A Peculiarly American Enthusiasm: George Bellows, Traditional Masculinity, and The Big Dory

A “Peculiarly American” Enthusiasm: George Bellows, Traditional Masculinity, and The Big Dory investigates the portrayal of masculinity in the oeuvre of the much-lauded yet enigmatic American painter George Bellows (1882-1925). Rather than relying on Bellows’ urban works for source material, a significant portion of this investigation is conducted via a case study of Bellows’ 1913 panel The Big Dory, a scene of fishermen pushing a boat into the North Atlantic off Monhegan Island, Maine that the artist painted during a sojourn on the island in the months after his involvement in the landmark Armory Show in New York. The paper situates The Big Dory within the greater context of the history of the depiction of Maine through the lens of the heroic fisherman. Bellows achieved a heroic effect by forcing the viewer to focus on the labor of the fishermen via their positioning in the near middleground and by echoing the hues and forms of the men elsewhere in the painting, giving the work a sense of visual unity. I argue that these strategies highlight Bellows’ interest in tradition rather than modernism. Armed with this knowledge, Bellows’ other works come more sharply into focus. I reveal that the traditional heterosexual mode of white male identity Bellows represented in The Big Dory was not simply echoed in Bellows’ personal comportment, but in fact pervaded his oeuvre; such masculinity was a reaction by patriarchal American society against the perceived growth of other influences in the early twentieth century. The portrayal of such masculinity is then established as the key underlying feature of the sense of “Americanism” which has traditionally dominated reception of Bellows’ art

Do Detail and Its Verifiability Serve as Indicators of Strategy Effectiveness and as Sources of Credibility in Voluntary Qualitative Disclosure?

This article examines whether detail and its verifiability serve as indicators of strategy effectiveness and provide sources of credibility in voluntary qualitative disclosure. In an archival study, utilizing a difference-in-difference research design, we find that firms that introduce customer retention strategy disclosures with verifiable detail are more effective at retaining customers than are firms that introduce disclosures with nonverifiable detail. In contrast, we find no significant difference between the performance of firms that initiate disclosures with verifiable detail and that of firms that initiate disclosures with no detail. In an experimental study, we find that customer retention strategy disclosures that include either verifiable or nonverifiable detail are perceived to be more credible than disclosures that provide no detail. In combination, we infer it is the verifiability of detail that predicts strategy effectiveness consistent with the disclosure, despite detail invoking perceived credibility in such disclosure

A Creative Exploration of Organic Growth Principles: portfolio of musical compositions and exegesis

This submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide, consists of a portfolio of original compositions supported by an explanatory exegesis. The submission is structured in three parts. Part A contains the exegesis and includes commentaries on the submitted works. Part B contains the scores of four new works with an overall performance time of approximately 75 minutes: Tidal Lock, for symphonic orchestra; Sleeping Under Mariana, for wind orchestra; Seeking the Path…, for clarinet trio; and Darvaza, concerto for percussion and wind orchestra. Part C contains sound recordings of the submitted works. The overarching conceptual idea for this collection of works has been to engage in a creative exploration of the principles of organic growth; namely, Fibonacci structures - as applied to pitched material, phrase/bar lengths and larger structural durations; 'autogenesis' - the concept of self generating material, originating from a single source or 'germ'; and 'selfsimilarity' - structures whose components mirror their own shapes and forms. These concepts are not applied to the works in a prescriptive or formulaic manner; rather, they are used to guide and influence the compositional method with varying degrees of creative freedom. Each work seeks to explore these principles (and combinations thereof) in different ways, culminating in the major work of the submission: Darvaza, concerto for percussion and wind orchestra.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, 201

Improving treatment engagement in people with eating disorders: utilising digital approaches.

Engaging people with psychological treatment is vital to ensuring effective outcomes. This is particularly relevant to the treatment of eating disorders, as up to 35% of individuals referred to an eating disorder service never access treatment. Internet- based programs have emerged as a novel approach to the treatment of eating disorders, however these too have reported issues with lack of uptake and engagement. The aims of this research were (1) to assess the effectiveness of a novel pre-treatment motivational web based intervention (MotivATE) at improving treatment attendance at an eating disorders service, and (2) to explore the factors that might influence engagement with online support tools. An initial systematic review indicated that brief motivational interventions were acceptable for addressing low motivation to change and engagement issues, with online interventions highlighted as a viable delivery method. However, the results of a zelen randomised trial in a local eating disorder service showed no increase in attendance for those offered access to the MotivATE intervention. Only one third of participants offered access to MotivATE actually registered to use the intervention, suggesting that issues with uptake were potentially a key factor in the lack of demonstrated effectiveness. A concurrent online focus group suggested that whilst people with eating disorders do identify a potential role within treatment for online support such as MotivATE, this is limited by negative attitudes towards these approaches which may contribute to low uptake. However, it was also noted that factors such as exposure to online support and effective design may serve to help mitigate these negative attitudes. This was supported by an online survey in which participants rated a range of designs of the front page of MotivATE for aesthetics and behavioural indicators derived from an adapted technology acceptance model. Multi-level modelling of this data showed that judgements of simplicity and craftsmanship significantly influenced behavioural intentions towards the intervention; a finding that was supported in a final online study that compared levels of use and changes in attitudes pre/post between MotivATE and a version redesigned using the factors highlighted in the previous study. Whilst MotivATE was not shown to be effective at improving treatment attendance in its current state, digital approaches may still represent a viable and potentially effective approach to addressing issues with treatment engagement, particularly early in the treatment pathway. However, in order not to themselves be significantly impacted by low engagement, the way in which these interventions are both designed and presented needs to be carefully considered. This research provides a novel contribution to the literature both through the development and piloting of an intervention to increase treatment engagement in people with eating disorders, as well as furthering our understanding of how users engage with digital interventions, in particular the role of visual aesthetics

