A weaver in wartime: a biographical study and the letters of Paisley weaver-poet Robert Tannahill (1774-1810)

This thesis is a critical biography of Robert Tannahill (1774-1810). As a work of recovery its aim is to lay out the details of the life and in so doing to make the case for Tannahill as a distinctive figure in Scottish literary history. Part One covers the main events in Tannahill’s life, and analyses his poetry, songs and play, The Soldier’s Return, drawing heavily on his extant correspondence throughout. Part Two of the thesis gives all of Tannahill’s extant correspondence. The received critical opinion of Tannahill in the nineteenth century was that his true talent lay in the writing of Scottish pastoral songs. In accordance with this perception the other aspects of his work have, generally, been treated as marginal by previous critics. This thesis aims to broaden the critical understanding of Tannahill as a writer working in the first decade of the 1800s by taking into consideration his social and political milieu, the writers he was influenced by and his response to particular events in his life and in the world. I argue that Tannahill was not party political, but had sympathy for Whig causes such as abolition of the death penalty and of slavery. He also opposed cock-fighting and animal cruelty. Key to understanding much of Tannahill’s output was his attitude to the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France (1793-1815). Fear of French invasion of the British Isles was something that exercised Tannahill a good deal. His attitude to war was that it was pointless human folly, but his dislike of all imperialism, including British and French, makes his position complex and the complexity of his response to war is a recurring theme throughout. Tannahill’s upbringing in Paisley and his position as an artisan weaver had a profound effect on his writing, as did the influence of Robert Burns. Tannahill was fiercely independent, despised literary patronage and inherited wealth and power. There is an attempt to explain and understand how and why Tannahill came to hold these points of view and to point out where they find expression in his work. Chapter 1 looks at Tannahill’s upbringing and life in Paisley. Chapter 2 deals with the ‘Critical Reception’ of his work from 1815 to the present. Chapter 3 looks in depth at his attitudes to war and the threat of French invasion. Chapter 4 concentrates on Tannahill’s play The Soldier’s Return and considers how it fits into the pastoral tradition. Chapter 5 looks at the content and some formal aspects of his poetry and Chapter 6 deals with the range of his lyrics and songs. Part Two is a project of retrieval, sub-titled The Letters of Robert Tannahill, it presents in chronological order eighty-two letters, the vast majority of which were written by Tannahill to friends and acquaintances between the years 1802 and 1810. It has been compiled from holograph manuscript sources found in the University of Glasgow Library, the National Library of Scotland, University of Edinburgh Library and Paisley Central Library. In addition, letters previously published in the David Semple edition of Tannhill’s Poems, Songs and Correspondence (1876) have been inserted to give the most comprehensive collection of Tannahill correspondence to date. These letters give a fascinating insight into Tannahill’s life and work. The guiding editorial principle for transcription from holograph has been: to provide as accurately as possible a text free from editorial interference

Asymptotic Accuracy of the Equilibrium Diffusion Approximation and Semi-analytic Solutions of Radiating Shocks

Radiation hydrodynamics (RH) provides a theoretical description for many astrophysical events spanning a wide range of observable phenomena. It is the goal of high-energy-density laboratory astrophysics (HEDLA) to reproduce some of these events in terrestrial settings. Computational models exist to aide our understanding of these subjects by reproducing astrophysical observations and laboratory experiments via simulations, and potentially furthering our understanding by mak- ing predictions which guide the experiments and their observations. It is the goal of this thesis to contribute to our understanding of computational models in RH. Two problems are solved that aide this understanding: 1) we showed that the equilibrium diffusion approximation (EDA) of RH is correct through first-order in the asymptotic equilibrium diffusion limit (EDL), in agreement with other transport models; and, 2) we produced semi-analytic radiative shock solutions using grey Sn transport. The first problem establishes the limits of the EDA in RH. The EDA for radiation transport without material motion has already been shown to preserve the EDL through first-order. The second problem extends the semi-analytic solution method of Lowrie and Edwards [LE08] for radiative shocks to include grey Sn transport

Quantifying Uncertainty for Early Life Cycle Cost Estimates

Disclaimer: The views represented in this report are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy position of the Navy, the Department of Defense, or the federal government.Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Acquisition Research Symposium Cost EstimatingNaval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research ProgramPrepared for the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CANaval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research ProgramApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Enhancing Research in a Family Medicine Program: One Institution\u27s Story

Background and Objectives: To enhance research productivity among East Tennessee State University\u27s faculty, the Department of Family Medicine developed and implemented a multi-component initiative to expand multidisciplinary primary care research. Methods: The research support infrastructure expanded to include a family physician research director, three PhD faculty researchers, two research assistants, a statistician, and a grant/science writer. A monthly seminar series, quarterly workshops, and a formal mentoring program paired more-experienced with less-experienced faculty researchers. Through a competitive mechanism in which junior faculty submitted proposals, a multidisciplinary committee selected two family physician researchers to receive protected time to develop their research. Results: From 2001-2006, more than 25 experienced researchers served as mentors, lecturers, consultants, or reviewers. Fifteen mentor-mentee pairs were formed. Of 30 family medicine faculty, the number actively engaged in research, including project design, data collection, oral presentation of results, or journal article submissions, increased from seven (23%) to 19 (63%). From 2001-2006 the number of presentations at professional meetings increased, and articles in peer-reviewed journals increased nearly fivefold. Grant submissions increased, with 19 faculty members participating in grant-writing teams. Based on the success of this initiative, the program has expanded to include faculty members in general internal medicine and general pediatrics. Conclusions: Our multi-component initiative successfully builds and sustains a primary care research program

