Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationIn light of epidemic levels of self-objectification leading to a host of negative consequences for girls and women, intervention is crucial. This study in Self-Objectification Resilience (SOR) implemented a necessary next step in critical feminist scholarship by identifying emancipatory alternatives to the chronic experiences of female objectification and self-objectification. To investigate the successful promotion and cultivation of Self-Objectification Resilience through a model and intervention designed for this study, 50 women ages 18 to 35 completed a confidential, 4-week, online study. Based on a broad meta-analysis of research in self-objectification and resilience, as well as the analysis of the present study's intervention feedback, four important resilient traits most directly combat the negative consequences of self-objectification: self-actualization, self-compassion, embodied empowerment, and feminist beliefs. The feedback gleaned from study participants proved invaluable to the SOR research agenda; it contributed to research on the dismal state of female body image, with robust, qualitative data revealing 50% of study participants "hated" or were "severely dissatisfied" with their bodies and another 34% reported to be "generally dissatisfied." Results contributed important information on the epidemic of self-objectification, with 70% of participants reporting detailed experiences of currently isolating themselves from everyday life, including school, sexual intimacy, and physical activity, due to body shame. The 9 participants out of 50 who reported positive body satisfaction reflected and reinforced vital themes of the SOR model; they had experienced extremely painful "disruptions" that worked as a catalyst to greater self-objectification resilience. More than half had overcome an eating disorder or had loved ones who were presently battling one. In all, the present study on Self-Objectification Resilience contributes important research toward understanding how positive adaptation can be possible to provide emancipation for girls and women from the bodily prison of self-objectification

Developing a grid computing system for commercial-off-the-shelf simulation packages

Today simulation is becoming an increasingly pervasive technology across major business sectors. Advances in COTS Simulation Packages and Commercial Simulation Software have made it easier for users to build models, often of large complex processes. These two factors combined are to be welcomed and when used correctly can be of great benefit to organisations that make use of the technology. However, it is also the case that users hungry for answers do not always have the time, or possibly the patience, to wait for results from multiple replications and multiple experiments as standard simulation practice would demand. There is therefore a need to support this advance in the use of simulation within today’s business with improved computing technology. Grid computing has been put forward as a potential commercial solution to this requirement. To this end, Saker Solutions and the Distributed Systems Research Group at Brunel University have developed a dedicated Grid Computing System (SakerGrid) to support the deployment of simulation models across a desktop grid of PCs. The paper identifies route taken to solve this challenging issue and suggests where the future may lie for this exciting integration of two effective but underused technologies

True polar wander driven by late-stage volcanism and the distribution of paleopolar deposits on Mars

The areal centroids of the youngest polar deposits on Mars are offset from those of adjacent paleopolar deposits by 5-10 degrees. We test the hypothesis that the offset is the result of true polar wander (TPW), the motion of the solid surface with respect to the spin axis, caused by a mass redistribution within or on the surface of Mars. In particular, we consider TPW driven by late-stage volcanism during the late Hesperian to Amazonian. There is observational and qualitative support for this hypothesis: in both North and South, observed offsets lie close to a great circle 90 degrees from Tharsis, as expected for polar wander after Tharsis formed. We calculate the magnitude and direction of TPW produced by mapped late-stage lavas for a range of lithospheric thicknesses, lava thicknesses, eruption histories, and prior polar wander events. If Tharsis formed close to the equator, the stabilizing effect of a fossil rotational bulge located close to the equator leads to predicted TPW of <2 degrees, too small to account for observed offsets. If, however, Tharsis formed far from the equator, late-stage TPW driven by low-latitude, late-stage volcanism would be 6-33 degrees, similar to that inferred from the location of paleopolar deposits. 4.4+/-1.3x10^19 kg of young erupted lava can account for the offset of the Dorsa Argentea Formation from the present-day south rotation pole. This mass is consistent with prior mapping-based estimates and would imply a mass release of CO2 by volcanic degassing similar to that in the atmosphere at the present time. The South Polar Layered Deposits are offset from the spin axis in the opposite sense to the other paleopolar deposits. This can be explained by an additional contribution from a plume beneath Elysium. We conclude with a list of observational tests of the TPW hypothesis.Comment: Accepted by Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 3 tables, 8 figure

Synthesis And NMR Investigation of 1-Phenyl-1,2-propanedione-2-oxime Complexes of Trimethylplatinum(IV).

