Archetypes in white commercial gospel musics: constructing Christian Nationalist identity

"Alan Lomax famously posited: ""the chief function of song is to express the shared feelings and mold the joint activities of some human community. It is to be expected, therefore, that the content of the sung communication should be social rather than individual, normative rather than particular"" (Lomax 1968: 3). The songs to be explored in this dissertation come under the large umbrella of what I am calling ""White Commercial Gospel Music(s),"" a term which, by my definition, encompasses Bluegrass Gospel, Gospel-tinged Country Music, Southern Gospel Quartet Singing, a large portion of Contemporary Christian Music, and a portion of the ""Hillbilly"" music of the early and middle twentieth century. It is the vernacular and popular sacred music that in large part originates from, and in its early history was consumed in, what has been called by sociologists the ""Vernacular South,"" (Harvard Dialect Survey 2003, Cukor-Avila 2001) the region of the United States South from Kentucky and West Virginia, and West to Louisiana. As a group of genres, WCGMs are harmonically accessible, have repetitive natures that invite singing along, and for the most part adhere to Harlan Howard's famous description of what a country song should contain: ""three chords and the truth."" This dissertation presents findings from an extensive repertoire survey of WCGMs, fieldwork trips to the Vernacular South (particularly to the 2011 and 2012 National Quartet Conventions), and discourse analysis of the repertoire surveyed. It seeks to draw connections between archetypes contained within WCGM lyrics and music and identities within the highly politicized section of modem Christian Southern Evangelicalism called ""Christian Nationalism"" (Goldberg 2006). Through the theoretical lenses of Carl Jung (1902, 1912, 1934), Judith Butler (1990 1996), and Marvin Carlson (2003), the dissertation draws connections between the performative elements of this music and modem Christian Nationalist identity.

Remodelling of Mycobacterial Peptidoglycan During Cell Division and the Epigenetics of Macrophages during M. tuberculosis infection

There are so many people who I would like to thank. If it takes a village to raise a child, it certainly takes a city to train a scientist. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors, A/Prof Reto Guler, Prof Frank Brombacher and Dr Mumin Ozturk for allowing me to further my studies and allowing me to work on several interesting projects. Specifically, I would like to take this opportunity to thank A/Prof Reto Guler for his insightful patient advice, training and ever willingness to talk about my work. His brilliant example has made me a better scientist. Further, I would also like to thank Dr Mumin Ozturk for his constant, patient mentorship, help, advice and friendship. His influence, guidance and example have affected me more than he'll ever know. Lastly, but certainly not least, I would like Professor Bavesh Kana and for all his advice and support. I would also like to express my gratitude to my labmates from the Brombacher group. All the conversations, laughs, celebrations and commiserations have made this journey undeniably easier. In particular, I would like to thank Shelby-Sara Jones for her constant willingness to help with lab work whilst chatting about everything under the sun. To my friends and family, there are no words to express my unending gratitude. Without their love and support along the way, I would never have gotten to this stage in my life. To my parents and sister, I would like to say a huge thank you for their constant support and love during my academic career so far. You guys have been wonderful. A huge thank you to Daniela de Almeida and the French's for their support and love from afar– you guys have been great. I would like to say a special thank you to Dustin Fischer who has always been there for a beer and good old-fashioned rant. I can only hope that my friendship and advice have been even the smallest bit as helpful to him as he has been to me during our long trek through academia. To the Cunniffes, thank you for all your support down this long road and truly making me feel like one of the family. Last but by no means least, I would like to thank my partner, Teagan Cunniffe, whose effortless grace, wit, humour, friendship and constant love have been the single greatest gifts I have ever received. I look forward to our adventures to come. Thank you for being there every step of the way and keeping me sane - This dissertation is dedicated to you

Development and optimization of real-time PCR assays to detect anti-microbial immune factors and their response to type I and II interferons.

Master of Medical Science in Immunology. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2016.Abstract available in PDF file

Use of Antidiabetic drugs during pregnancy among U.S. women with Livebirth deliveries in the Mini-Sentinel system

BACKGROUND: As the prevalence of diabetes mellitus increases in the population, the exposure to antidiabetic drugs (ADDs) during pregnancies is expected to grow, as has been seen over the last decade. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of ADD use during pregnancy among women in the Mini-Sentinel Distributed Database (MSDD) who delivered a liveborn infant. METHODS: We identified qualifying livebirth pregnancies among women aged 10 to 54 years in the MSDD from 2001 to 2013. ADD use was estimated using outpatient pharmacy dispensing claims and days-supplied among three cohorts: all livebirth pregnancies, pregnancies among women with pre-existing diabetes, and pregnancies among women without prior ADD use. RESULTS: Among the 1.9 million pregnancies in the MSDD that resulted in a livebirth from 2001 to 2013, 4.4% were exposed to an ADD. Of the 15,606 pregnancies (0.8%) with pre-existing diabetes, 92.8% were also exposed during the pregnancy period. The most commonly used product in these pregnancies was insulin (75.6% of pregnancies). In contrast, in pregnancies of women without prior ADD use, the most commonly used products were glyburide and insulin, and most of these users were diagnosed with gestational diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: Patterns of ADD use during pregnancy described here, along with changes in disease incidence and management, highlight the importance of continuing surveillance of ADD utilization patterns and examining the safety and effectiveness of these products in pregnancy

