Using auditory evoked brain responses to detect anxious vulnerabilities in neonates.

Anxiety disorders are prevalent in both adult and child populations, and are associated with significant economic and psychosocial costs. There are clearly familial patterns of transmission within the anxiety disorders, and the inherited risk is likely a non-specific vulnerability toward negative affect, with a biological-environmental interaction leading to specific manifestations within the anxiety disorders. Among the vulnerabilities toward anxiety may be information processing biases that predispose individuals to be more vigilant to novelty, processes that may be specifically associated with the right cerebral hemisphere. The current study utilized auditory event related potentials (ERPs) to explore the degree to which such processes may be related to risk toward anxiety disorders in a neonatal population (n=30). Findings supported the growing evidence that predispositions toward anxious patterns of responding are associated with greater activation of the right cerebral hemisphere, as neonates of more highly anxious mothers displayed more positive right hemisphere responses overall. Further, consistent with theories that attentional biases toward novelty are associated with the development and maintenance of pathological anxiety, it was found that measures of both maternal state and trait anxiety were significant predictors of the neonate\u27s brain response to a stranger\u27s voice. These findings are discussed in terms of implications for further understanding the developmental pathways associated pathological anxiety

A Look at Vision: Perspectives Throughout the Organizational Hierarchy of the Christian University Context

Research supports vision as a central tenet to leadership. Just as important as the content of vision is how it is communicated. However, once a vision is cast, far less is known about how it is communicated throughout the organization and how it influences members throughout the organizational hierarchy. For faith-based organizations like Christian colleges and universities, vision is particularly important as it serves to steer the institution toward a greater realization of its faith-based identity. This study contributes to the empirical research on vision, its communication, and its effect, as both the nature and impact of vision communication within Christian higher education are explored. A multicase qualitative research design was employed at 2 Christian universities in the southeastern U.S. Purposeful sampling stratified participants based on their position level within the institution (i.e., senior-level executive, mid-level manager, entry-level employee). Data were collected primarily through 36 interviews. Findings show that vision communication was primarily attributed to the president at each institution, though others felt a responsibility in sharing vision and expressed it in different ways. Additionally, there was a strong, shared alignment with the Christian-focused vision, which was a compelling factor for participants. However, the clarity of what the overall vision was or how to implement it was often obscured by factors unique to each institution, resulting in self-interpretations, assumptions, and frustration. Recommendations are provided for practitioners and for further research, including: leveraging positional power the president has as the chief communicator of vision; establishing an infrastructure for vision communication; and, for faith-based institutions, emphasizing the connection of the institution’s faith-identity to its vision in order to further inspire employees to pursue the vision

The Royal Lykaian Altar Shall Bear Witness: History and Religion in Southwestern Arcadia

THE ROYAL LYKAIAN ALTAR SHALL BEAR WITNESS: HISTORY AND RELIGION IN SOUTHWESTERN ARCADIA Kyle W. Mahoney Jeremy McInerney This dissertation surveys the history of the sanctuary of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion and its environment, from the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600-1100 B.C.) to the Roman imperial period (ca. A.D. 200). I begin with a review of the myth traditions attached to the landscape, suggesting that these were familiar to Greek speakers all over the Mediterranean from early times. We can see their influence in our earliest poets, Homer and Hesiod, who indirectly acknowledge the birth of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion and other local myths. The remainder of Chapter 1 discusses Mt. Lykaion through a comparative mythological and linguistic lens. In Chapter 2, I argue that during the Bronze and Early Iron Ages Mt. Lykaion was closely connected to the mountainous area defined by the Alpheios, Neda, and Pamisos rivers. This fact is evidenced by shared cults and toponymy, conventions which are documented as early as the Pylian Linear B documents (ca. 1200 B.C.). From here I survey Mt. Lykaion in the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods. I argue that Sparta’s incursions into northern Messenia, Arcadia, and Kynouria during the Archaic period pushed Mt. Lykaion into the orbit of the eastern Arcadian cities. The myths and heroic genealogies of the two regions were eventually fused, and by the mid-fourth century B.C. the traditions of Lykaion came to predominate. Chapter 3 concludes with a discussion of the relationship between the Arcadian League and the sanctuary of Zeus Lykaios. Chapter 4 is a history of the Lykaian Games from ca. 600-200 B.C. All literary and epigraphical sources documenting the festival are reviewed, and I maintain that it was held every four years in April or early May of the fourth Olympiad year. Chapter 5 investigates the relationship between Mt. Lykaion and Rome. I argue that around A.D. 1/2 the Lykaia were supplemented by games in honor of the Roman emperor (the Kaisareia) based upon the mythical pedigree of the Roman festival of the Lupercalia, which was said to have been a reproduction of the Lykaia