Exploring the Impact of Efficacy Messages on Cessation-Related Outcomes Using Ecological Momentary Assessment

Introduction:Observational studies indicate that cigarette package inserts with efficacy messages about the benefits of quitting (i.e. response efficacy) and recommendations for successful cessation increase smokers’ self-efficacy to quit and promote sustained cessation. However, the effects of inserts with such efficacy messages have not been studied using experimental designs. This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to assess smokers’ responses to efficacy inserts.Material and Methods:In a randomized case-crossover study among smokers from the United States (n=23), participants received a one-week supply of cigarettes with efficacy inserts and a one-week supply without any inserts, and were randomized to use the packs with inserts on either the first or second week of the study. For 14 consecutive days, participants used a smartphone to answer brief surveys on cessation-related variables during smoking sessions and at the beginning of each day. Multilevel mixed-effects linear and logistic regression models compared responses during the insert period to those of the non-insert period.Results:The insert period was associated with greater desire to quit (b=0.21, p=0.012), motivation to quit (b=0.18, p=0.001), self-efficacy to cut down (b=0.26, p\u3c0.001) and to quit (b=0.28, p\u3c0.000), and response efficacy/ perceived benefits of quitting (b=0.13, p=0.012). Insert exposure was not significantly associated with forgoing cigarettes (OR=1.9, p=0.2).Conclusions:Results from this EMA study suggest that inserts with efficacy messages may promote determinants of smoking cessation. This is consistent with observational research in Canada, which is the only country to use inserts with efficacy messages as well as pictorial warnings about smoking risks on the outside of packs. Future studies should assess the extent to which efficacy inserts can not only be used to communicate health information to smokers but also work in synergy with pictorial warnings

Therapies with Emerging Evidence of Efficacy: Avotermin for the Improvement of Scarring

Many patients are dissatisfied with scars on both visible and non-visible body sites and would value any opportunity to improve or minimise scarring following surgery. Approximately 44 million procedures in the US and 42 million procedures in the EU per annum could benefit from scar reduction therapy. A wide range of non-invasive and invasive techniques have been used in an attempt to improve scarring although robust, prospective clinical trials to support the efficacy of these therapies are lacking. Differences in wound healing and scar outcome between early fetal and adult wounds led to interest in the role of the TGFβ family of cytokines in scar formation and the identification of TGFβ3 (avotermin) as a potential therapeutic agent for the improvement of scar appearance. Extensive pre-clinical and human Phase I and II clinical trial programmes have confirmed the scar improving efficacy of avotermin which produces macroscopic and histological improvements in scar architecture, with improved restitution of the epidermis and an organisation of dermal extracellular matrix that more closely resembles normal skin. Avotermin is safe and well tolerated and is currently in Phase III of clinical development, with the first study, in patients undergoing scar revision surgery, fully recruited

Discovering transcriptional modules by Bayesian data integration

Motivation: We present a method for directly inferring transcriptional modules (TMs) by integrating gene expression and transcription factor binding (ChIP-chip) data. Our model extends a hierarchical Dirichlet process mixture model to allow data fusion on a gene-by-gene basis. This encodes the intuition that co-expression and co-regulation are not necessarily equivalent and hence we do not expect all genes to group similarly in both datasets. In particular, it allows us to identify the subset of genes that share the same structure of transcriptional modules in both datasets. Results: We find that by working on a gene-by-gene basis, our model is able to extract clusters with greater functional coherence than existing methods. By combining gene expression and transcription factor binding (ChIP-chip) data in this way, we are better able to determine the groups of genes that are most likely to represent underlying TMs

Host predisposition by endogenous Transforming Growth Factor-β1 overexpression promotes pulmonary fibrosis following bleomycin injury

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive diffuse disease involving the lung parenchyma. Despite recent advances, the molecular mechanisms of the initiation and progression of this disease remain elusive. Previous studies have demonstrated TGFβ1 as a key effector cytokine in the development of lung fibrosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study we have used a transgenic mouse based strategy to identify the effect of overexpression of this key effector mediator on the development of pulmonary fibrosis in response to exogenous injury. We bred two lines (line 25 and 18) of transgenic mice (Tr+) that overexpressed active TGFβ1. Three-month old transgenic and wild type mice were subsequently wounded with intraperitoneal bleomycin. Mice were sacrificed at 6 weeks post-bleomycin and their lungs analysed histologically and biochemically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The severity of lung fibrosis was significantly greater in the Tr+ mice compared to the wild type mice. Using an oligonucleotide microarray based strategy we identified discrete patterns of gene expression contributing to TGFβ1 associated pulmonary fibrosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This data emphasises the importance of a host predisposition in the form of endogenous TGFβ1, in the development of pulmonary fibrosis in response to an exogenous injury.</p