Long-term clinical and experimental/surface analytical studies of carbon/carbon maxillofacial implants

BACKGROUND:Over the past 30-40years, various carbon implant materials have become more interesting, because they are well accepted by the biological environment. The traditional carbon-based polymers give rise to many complications. The polymer complication may be eliminated through carbon fibres bound by pyrocarbon (carbon/carbon). The aim of this study is to present the long-term clinical results of carbon/carbon implants, and the results of the scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer investigation of an implant retrieved from the human body after 8years.METHODS:Mandibular reconstruction (8-10years ago) was performed with pure (99.99%) carbon implants in 16 patients (10 malignant tumours, 4 large cystic lesions and 2 augmentative processes). The long-term effect of the human body on the carbon/carbon implant was investigated by comparing the structure, the surface morphology and the composition of an implant retrieved after 8years to a sterilized, but not implanted one.RESULTS:Of the 16 patients, the implants had to be removed earlier in 5 patients because of the defect that arose on the oral mucosa above the carbon plates. During the long-term follow-up, plate fracture, loosening of the screws, infection or inflammations around the carbon/carbon implants were not observed. The thickness of the carbon fibres constituting the implants did not change during the 8-year period, the surface of the implant retrieved was covered with a thin surface layer not present on the unimplanted implant. The composition of this layer is identical to the composition of the underlying carbon fibres. Residual soft tissue penetrating the bulk material between the carbon fibre bunches was found on the retrieved implant indicating the importance of the surface morphology in tissue growth and adhering implants.CONCLUSIONS:The surface morphology and the structure were not changed after 8years. The two main components of the implant retrieved from the human body are still carbon and oxygen, but the amount of oxygen is 3-4 times higher than on the surface of the reference implant, which can be attributed to the oxidative effect of the human body, consequently in the integration and biocompatibility of the implant. The clinical conclusion is that if the soft part cover is appropriate, the carbon implants are cosmetically and functionally more suitable than titanium plates

A histomorphometric study of dental implants with different surface characteristics

PURPOSE. One of the major keys to achieve successful osseointegration of the implant is its surface properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the bone response to dental implants with different surface characteristics using the rabbit tibia model. Tricalcium phosphate (TCP) coated, anodic oxidized and turned (control) surfaces were compared. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Seventy two implants were placed in the tibia of eighteen rabbits. Nine rabbits were sacrificed at 3 weeks of healing and the remaining nine were sacrificed at 6 weeks of healing. The bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and the bone volume density (BVD) were assessed by light microscope after 3 and 6 weeks of healing. RESULTS. Statistical analysis showed that no significant differences in the BIC and BVD were observed between the different implant surfaces and the control group at 3 weeks and 6 weeks of healing. Data also suggested that the BVD of all the surfaces showed significant difference at 3 and 6 weeks. CONCLUSION. The present study has showed that osseointegration occurred in all investigated types of surface-treated implants. In the current study all of the threads of the implants were observed to calculate BIC and BVD values (instead of choosing some of the threads from the bone cortex for example), which didn`t make BIC or BVD percentage values better than in the control group, therefore the clinical relevance of these results remains to be shown. [J Adv Prosthodont 2010;2:142-7]

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor dasatinib (SPRYCEL) inhibits chondrocyte activity and proliferation

Letter to the EditorK Vandyke, S Fitter and ACW Zannettin

Mapping evolutionary process: a multi-taxa approach to conservation prioritization

Human-induced land use changes are causing extensive habitat fragmentation. As a result, many species are not able to shift their ranges in response to climate change and will likely need to adapt in situ to changing climate conditions. Consequently, a prudent strategy to maintain the ability of populations to adapt is to focus conservation efforts on areas where levels of intraspecific variation are high. By doing so, the potential for an evolutionary response to environmental change is maximized. Here, we use modeling approaches in conjunction with environmental variables to model species distributions and patterns of genetic and morphological variation in seven Ecuadorian amphibian, bird, and mammal species. We then used reserve selection software to prioritize areas for conservation based on intraspecific variation or species-level diversity. Reserves selected using species richness and complementarity showed little overlap with those based on genetic and morphological variation. Priority areas for intraspecific variation were mainly located along the slopes of the Andes and were largely concordant among species, but were not well represented in existing reserves. Our results imply that in order to maximize representation of intraspecific variation in reserves, genetic and morphological variation should be included in conservation prioritization