The ionised monoxime, 1-phenyl-1,2-propanedione-2-oxime (ppdm) reacts smoothly with trimethylplatinum(IV) sulfate in aqueous acetone, to form the complex fac-[PtMe₃ (ppdm)(H₂O)] 1 in high yield. 1 Reacts with 3,5-lutidine and 2,2'-bipyridine to form stable 1:1 adducts, viz. fac-[PtMe₃(ppdm)(3,5-lut)] 2 and fac-[PtMe₃(ppdm)(bipy)] 3. In complexes 1 and 2, the ionised monoxime behaves in a N/O bidentate chelate fashion, whereas in 3, ppdm is co-ordinated to the metal moiety in a monodentate fashion, via the oximate N donor atom. The parent complex, 1, dissolves in polar solvents to form species of general formulae fac-[PtMe₃(ppdm)(solv)] (solv = DMSO, methanol or acetone), which undergo an intramolecular "windscreen-wiper" fluxional rearrangement. The stereodynamics of the fluxional process have been measured in CD₃OD and [D₆]DMSO solution by two-dimensional exchange spectroscopy; ΔG‡ (298 K) is 73.6 kJ mol⁻¹ and 88.5 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively. The effects of the solvent on the energetics and a possible mechanism for the fluxional process are discussed

Late-Glacial and Holocene Geology of the Middle St. John River Valley

Guidebook to the geology of Northeastern Maine and neighboring New Brunswick: The 72nd annual meeting of the New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference, Presque Isle, Maine, October 10-13, 1980: Trip C-

Branching geometry of valley networks on mars and earth and its implications for early martian climate

Mars’ surface bears the imprint of valley networks formed billions of years ago. Whether these networks were formed by groundwater sapping, ice melt, or fluvial runoff has been debated for decades. These different scenarios have profoundly different implications for Mars’ climatic history and thus for its habitability in the distant past. Recent studies on Earth revealed that valley networks in arid landscapes with more surface runoff branch at narrower angles, while in humid environments with more groundwater flow, branching angles are much wider. We find that valley networks on Mars generally tend to branch at narrow angles similar to those found in arid landscapes on Earth. This result supports the inference that Mars once had an active hydrologic cycle and that Mars’ valley networks were formed primarily by overland flow erosion, with groundwater seepage playing only a minor role

Geochronology and Depositional History of the Sandy Springs Aeolian Landscape in the Unglaciated Upper Ohio River Valley, United States

The study of active and stabilized late Quaternary aeolian landforms provides important proxies for past climate events and environmental transitions. Despite an overall increase in the study of aeolian landforms in previously glaciated and coastal settings in eastern North America, the history of aeolian sedimentation in many unglaciated inland alluvial settings remain poorly understood. This study reports on the geochronology and depositional history of aeolian landforms and sediments in the unglaciated upper Ohio Valley at the Sandy Springs site. Aeolian landforms and sediments include complex, linear, barchan-like, and climbing dunes; an interdune sand sheet; and sandy loess that blankets high valley surfaces. At Sandy Springs, aeolian dune sands and sandy loess are restricted to intermediate (S2) and higher (S3) geomorphic surfaces. Eight optically stimulated luminescence age estimates constrain the initiation of aeolian processes on the S2 surface to sometime after 17 ka and episodic deposition on the S2 and S3 surfaces between 11 and 1.4 ka. The distribution of aeolian sediments at Sandy Springs is influenced by several past factors including local wind fetch potential, sediment availability, and underlying alluvial topography. Sediment availability is interpreted as the primary factor controlling aeolian processes and appear linked to several pan-regional paleoclimate events. Sandy loess deposition at ca. 8.2 ka on the S3 surface may reflect hydrologic variability and cooling, associated with the final pulse of meltwater into the North Atlantic from the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Dune reactivation and erosion at ca. 4.5 ka on the S2 surface indicate enhanced sediment availability possibly associated with drought conditions. These results illustrate that the deciphering the coupled fluvial-aeolian records in this catchment of the Ohio River provides new insight into the nature of changing surface processes against the backdrop of climate variability over the past ca. 20 ka