Advanced Hydrogels for Polymerized Crystalline Colloidal Array Materials

We developed a novel photo-polymerized hydrogel material and a new technique for embedding a crystalline colloidal array (CCA) within a thermo-reversible gelation polymer. The CCA lattice is locked into place within a polymeric hydrogel, forming a polymerized crystalline colloidal array (PCCA). The face-centered cubic (fcc) lattice into which the CCA self-assembles, Bragg diffracts light in the visible, near IR and UV regions of the spectrum. We utilized a poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) hydrogel to detect ammonia in both buffer solutions and human serum. Phenols attached to the hydrogel backbone cross-link upon the addition of hypochlorite in a sample containing ammonia. The cross-linking causes an increase in the elastic constant of the hydrogel which forces the gel to shrink, blue-shifting the wavelength of Bragg diffracted light proportional to the concentration of ammonia present in solution. The sensor functions within the clinically relevant ammonia interval with a 50 μM detection limit in 1:1 serum/buffer solutions.A slight modification of this hydrogel material enabled its use within a bi-modular sensing approach for an organophosphorus (OP) nerve agent. The bi-modular sensing utilized the enzyme organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) and the pH-sensitive group 3-aminophenol as recognition agents. OPH hydrolyzes OPs at basic pH and produces protons. These protons lower the pH inside the hydrogel changing the phenolates to phenols, lowering the free-energy of mixing and blue-shifting the Bragg diffracted light wavelength proportional to the OP concentration. The sensor is reversible, functions in high-ionic strength media, and has a 0.2 μM OP detection limit in aqueous media.We also developed a new technique for the synthesis of PCCA materials by embedding CCA within a thermo-reversible gelation polymer. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in a solution of water and DMSO exhibits cononsolvency resulting in the formation of nanocrystallites, which act as physical cross-links. The hydrogel formed is thermo-reversible. It melts at 70oC and is optically clear when formed at temperatures below −10 oC. This gelation technique enables the facile synthesis of arbitrarily large PCCA materials

Traveling Wave for a diffusive SIR model with delay in diffusion term

This paper is concerned with traveling waves to an diffusive SIR model with delay placed in the diffusion terms as well as nonlinear incidence rate with delay. Using a cross iteration scheme and partial monotone conditions it will be shown that the existence of quasi upper and lower solutions is a sufficient condition for the existence of a traveling wave front. This will be shown via Schauder's fixed point theorem. Given an appropriate basic reproduction number the traveling wave front will flow from a disease-free steady state to endemic steady state. The construction of quasi upper and lower solutions will be carried out for a specific model.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2303.1114

The Necessity of Obedience in One\u27s Spiritual Journey Towards Authenticity: A Conscious and Unconscious Truth as Revealed Through Psychology, History and Myth

In the modern era there appears to be a growing exodus of individuals leaving organized religion. The introduction of the internet, and the near instantaneous access of information that it provides, has deluded many to believe that they can acquire any answers they seek and no longer need guidance or directions from anyone other than, “Google”. This prideful notion causes many concerns, particular when it comes to the development and flourishing of one’s spiritual growth, as they journeys towards authenticity. In order to combat this ever growing mentality one must be able to breakthrough these prideful barriers to recognize the dangers of exploring one’s spirituality on their own. As emphasized by Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell myth can be a manner in which truth is revealed and relayed. By utilizing the modern Star Wars mythos, particularly surrounding the training and development of the Jedi, one is able to relay the importance of having proper spiritual guidance, as well as the dangers when one’s spiritual exploration goes unchecked. Exploring modern myths like Star Wars allows one to not only further grasp these truths, but also relay them in a manner that can be understood by those with little, or no, religious upbringing. While this ability to relay truths through story telling is something that has been done since the beginning of time the importance of having individuals to help one disseminate the meaning and interpretation of these truths is a tradition that is also founded in reality. The great Christian sages of the past like, Augustine, Benedict, Francis and Ignatius all understood the dangers of taking this journey alone. As revealed through an analysis of the rules they developed for their communities, alongside Ignatius’ development of the spiritual exercises, we discover not only the importance of seeking guidance from others, but the necessity of being obedient to the direction they provide. For if one is without proper guidance, one will be in danger of misunderstanding already revealed truths and traveling down the path of relativism, or as the Jedi would say down the path of the dark side. Through an understanding of the spiritual training of the Jedi one is able to recognize the value and necessity of not only having a trained spiritual guide, but also see the pitfalls when one is not properly spiritually educated and directed. Utilizing this pop culture imagery not only relays this message, but also has the possibility to encourage one to seek out spiritual guidance. This helps prevent one from traveling down the dark path of ignorance where they only receive a distortion of the truth. A reality that many in the 21st century have begun to disregard