“Reread me backwards”: Deciphering the Past in Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day

Set during the midst of the London Blitz, Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day revolves around a narrative of espionage, but unlike many novels from the spy genre, it refuses to disclose all of its secrets. Instead, the novel’s dense and complex language, which so effectively expresses the dislocating effects of a city under attack, resists an easy or uncomplicated reading. This article examines the motif of reading within the novel, which manifests when its protagonist, Stella Rodney, learns her lover Robert is a Nazi spy. In her efforts to locate proof of his defection, Stella becomes caught in a recurrent but indeterminable task of rereading past events, a movement which attempts to remember the past but also foregrounds a fundamental inability to ever wholly resolve its enigmas. When Stella fails to read her past for lost clues, she is prevented from viewing the events of her life as a coherent and meaningful narrative. The novel’s difficult language reflects this lack of resolution, refusing to assimilate the events it depicts into a straightforward account. With its wartime setting as a disorienting backdrop, The Heat of the Day undermines the purpose of reading as the discovery of sense and meaning, producing instead only more questions and mysteries

Up from Poverty: A Narrative Non-Fiction Study of Three Female Superintendents from Poverty

This study focused on three female superintendents from poverty and how they elevated out of poverty to become successful superintendents in their school districts and help students living in poverty

The mechanisms of drought stress tolerance in the crop Sorghum bicolor

Drought stress can have a major impact upon plant survival and crop productivity. Sorghum bicolor is an important cereal crop grown in the arid and semi-arid regions of >98 different countries. It is well adapted to the harsh drought-prone environments in which it is grown however; relatively few studies have investigated the molecular basis of these adaptations. Breeding programs have lead to the identification of ‘stay-green’ varieties, so-called due to their ability to maintain green photosynthetic leaf area for longer under drought conditions. However, despite extensive breeding efforts to select for this trait we have very little understanding of the fundamental biological processes that underlie it. Microarray analysis was used to identify gene expression changes in sorghum following heat stress, drought stress and combined heat and drought stress. These microarrays were additionally used to compare gene expression in stay-green (drought-tolerant) and senescent (drought-sensitive) sorghum lines. Ontological analysis of the genes expressed to higher levels in the stay-green lines identified key processes hypothesised to be associated with the trait. These include genes associated with proline and betaine biosynthesis, glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity and the regulation of stomatal aperture and density. Both proline levels and GST activity were found to be higher in the stay-green lines thus validating that the changes at the gene expression level result in changes at the protein level. Stay-green lines were also shown to have reduced transpiration and reduced numbers of stomata. Two signalling genes, DREB1A and SDIR1 were expressed to higher levels in the stay-green varieties. Transgenic lines overexpressing these genes were generated in order to test their function. Based on the gene expression data, putative mechanisms underlying two QTL for the stay-green trait (Stg1 and StgB) were generated. Further validation of these genes and processes could not only improve our understanding of drought tolerance mechanisms in sorghum, but also facilitate the improvement of future sorghum cultivars

The Influences of Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity and Multiple Narrators on Adults’ Story Comprehension: A Pilot Study

It is well-known that people struggle to listen and comprehend spoken language in environments where multiple talkers are present. It is cognitively demanding to communicate in these difficult listening environments that occur commonly in everyday life (Plomp, 1994); therefore, one’s working memory abilities may play a role in how successful they can communicate when multiple talkers are present (Schneider et al., 2007). This preliminary study aimed to explore the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and spoken language comprehension in the context of multiple talkers. Six participants performed complex span tasks to assess their WMC abilities. Participants also listened to stories presented by a single narrator or multiple narrators, and they then performed comprehension tasks pertaining to those stories. Descriptive statistics were calculated to explore whether or not there was a common trend between WMC abilities and performance on the story comprehension tasks for each pilot participant. The preliminary data revealed a trend suggesting WMC abilities are related to individuals’ story comprehension accuracy but not latency. Presentation Time: Thursday, 3-4 p.m. Zoom link: https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/88063585042?pwd=U0NVaHJkRTMzeTVwbERQMk81ZCtQUT0

Safeguarding Against Data Breaches

Reports of data breaches have seen an increase in the past decade and compared to other businesses; these breaches are estimated to be the most expensive in healthcare and affect millions of patients. One may ask what is a data breach, what causes it, and how can it be prevented? Particularly vulnerable to breaches is Protected Health Information (PHI) collected by the healthcare provider. This information is any part of the patient’s medical record or payment history. Regularly, healthcare organizations utilize business associates and covered entities to deliver patient care. During this process, PHI is produced. This study addresses the obligations that business associates and covered entities have toward protecting patient information, the leading cause of breaches: hacking, medical identity theft, and unauthorized access to records, and what measures we will use to protect against such infringements

Homelessness: Selecting Mitigation Strategies to Address the Needs of the \u27At Risk\u27 Population

