Dramatic Criticism: Theory and Practice

This paper is the result of four hours of senior level study, and as such completes the requirements of the honors program for graduating with honor. A brief explanation of it is certainly in order. I envisioned this paper as a series of essays, much along the same format as one of the Twain Series, or Twentieth Century Critical Reviews. As befits the title of this paper, they deal with both the theory and practice of Dramatic Criticism. In several places I have opted to use the vocabulary of the original author in order to avoid Pen Warren\u27s heresy of paraphrase. If this inconveniences anyone, then I am truly sorry, but I felt it best not to run the risk of misrepresentation. The best source for those who are confused is the original article. Also, those who have not read Harvey by Mary Chase are advised to do so. Cerati

Developing and Utilizing Visual Tools to Assist Pork Producers in Employee Training in the Evaluation of Sow Body Condition

The article describes development of a bilingual poster to assists pig producers in classifying body condition scores (BCS) in sows. Sows of the lowest body condition score were purchased, fed for 96 days, and photographed as each sow incrementally increased to the maximum BCS of 5. Pictures from two sows of each BCS of 1 through 5 were professionally arranged on a poster and published in a nationally distributed swine magazine. The poster was designed to assist producers in employee training at the farm level. Similar posters could be developed to improve selection and/or management skills in other livestock species

Development and Validation of a Circumplex Measure of the Interpersonal Culture in Work Teams and Organizations

Interpersonal circumplex (IPC) inventories assess a range of dispositions but can condense and compare their findings within a circular model defined by two factors: agency and communion. Whereas other IPC inventories assess individuals, the current research introduces IPC inventories assessing the interpersonal culture (interaction and communication norms) characterizing an entire organization or team—namely, the Circumplex Culture Scan (CCS) and Circumplex Team Scan (CTS). Across an initial development sample (n = 1676), online validation sample (CCS, n = 808; CTS, n = 832), and onsite validation sample (CCS, n = 516 respondents from 21 organizations; CTS, n = 347 respondents from 38 teams), the eight 8-item CCS/CTS octant scales demonstrated good internal consistencies, circumplex properties, reliable within-group agreement and between-group variance (thus justifying aggregation across an organization/team), and convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity in relation to other measures. According to their members, the organizations/teams with the most satisfied members and customers/clients were organizations/teams with considerably stronger communal (e.g., being open and respectful) than uncommunal (e.g., being rude and guarded) norms and somewhat stronger agentic (e.g., being eager and assertive) than unagentic (e.g., being cautious and quiet) norms. The CCS/CTS complements existing IPC and organizational culture measures and helps bridge the IPC and organizational literatures

Small Group Counseling Compared with Freshman Orientation Classes in Reducing Attrition of Freshman Junior College Students

The problem of this study was to determine the effectiveness of small group counseling in reducing the attrition rate and in altering the adjustment and values of freshmen in a community junior college

Quantitation of Gait and Stance Alterations Due to Monosodium Iodoacetate–induced Knee Osteoarthritis in Yucatan Swine

Knee osteoarthritis is one of the most common causes of chronic pain worldwide, and several animal models have been developed to investigate disease mechanisms and treatments to combat associated morbidities. Here we describe a novel method for assessment of locomotor pain behavior in Yucatan swine. We used monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) to induce osteoarthritis in the hindlimb knee, and then conducted live observation, quantitative gait analysis, and quantitative weight-bearing stance analysis. We used these methods to test the hypothesis that locomotor pain behaviors after osteoarthritis induction would be detected by multiparameter quantitation for at least 12 wk in a novel large animal model of osteoarthritis. MIA-induced knee osteoarthritis produced lameness quantifiable by all measurement techniques, with onset at 2 to 4 wk and persistence until the conclusion of the study at 12 wk. Both live observation and gait analysis of kinetic parameters identified mild and moderate osteoarthritis phenotypes corresponding to a binary dose relationship. Quantitative stance analysis demonstrated the greatest sensitivity, discriminating between mild osteoarthritis states induced by 1.2 and 4.0 mg MIA, with stability of expression for as long as 12 wk. The multiparameter quantitation used in our study allowed rejection of the null hypothesis. This large animal model of quantitative locomotor pain resulting from MIA-induced osteoarthritis may support the assessment of new analgesic strategies for human knee osteoarthritis

Physical Conditions of Cull Sows Associated with On-Farm Production Records

Cull sow physical conditions were associated with on-farm production records. Sows (923) within one integrated U.S. production system were evaluated at two harvest facilities. Physical conditions evaluated at harvest were analyzed by parity, culling code and production measures. Farm culling codes were categorized into poor body condition (BC), old age (G), lameness (L), other (O), poor litter performance (P) and reproductive failure (R). Production measures included lifetime pigs born alive (LPBA), pigs born alive in the last litter (PBALL), pigs per sow per year (PSY) and weaning to culling interval. The L culling code had a greater (P \u3c 0.05) prevalence of cracked hooves when compared to the other five culling codes (30.9% vs. 18.7%). Sows without front cracked hooves tended (P = 0.07) to have greater PSY (0.80) when compared to sows having front cracked hooves. Females without rear digital overgrowth had more (P \u3c 0.05) PBALL (0.54) and tended (P = 0.06) to have increased PSY (0.80) when compared to sows with rear digital overgrowth. Sows without shoulder lesions had greater (P \u3c 0.05) LPBA (2.01) when compared to sows with shoulder lesions. Regression coefficient estimates for percent lung lesion involvement were positive and tended (P \u3c 0.10) to be different from zero for LPBA (0.06) and PSY (0.03). Females with severe teeth wear tended (P ≤ 0.10) to have fewer LPBA (1.36), PBALL (0.45) and had fewer (P \u3c 0.01) PSY (1.10) when compared to sows without severe teeth wear. Sows culled for BC and L had lower (P \u3c 0.01) backfat when compared to sows from the other four culling codes (1.83 and 2.04 cm vs. 2.47 to 2.85 cm, respectively). Multiple cull sow physical conditions evaluated at harvest had associations with on-farm reproductive measures