Sex Differences in the Effects of Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Analogue Treatment on Adolescents’ Limbic System

Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Analogues (GnRHa) are used in conditions such as Gender Dysphoria and precocious puberty to suppress puberty in children or adolescents. This essay poses the question whether this blocking of sex hormones affects brain development of regions of the limbic system. It is hypothesized that the influence of GnRHa’s on limbic system development shows differences between the sexes. While animal research has indeed indicated sex differences in the effect of puberty suppression on hippocampus and amygdala gene expression and amygdala volume, direct evidence in human subjects is lacking. It is suggested that well controlled studies in humans on the effects of GnRHa’s on brain development could provide valuable insights into the origin of sex differences in the brain, as well as contribute to better psychological treatment of individuals who receive GnRHa’s

A Model Knight: Sir Gawain, Chivalric Contradictions, and Grief in Medieval Literature

Scholarship on medieval and Arthurian chivalry in recent decades has focused largely on the Gawain Poet’s 1375 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Sir Thomas Malory’s 1470 Le Morte D’Arthur. These two romances seem to offer more critical looks at the chivalric system than the glorification of knightly life provided by romances from the previous centuries of the high medieval period. In past works such as L’atre Périlleux and Claris et Laris, Sir Gawain is depicted as the ideal knight—in these poems he is humble, strong, noble, and always perfectly in accord with the chivalric code. In Sir Gawain and Morte, however, Gawain comes to represent the inconsistencies within chivalry and its conflicts with medieval Christian principles. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain makes a crucial mistake that suggests he, as a human being, cannot achieve perfect chivalry, and that the chivalric expectations to which knights are held contradict the instinct of self-preservation as well as Christian values of life and mercy. Meanwhile, Gawain’s vengeful reaction to the death of a loved one in Morte D’Arthur demonstrates how the chivalric ethos can allow for a knight to handle complex emotions in a destructive and violent manner as opposed to the Church-endorsed route of penitence and peaceful resolution. In discussing the complexities of medieval chivalry and the consistent use of Gawain’s character as its representative, this analysis will consider medieval writings on chivalry, grief, and Christianity as well as recent scholarship on Sir Gawain, Morte, and minor French romances involving Gawain. Research for this project will explore the way that Sir Gawain’s character transformed from being the symbol of the model knight to emblematic of the conflicting qualities of the chivalric code and its opposition to Christian principles

Promoting social-emotional learning in Chinese schools : a feasibility study of PATHS implementation in Hong Kong

This paper describes a pilot study of a reduced version of the PATHS Curriculum, a USdeveloped evidence-based SEL program, among schools in Hong Kong SAR (China). Three hundred and sixteen 12th grade students in three elementary schools participated in the study. A limited number of first grade PATHS lessons were adapted and translated into Chinese. Twelve teachers learned and adopted these lessons in their teaching. Students in these classrooms learned about different emotions and practiced self-control. The intervention lasted four months. After the intervention, students showed improvement in emotion understanding, emotion regulation and prosocial behavior. No change was observed in the level of children’s problem behaviors. Over 65% of the teachers reported a high degree of satisfaction and willingness to adopt the intervention. The effects of the intervention varied among schools, with variations in the level of intervention and principal support, but not in the quality of implementation. Discussion is focused on the factors that could shape the adoption and implementation of SEL programs, especially the role of the difference in school systems between Hong Kong and the United States.peer-reviewe

The media dependence model: an analysis of the performance and structure of U.S. and global news

This dissertation is an attempt to make sense out of the many questions surrounding news media performance and its inadequacies. It does this by first synthesizing two critical models of news analysis and applying their respective strengths toward the other’s weaknesses. The synthesis is based on the propaganda (Herman & Chomsky, 1988, 2002, 2008) and indexing models (Bennett, 1990; Bennett, Lawrence, & Livingston, 2007). While the scope of the synthesis is broad and substantial, and contributes much in terms of understanding news content, it still leaves important questions that this dissertation endeavors to address. It answers how and why social movements garner news media attention and sympathy, while others do not. This work does not leave domestic matters unaddressed or under-theorized. It does so by distinguishing between foreign and domestic news reporting and modeling domestic coverage. It theorizes ownership of the news media in a manner appropriate for the age of globalization, with findings based on a substantial and thorough content analysis of important events in Fallujah, where the most substantial military operation was conducted during the occupation of Iraq. Lastly, in spite of containing “bird’s eye” conclusions and critical analysis on news media performance and its respective tendencies, this dissertation will also address the conditions and instances in which exceptions are most likely to arise. The name I have given to the model of news analysis presented in this dissertation is the media dependence model (MDM). I chose this name to emphasize the chief failing of the U.S. news media system: its reliance on corporate funding and ownership and the unfortunate result of this structure leading to a lack of independence from Washington (the White House and key Congressional leaders) and Wall Street (Madison Avenue and the public relations industry) positioning

Exploring the dimensions of IT-based Organizational Learning Ability

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study aimed at identifying the underlying dimensions of a complex concept known as organizational learning ability (OLA). Understanding OLA is important because it is a vital part for explaining why firms are sometimes reluctant to accept and use new technologies with confidence. A good understanding of OLA is also essential to the development of a valid and reliable OLA measurement instrument. Such an instrument, in the context of information technology adoption, does not exist yet. Drawing from the prior literature and several focus group interviews, 42 items purporting to measure OLA were generated. A questionnaire developed from these 42 items was administered to 1200 firms, yielding a response rate of around 15%. The responses were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis, indicating that the co-variation among the proposed OLA 42 items can be explained by a correlated six-factor measurement which may be interpreted as: adaptability, compatibility, accessibility, information management, awareness and unit support. This study not only contributes to a better understanding of the OL concept, but also provides a basis for the construction of an instrument for measuring OLA

DETERMINING THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG AIRPORT OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE AREAS AND OTHER AIRPORT CHARACTERISTICS

In this thesis, a methodology is proposed to investigate pair-wise relationships between different types of airport operational performance variables. The methodology represents a fundamental contribution for comparing airport performance between different air traffic management systems. Considerable attention is paid to analyzing the most appropriate techniques in an effort to produce the most reliable results. Additionally, a method to display the results in a simple and clear way is also suggested to allow users to understand the results visually. The key variables obtained from the proposed methodology not only serve as building blocks for developing models to answer a variety of air traffic questions, which allow policy makers to make decisions on allocating resources wisely, but also can be used as an evaluation tool to assist the FAA in selecting candidate projects