The objective of this research was to establish a method of identifying locations with a high concentration of individuals `at risk\u27 of becoming homeless in order to select mitigation strategies that target the specific needs of the individuals. Each state was evaluated based on the concentration of characteristics that may contribute to homelessness. These characteristics include: low median incomes, high unemployment rates, high housing cost-burdens, high concentrations of veterans and single-mother households, and high rates of mental disabilities and substance abuse reports. A differentiation was made between temporary and chronic homelessness as the mitigation strategies that prove to be the most effective varies between the two; temporary homelessness typically only involves economic factors while chronic homelessness is thought to be the result of existing social vulnerabilities that are compounded by economic factors. The median value of each characteristic was identified for each state. These values were then calculated as a percentage of the national median values and compiled. This compilation of values was imported into ArcMap and evaluated using the quantile function in order to identify the states that comprise the top twenty percent of risk. This process was then utilized to evaluate selected states on the county level. This method proved effective at identifying areas with a high concentration of characteristics that may contribute to homelessness. Therefore, it is concluded that areas with a high concentration of individuals `at risk\u27 of becoming homeless can be identified statistically and graphically by following the method that was established. By following this method, mitigation strategies that target the specific needs of the individuals can be selected and implemented. This is significant because funding is currently being cut for many social welfare programs and it is highly unlikely that there will be funding that is significant enough to address each and every need of the homeless population in the near future; addressing the characteristics that are shown to be highly concentrated in particular locations could be more efficient and cost-effective than attempting to address all characteristics of homelessness

Humor Me to Heaven: Humor\u27s Redemptive Role in the Works of Eudora Welty, Flannery O\u27Connor, and Marilynne Robinson

Humor is the topic of many psychological, social, and cultural studies, but this project examines humor under a new lens. Humor\u27s unique qualities explored in this study prove that humor is capable of more than just causing laughter; the nature of humor allows it to unveil truths about humanity, both spiritual and physical, through exposing man\u27s flaws. This quality is especially important to consider when analyzing humor in the context of literature, in which humor also works as an aesthetic element. This study searches several short stories by Eudora Welty and Flannery O\u27Connor along with Marilynne Robinson\u27s Gilead to reveal that each author implements in her works the element of humor in her own style, making humor an integral component in her fiction. Considering the unique qualities of humor and recognizing humor as an aesthetic element in the selected works show that these authors use humor as more than a mere literary element; their uses of humor, though they vary in form, work to convey significant themes of redemption throughout their stories. The term redemption defined in this thesis refers to a new and truthful perspective that humor creates for the characters, audience, or both. Since this new perspective ultimately points to spiritual truths about man\u27s nature, this discovery lends more credit to humor than other scholars have previously offered

Legal Limbo: The Fifth Circuit\u27s Decision in \u3cem\u3eTurner v. Driver\u3c/em\u3e Fails to Clarify the Contours of the Public\u27s First Amendment Right to Record the Police

On February 16, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in Turner v. Driver, held that the public has a First Amendment right to record the police that is subject only to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. Although Turner established that the public has a First Amendment right to film the police, the decision skirted the question of whether the particular conduct in Turner—video recording police activity and/or video recording the police station—was an activity protected by the First Amendment. This Comment argues that the Fifth Circuit erred in not clarifying the contours of the First Amendment right to film the police. Given the rise in smartphone usage, the public’s ability to quickly disseminate videos to a large audience on social media, and the campaigns encouraging the public to record the police, the Fifth Circuit should have provided stronger guidance for the public on how to confidently exercise their First Amendment right to record the police in Turner

INSTITUTIONAL CONTACT RATES AS A DRIVER OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

For many infectious diseases, pathogen transmission requires close contact between infectious and susceptible hosts. Contact rates- the number of close contacts per infected individual- are influenced by demographics, behaviors, and contextual elements such as occupation and cultural practices. Workplaces are significant areas for disease transmission, due to frequent interactions among employees or between them and their clients. Moreover, cultural norms within workplaces can shape contact patterns, further influencing disease spread. Context-specific data enables a comprehensive understanding of contact rates and networks, facilitating targeted interventions. Amid COVID-19, university policies altered attendance rules, prompting our investigation into policy impacts on employee social contacts. Participants, consisting of university employees, engaged in two surveys conducted during periods of virtual and in-person classes. Results revealed a notable increase in contacts from the first to the second survey (median of 3 contacts to 7), accompanied by a shift from family members towards interactions with strangers and students. Such findings emphasize the importance of considering employees in pandemic planning efforts and implementing targeted precautionary measures.We created a simulation-based study that explored how staffing levels affect methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) acquisition in intensive care units (ICUs). Utilizing compartmental modeling, scenarios with infinite and finite workload conceptualizations and differing nurse-to-patient ratios and intensivist staffing levels were explored. Under baseline conditions, our model had a median of 8.2 MRSA acquisitions per year. The large differential in MRSA acquisition dependent on workload conceptualization underscores the need for tailored staffing strategies in hospital infection control.Veterinary hospitals present unique challenges in managing infectious diseases, particularly due to elevated risks of zoonotic infections among veterinary staff. We created a direct observation pilot study to assess time use and activity patterns among different staff types and departments within a veterinary teaching hospital. Analysis of 12,079 tasks highlighted significant variations between staff types and departments, underscoring the necessity for tailored occupational health interventions.This research highlights the crucial role of institutional policies in shaping contact patterns and disease transmission, especially in workplaces. By combining surveys, models, and observations, researchers can gauge policy impacts and devise effective infection prevention strategies