How to entrain a selected neuronal rhythm but not others: open-loop dithered brain stimulation for selective entrainment

Objective. While brain stimulation therapies such as deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease (PD) can be effective, they have yet to reach their full potential across neurological disorders. Entraining neuronal rhythms using rhythmic brain stimulation has been suggested as a new therapeutic mechanism to restore neurotypical behaviour in conditions such as chronic pain, depression, and Alzheimer's disease. However, theoretical and experimental evidence indicate that brain stimulation can also entrain neuronal rhythms at sub- and super-harmonics, far from the stimulation frequency. Crucially, these counterintuitive effects could be harmful to patients, for example by triggering debilitating involuntary movements in PD. We therefore seek a principled approach to selectively promote rhythms close to the stimulation frequency, while avoiding potential harmful effects by preventing entrainment at sub- and super-harmonics. Approach. Our open-loop approach to selective entrainment, dithered stimulation, consists in adding white noise to the stimulation period. Main results. We theoretically establish the ability of dithered stimulation to selectively entrain a given brain rhythm, and verify its efficacy in simulations of uncoupled neural oscillators, and networks of coupled neural oscillators. Furthermore, we show that dithered stimulation can be implemented in neurostimulators with limited capabilities by toggling within a finite set of stimulation frequencies. Significance. Likely implementable across a variety of existing brain stimulation devices, dithering-based selective entrainment has potential to enable new brain stimulation therapies, as well as new neuroscientific research exploiting its ability to modulate higher-order entrainment

Correspondence on the introduction of salmon from Scotland into the rivers of Tasmania

Correspondence presented to the Royal Society regarding the introduction of salmon from Scotland to Tasmania dated between 13th August 1849 and the 16th May 1850

The Modernization of Policy-Making Processes in National Sport Organizations: A Case Study of Athletics Canada

This article explores the consequences of modernization on the policy-making processes of a singular National Sport Organization: Athletics Canada. In drawing upon the works of Green and Houlihan (2005) as a baseline comparison, we examine how the organizations’ policy-making processes have changed over a 10-year period (2002-2012). Specifically, our analysis focuses on the nature and extent of these intra- organizational policy-related changes and how they have influenced the organization’s decision-making capabilities. The descriptive analysis is informed by empirical data collected from eight in-depth semi-structured interviews with senior Athletics Canada personnel and concentrates on three inter-related themes (i) the development and prioritization of Own the Podium funded policies and programs; and (ii) the development and prioritization of evidence-based policies and programs, which, in turn, has resulted in (iii) increased inter-organizational relationship strain between Athletics Canada and its key delivery partners. More broadly, our investigation contributes to recent amateur sport scholarship that has sought to better understand how these broader socio-political shifts have influenced the specific decision-making processes of sport organizations

A comparison of commercial light-emitting diode baited suction traps for surveillance of Culicoides in northern Europe

BACKGROUND: The response of Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) to artificial light sources has led to the use of light-suction traps in surveillance programmes. Recent integration of light emitting diodes (LED) in traps improves flexibility in trapping through reduced power requirements and also allows the wavelength of light used for trapping to be customized. This study investigates the responses of Culicoides to LED light-suction traps emitting different wavelengths of light to make recommendations for use in surveillance. METHODS: The abundance and diversity of Culicoides collected using commercially available traps fitted with Light Emitting Diode (LED) platforms emitting ultraviolet (UV) (390 nm wavelength), blue (430 nm), green (570 nm), yellow (590 nm), red (660 nm) or white light (425 nm – 750 nm with peaks at 450 nm and 580 nm) were compared. A Centre for Disease Control (CDC) UV light-suction trap was also included within the experimental design which was fitted with a 4 watt UV tube (320-420 nm). Generalised linear models with negative binomial error structure and log-link function were used to compare trap abundance according to LED colour, meteorological conditions and seasonality. RESULTS: The experiment was conducted over 49 nights with 42,766 Culicoides caught in 329 collections. Culicoides obsoletus Meigen and Culicoides scoticus Downes and Kettle responded indiscriminately to all wavelengths of LED used with the exception of red which was significantly less attractive. In contrast, Culicoides dewulfi Goetghebuer and Culicoides pulicaris Linnaeus were found in significantly greater numbers in the green LED trap than in the UV LED trap. The LED traps collected significantly fewer Culicoides than the standard CDC UV light-suction trap. CONCLUSIONS: Catches of Culicoides were reduced in LED traps when compared to the standard CDC UV trap, however, their reduced power requirement and small size fulfils a requirement for trapping in logistically challenging areas or where many traps are deployed at a single site. Future work should combine light wavelengths to improve trapping sensitivity and potentially enable direct comparisons with collections from hosts, although this may ultimately require different forms of baits to be developed. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-015-0846-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users