“Gender and Sexual Minorities Identity Terms” Academic Discourse in Nepal Over Time

The last 20 years in Nepal has seen drastic changes in the rights and recognition of Gender and Sexual Minorites. Little research has been done on GSM in Nepal and the majority of this research focuses solely on discrimination faced by GSM using western identity terms and categories. These identity terms conflict with a Nepal specific understand of self. Even fewer research has been done on academic discourse on GSM in Nepal. There is a need to understand how academics talk about Nepal’s GSM and how this has changed over time. Terms and their respective constructed identities say a lot about the actors and goals of academic research and its ability to sculpt language and lives. In this research I will look at terms used for GSM in Nepal over the last twenty years and how these terms and subjects have changed over time. I will use theories of essentialism to explore how categories and the meanings behind them change over time. I will then contrast academic understanding of identity with on the ground experiences and identities of GSM in Nepal

Rodeo summer

This novella circles around the inherent emotional and psychological hardships of agrarian lifestyles. Underlying themes assisting plot development include characters struggling with developing and maintaining intimacy, abandonment issues, questions of mothering and nurturance, and the driven nature of competitive, ambitious North Americans in general. The story line follows a mature woman through four major life ceremonies: three funerals and her wedding. Serving as loci, each of these four events allows the telling of a mini-story of support characters that continuously reveal and deepen the presentation of the main character. Ultimately her storyis told through her relationships to others even as she strives to form a more independent, adult identity. The writing maintains a sadly realistic tone, yet is relieved by the aesthetic beauty and healing of scenic nature, and a consistent, gently ironic humor

A Comparative Approach to Promotional Methods for Seasonal Influenza Immunizations to Dorm Dwelling College Freshmen

Introduction: Comparing tailored e-mail messaging to mailed postcards promoting seasonal influenza immunizations for dorm dwelling college freshmen is important for early health prevention and promotion. Dorm dwelling college students are particularly at risk of viral diseases due to the close proximity of their living conditions. Understanding influences with health care decisions and practices is therefore also important with the college dorm dwelling population. Method: A convenience sample was used to collect data from influenza clinic participants on a Midwest college campus over three seasonal flu periods. A Health-E card was sent in 2010 via university issued student e-mail accounts informing students how to prevent influenza through immunization. Postcards were sent in 2008 and 2009 solely to dorm dwellers and parents of college freshmen. Short questionnaires gathered demographic data from participants at flu clinics for comparison. Results: In 2008 and 2009, 8% and 14% of dorm dwelling college freshmen participated in flu clinic following printed media sent to them and their parents. In 2010, only 3% of the same population participated in campus flu clinics following tailored e-mail messages sent via campus listserv. Discussion: Efficiency of social media e-mail messaging was established, however effectiveness of tailored e-mail to college freshmen was not supported. Family was most influential for the seasonal influenza in the third year of the study. Further study is needed to determine efficacy of social media intervention for college students and parental or family influence

Selfing Can Facilitate Transitions between Pollination Syndromes

Pollinator-mediated selection on plants can favor transitions to a new pollinator depending on the relative abundances and efficiencies of pollinators present in the community. A frequently observed example is the transition from bee pollination to hummingbird pollination. We present a population genetic model that examines whether the ability to inbreed can influence evolutionary change in traits that underlie pollinator attraction. We find that a transition to a more efficient but less abundant pollinator is favored under a broadened set of ecological conditions if plants are capable of delayed selfing rather than obligately outcrossing. Delayed selfing allows plants carrying an allele that attracts the novel pollinator to reproduce even when this pollinator is rare, providing reproductive assurance. In addition, delayed selfing weakens the effects of Haldane’s sieve by increasing the fixation probability for recessive alleles that confer adaptation to the new pollinator. Our model provides novel insight into the paradoxical abundance of recessive mutations in adaptation to hummingbird attraction. It further predicts that transitions to efficient but less abundant pollinators (such as hummingbirds in certain communities) should disproportionately occur in self-compatible lineages. Currently available mating system data sets are consistent with this prediction, and we suggest future areas of research that will enable a rigorous test of this theory.National Institutes of Health (F32 GM 110988-3)National Institutes of Health (R01 GM073990-02)National Science Foundation (DEB-1542402

A Difficult Journey: Transitioning from STEM to SoTL

This essay unearths difficulties experienced by scholars trained in the STEM disciplines when transitioning into the research context that is SoTL. We, a scientist and an engineer, engaged in a series of audiotaped reflective discussions (facilitated by a social science researcher) designed to tease out the difficulties associated with this contextual shift. Our discussions pointed to issues that go beyond the oft-quoted methodological differences of a quantitative versus qualitative approach, speaking instead to barriers associated with: time, emotions, intellectual training and world-views. Embracing a complexity approach to the generation of knowledge and understanding led us to an appreciation of the role of narrative and allowed us to dissolve dualisms that we had associated with STEM and SoTL. Our next step is to extend the conversation to include other ‘scholar-travelers’ in a series of workshops aimed at addressing the barriers and bridges associated with journeying from STEM to SoTL

A failure management prototype: DR/Rx

This failure management prototype performs failure diagnosis and recovery management of hierarchical, distributed systems. The prototype, which evolved from a series of previous prototypes following a spiral model for development, focuses on two functions: (1) the diagnostic reasoner (DR) performs integrated failure diagnosis in distributed systems; and (2) the recovery expert (Rx) develops plans to recover from the failure. Issues related to expert system prototype design and the previous history of this prototype are discussed. The architecture of the current prototype is described in terms of the knowledge representation and functionality of its components

Know your place: University chaplaincy in a large, secular university

University chaplaincy has undergone significant change in recent times as universities have been impacted by global events as well as cultural shifts and forces in the tertiary education sector. This article reflects on my experience as a Christian chaplain in two large civic universities in New Zealand and Scotland. It explores the disruptions and opportunities of this period of instability in those contexts and how these might concretely inform the practise of ministry with students and staff

How Images Reflect Complex Social Issues; Documentary Aesthetics and Contemporary Trans Representation in Media

Transgender and non-binary people face disproportionate mental health concerns, most prominently, higher levels of depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide compared to levels reported by their cisgender peers. A factor that significantly fuels this concerning disparity is the level of safety and acceptance that trans and non-binary folks say they feel in environments in which they exist each day. Many trans and non-binary folk turn to media to find representation that may be lacking in their local communities. While social media is an emerging platform that LGBTQ+ individuals are using to form communities, create and share content and find information, documentary film has long-preceded this space. By using the method of textual analysis, this thesis conducts a study on how trans and non-binary individuals, their stories, and topics such as mental health and current events related to gender identity are represented in contemporary documentary film. More specifically, it anyalyzes how producers and filmmakers manipulate aesthetic components of documentary film to represent an issue and evoke certain emotions out of the audience. In a wider scope, it looks at the progress that has been made overtime in terms of representation of trans and non-binary voices and individuals who are interviewed in documentary film. Finally, this thesis analysis the representation of trans and non-binary folks behind the scenes, who hold positions where they have a say in the aethetic choices that are made to represent each individual and their story, and the effect that this has on the broader progression of trans and non-binary representation in media. </p

The construction of a vocabulary test for the intermediate grades,

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit