Brokering words and work: complexities of literacy sponsorship in the oilfields of south Texas.

This research is an investigation of workforce recruitment language as the “leading edge” of literacy sponsorship as it pertains to blue-collar rig and service workers in the South Texas oilfields. Using Deborah Brandt’s Literacy in American Lives as a framework for this study, I conducted interviews with 10 rig and service workers and labor market intermediary administrators about the perceptions and expectations of literacy use in oilfield work. My inquiry begins by first learning about workers’ experiences with recruitment into the industry. Then, to understand more about how the industry communicates literacy expectations to these workers, I look at recruitment rhetoric via a rhetorical analysis of job advertisements for oil and gas positions. Finally, I examine the role of job market labor market intermediaries (LMIs), or temp agencies, and the role they play in potential oil and gas workers coming into the industry. The results of this research are what make up my dissertation “Brokering Words and Work: Complexities of Literacy Sponsorship in the Oilfields of South Texas” in which I argue that literacy use is influenced by two significant factors. The first factor is the cultural and technological shift in the industry as it pertains to the 2012-13 hydraulic fracturing boom in the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas. This particular boom aligns with the Great Crew Change, the mass retirement of workers from oil and gas positions, creating a need for more workers at all levels of the industry, including workers with advanced technical skills and academic education. To recruit for these new literacies and skills, the industry communicates needs through job advertisements, which, I argue, are as much gatekeepers as they are matchmakers between work and workers for reasons related to access. The second factor is the normalizing of literacy-based processes by the in industry, especially as it pertains to workforce materials, such as reading and interpreting job advertisements, filling out job applications, and resume work. As the culture shifts from networking to the utilization of online job applications and materials, workers and/or applicants not familiar with these genres need assistance navigating the literacy expectations required to use them. To assist in labor market education practices, the industry utilizes the services of labor market intermediaries, which, I argue, are used to bridge literacy and accessibility gaps between worker and industry

Factors Associated with Veteran Patients Decisions About Advance Directives at the Minnesota VAMC

An estimated 30 million Americans are potentially eligible for care within the Veteran\u27s Administration system. To better understand how veterans choose whether or not to complete an advance directive this study obtained self-reports from eleven men on an extended care ward, at a local VA. An exploratory study was conducted using a questionnaire that gathered quantitative and qualitative data regarding demographics, reasons for having or not having an advance directive, and preferred learning methods. Consistent with other research, the findings indicated varied reasons for not having an advance directive including: never received information, never thought about it, procrastination, family already knows what the patients preferences are. Recommendations for a higher completion rate of advance directives include providing patient videos on the topic and one-on-one meetings with patients and family members to explain advance directives

Luminescence based temperature bio-imaging: Status, challenges, and perspectives

The only way to get thermal images of living organisms without perturbing them is to use luminescent probes with temperature-dependent spectral properties. The acquisition of such thermal images becomes essential to distinguish various states of cells, to monitor thermogenesis, to study cellular activity, and to control hyperthermia therapy. Current efforts are focused on the development and optimization of luminescent reporters such as small molecules, proteins, quantum dots, and lanthanide-doped nanoparticles. However, much less attention is devoted to the methods and technologies that are required to image temperature distribution at both in vitro or in vivo levels. Indeed, rare examples can be found in the scientific literature showing technologies and materials capable of providing reliable 2D thermal images of living organisms. In this review article, examples of 2D luminescence thermometry are presented alongside new possibilities and directions that should be followed to achieve the required level of simplicity and reliability that ensure their future implementation at the clinical level. This review will inspire specialists in chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, and engineering to collaborate with materials scientists to jointly develop novel more accurate temperature probes and enable mapping of temperature with simplified technical mean

Separation of variables in quasi-potential systems of bi-cofactor form

We perform variable separation in the quasi-potential systems of equations of the form $\ddot{q}=-A^{-1}\nabla k=-\tilde{A}^{-1}\nabla\tilde{k}${}, where $A$ and $\tilde{A}$ are Killing tensors, by embedding these systems into a bi-Hamiltonian chain and by calculating the corresponding Darboux-Nijenhuis coordinates on the symplectic leaves of one of the Hamiltonian structures of the system. We also present examples of the corresponding separation coordinates in two and three dimensions.Comment: LaTex, 30 pages, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Dispersion monitoring for high-speed WDM networks via two-photon absorption in a semiconductor microcavity

