Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationDiabetes is a complex condition that can significantly affect quality of life and economic burden. New approaches to promoting diabetes knowledge and support to enhance diabetes management are necessary. Peer health is occurring within the diabetes online community (DOC), although very little is known about how it is being used to help manage diabetes. The purpose of this research was to better understand peer health within the nonmoderated, nontrained peer context of the DOC. In this multiple method approach, a cross-sectional survey was posted to DOC social media sites to describe adult DOC users, indicators of their health status, and perceived credibility of DOC information. A baby boomer subset of participants were interviewed to understand why they participated in the DOC, how they anticipated continued DOC use as they aged, and how they determined credibility of DOC information. Transcripts were analyzed using content analysis. Apomediation Theory guided this research. There were several significant findings. Individuals highly engaged with the DOC had better glycemic control. DOC users had high levels of diabetes self-care, health-related quality of life, and social capital. Baby boomers were using the DOC to increase their knowledge to improve self-care and for emotional support. The DOC was used in adjunct to, not in place of, regular healthcare visits to fill gaps in tacit knowledge and support. Baby boomer participants valued the wisdom of experienced individuals, "diabetes elders." Participants employed a process to find credible health information through the guidance of peers. Overall, DOC users found the DOC to be helpful with very little harm reported, suggesting DOC use is beneficial with low risk. Finally, DOC users found information from their healthcare providers to be more competent and trustworthy than information from the DOC, indicating DOC users still find their healthcare providers valuable. The findings from this research are promising. DOC users engage in a reciprocal process of sharing diabetes related experiences, encouraging knowledge attainment and support. Peer health in a naturally occurring online environment has the capacity to augment the traditional healthcare model by providing health information and peer support conveniently and at a low cost

Middle-Class Masculinity in England: Examining Citizen-Soldier Volunteers of the First World War

This thesis explores the origins of the idolized masculine archetype known as the citizen-soldier in Edwardian era England. It shows the process of its construction during the Victorian era and how it was maneuvered by the state and middle-class population to cultivate consent for volunteerism during the First World War. To claim that men volunteered to fight due to a sense of patriotism or thirst for adventure is too simplistic, and fails to account for historical processes. The educated middle classes did not enlist into England’s army unthinkingly. They were motivated by anxiety or the possibility of attaining citizen-soldier status, which the middle class revered above all other constructs of masculinity. Despite the differing perceptions of duty within the middle class all shared a common impetus to volunteer. This, I argue, is because each man was a product of his middle-class upbringing, which demanded of him deference to authority, patriotism, stoicism in the face of danger, pride, camaraderie and honor. The violence of trench warfare did not dismantle citizen-soldier hegemony. Stoic attitudes and fatalism allowed men to maintain their manliness when faced with the horrors of war. When they reflected on violence in the trenches or their fallen friends, soldiers described their service as an experience that made them better men. Thus, the citizen-soldier construct which attained hegemony in decades before the First World War lived on as a dominant masculine archetype even after men’s wartime service was complete

Modeling the Past: A Note on the Search for Proper Form

As historians move beyond the computation of predictive measures to fashion regression models of past behavior they need to consider not only the estimation of regression parameters, but also the specification of a functional form for the model itself. The choice of a particular form for expressing the relationships among variables often has important implications for interpreting the historical issues under investigation. This paper presents methodology developed by J. B. Ramsey and other theorists for comparing distinct functional forms of a regression model according to criteria other than differences in the capacity to account for variation in the dependent variable. Ramsey's procedure directly tests the hypothesis of correctly specified functional form through scrutiny of the pattern of residuals that would be expected for properly specified models. The methodology can thus provide useful information on the choice of computing models especially when measures of explained variation are too close in value to indicate a clear preference for a given equation

What Women With Disabilities Write in Personal Blogs About Pregnancy and Early Motherhood: Qualitative Analysis of Blogs.

