NCCU) demonstrate lower resiliency scores and a higher risk of burnout. This project aimed to evaluate: (a) the effects of a SMART program on the wellbeing of nursing staff in the NCCU; and (b) the usefulness of implementing a SMART program. Participants were a convenience sample of self-selected nurses employed in the NCCU at a large teaching hospital. A web-based, self-paced SMART program was implemented. To assess the impact of the SMART intervention, a pre- and two post-intervention surveys were completed to statistically determine if there was a change in survey scores for burnout, stress, and resiliency. Valid and reliable tools to assess burnout, stress, and resiliency existed in the literature evidence and were adopted for this project. To assess for potential influence on employee retention, employee turnover was reviewed for the 6 months leading up to the intervention and 6 months post-intervention. Participant satisfaction with the SMART self-paced online modules was also assessed. Results were analyzed using frequency and descriptive statistics to evaluate effectiveness and usefulness of the intervention. A statistically significant decrease in burnout was found at both the 4-week and 8-week post-intervention period (