BackgroundMore than 1 in 10 women of reproductive age identify as having some type of disability. Most of these women are able to become pregnant and have similar desires for motherhood as women without disability. Women with disability, however, face greater stigma and stereotyping, additional risk factors, and may be less likely to receive adequate reproductive health care compared with their peers without disability. More and more individuals, including those with disability, are utilizing the internet to seek information and peer support. Blogs are one source of peer-to-peer social media engagement that may provide a forum for women with disability to both share and obtain peer-to-peer information and support. Nevertheless, it is not clear what content about reproductive health and pregnancy and/or motherhood is featured in personal blogs authored by women with spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), spina bifida, and autism.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the information being shared in blogs by women with 4 types of disabilities, namely, SCI, TBI, spina bifida, and autism, about reproductive health, disability, health care, pregnancy, and motherhood; and (2) to classify the content of reproductive health experiences addressed by bloggers to better understand what they viewed as important.MethodsPersonal blogs were identified by searching Google with keywords related to disabilities, SCI, TBI, spina bifida, and autism, and a variety of keywords related to reproductive health. The first 10 pages of each database search in Google, based on the relevance of the search terms, were reviewed and all blogs in these pages were included. Blog inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) written by a woman or care partner (ie, parent or spouse) of a woman with a self-identified diagnosis of SCI, TBI, spina bifida, or autism; (2) focused on the personal experience of health and health care during the prepregnancy, prenatal, antepartum, intrapartum, and/or postpartum periods; (3) written in English; and (4) published between 2013 and 2017. A descriptive and thematic qualitative analysis of blogs and corresponding comments was facilitated with NVivo software and matrix analysis.ResultsOur search strategy identified 125 blogs that met all the inclusion criteria; no blogs written by women with spina bifida were identified. We identified 4 reproductive health themes featured in the blog of women with disabilities: (1) (in)accessible motherhood, (2) (un)supportive others, (3) different, but not different, and (4) society questioning motherhood.ConclusionsThis analysis of personal blogs about pregnancy and health care written by women with SCI, TBI, and autism provides a glimpse into their experiences. The challenges faced by these women and the adaptations they made to successfully navigate pregnancy and early motherhood provide insights that can be used to shape future research

Broad or specific : pension fund real estate investment strategies

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-56).by Alan Litchman.M.S

Multi-nutrient, multi-group model of present and future oceanic phytoplankton communities

International audiencePhytoplankton community composition profoundly affects patterns of nutrient cycling and the dynamics of marine food webs; therefore predicting present and future phytoplankton community structure is crucial to understand how ocean ecosystems respond to physical forcing and nutrient limitations. We develop a mechanistic model of phytoplankton communities that includes multiple taxonomic groups (diatoms, coccolithophores and prasinophytes), nutrients (nitrate, ammonium, phosphate, silicate and iron), light, and a generalist zooplankton grazer. Each taxonomic group was parameterized based on an extensive literature survey. We test the model at two contrasting sites in the modern ocean, the North Atlantic (North Atlantic Bloom Experiment, NABE) and subarctic North Pacific (ocean station Papa, OSP). The model successfully predicts general patterns of community composition and succession at both sites: In the North Atlantic, the model predicts a spring diatom bloom, followed by coccolithophore and prasinophyte blooms later in the season. In the North Pacific, the model reproduces the low chlorophyll community dominated by prasinophytes and coccolithophores, with low total biomass variability and high nutrient concentrations throughout the year. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the identity of the most sensitive parameters and the range of acceptable parameters differed between the two sites. We then use the model to predict community reorganization under different global change scenarios: a later onset and extended duration of stratification, with shallower mixed layer depths due to increased greenhouse gas concentrations; increase in deep water nitrogen; decrease in deep water phosphorus and increase or decrease in iron concentration. To estimate uncertainty in our predictions, we used a Monte Carlo sampling of the parameter space where future scenarios were run using parameter combinations that produced acceptable modern day outcomes and the robustness of the predictions was determined. Change in the onset and duration of stratification altered the timing and the magnitude of the spring diatom bloom in the North Atlantic and increased total phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass in the North Pacific. Changes in nutrient concentrations in some cases changed dominance patterns of major groups, as well as total chlorophyll and zooplankton biomass. Based on these scenarios, our model suggests that global environmental change will inevitably alter phytoplankton community structure and potentially impact global biogeochemical cycles

Cell size, genome size, and maximum growth rate are near-independent dimensions of ecological variation across bacteria and archaea.

Among bacteria and archaea, maximum relative growth rate, cell diameter, and genome size are widely regarded as important influences on ecological strategy. Via the most extensive data compilation so far for these traits across all clades and habitats, we ask whether they are correlated and if so how. Overall, we found little correlation among them, indicating they should be considered as independent dimensions of ecological variation. Nor was correlation evident within particular habitat types. A weak nonlinearity (6% of variance) was found whereby high maximum growth rates (temperature-adjusted) tended to occur in the midrange of cell diameters. Species identified in the literature as oligotrophs or copiotrophs were clearly separated on the dimension of maximum growth rate, but not on the dimensions of genome size or cell diameter