Due to the continued demand for bandwidth, network operators have to increase the data rates at which individual wavelengths operate at. As these data rates will exceed 100 Gbit/s in the next 5-10 years, it will be crucial to be able to monitor and compensate for the amount of chromatic dispersion encountered by individual wavelength channels. This paper will focus on the use of the novel nonlinear optical-to-electrical conversion process of two-photon absorption (TPA) for dispersion monitoring. By incorporating a specially designed semiconductor microcavity, the TPA response becomes wavelength dependent, thus allowing simultaneous channel selection and monitoring without the need for external wavelength filterin

Seshat: The Global History Databank

The vast amount of knowledge about past human societies has not been systematically organized and, therefore, remains inaccessible for empirically testing theories about cultural evolution and historical dynamics. For example, what evolutionary mechanisms were involved in the transition from the small-scale, uncentralized societies, in which humans lived 10,000 years ago, to the large-scale societies with an extensive division of labor, great differentials in wealth and power, and elaborate governance structures of today? Why do modern states sometimes fail to meet the basic needs of their populations? Why do economies decline, or fail to grow? In this article, we describe the structure and uses of a massive databank of historical and archaeological information, Seshat: The Global History Databank. The data that we are currently entering in Seshat will allow us and others to test theories explaining how modern societies evolved from ancestral ones, and why modern societies vary so much in their capacity to satisfy their members’ basic human needsPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Endoplasmic reticulum polymers impair luminal protein mobility and sensitize to cellular stress in alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency.

UNLABELLED: Point mutants of alpha1 -antitrypsin (α1AT) form ordered polymers that are retained as inclusions within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of hepatocytes in association with neonatal hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. These inclusions cause cell damage and predispose to ER stress in the absence of the classical unfolded protein response (UPR). The pathophysiology underlying this ER stress was explored by generating cell models that conditionally express wild-type (WT) α1AT, two mutants that cause polymer-mediated inclusions and liver disease (E342K [the Z allele] and H334D) and a truncated mutant (Null Hong Kong; NHK) that induces classical ER stress and is removed by ER-associated degradation. Expression of the polymeric mutants resulted in gross changes in the ER luminal environment that recapitulated the changes observed in liver sections from individuals with PI*ZZ α1AT deficiency. In contrast, expression of NHK α1AT caused electron lucent dilatation and expansion of the ER throughout the cell. Photobleaching microscopy in live cells demonstrated a decrease in the mobility of soluble luminal proteins in cells that express E342K and H334D α1AT, when compared to those that express WT and NHK α1AT (0.34 ± 0.05, 0.22 ± 0.03, 2.83 ± 0.30, and 2.84 ± 0.55 μm(2) /s, respectively). There was no effect on protein mobility within ER membranes, indicating that cisternal connectivity was not disrupted. Polymer expression alone was insufficient to induce the UPR, but the resulting protein overload rendered cells hypersensitive to ER stress induced by either tunicamycin or glucose depletion. CONCLUSION: Changes in protein diffusion provide an explanation for the cellular consequences of ER protein overload in mutants that cause inclusion body formation and α1AT deficiency

Role of unfolded proteins in lung disease.

The lungs are exposed to a range of environmental toxins (including cigarette smoke, air pollution, asbestos) and pathogens (bacterial, viral and fungal), and most respiratory diseases are associated with local or systemic hypoxia. All of these adverse factors can trigger endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. The ER is a key intracellular site for synthesis of secretory and membrane proteins, regulating their folding, assembly into complexes, transport and degradation. Accumulation of misfolded proteins within the lumen results in ER stress, which activates the unfolded protein response (UPR). Effectors of the UPR temporarily reduce protein synthesis, while enhancing degradation of misfolded proteins and increasing the folding capacity of the ER. If successful, homeostasis is restored and protein synthesis resumes, but if ER stress persists, cell death pathways are activated. ER stress and the resulting UPR occur in a range of pulmonary insults and the outcome plays an important role in many respiratory diseases. The UPR is triggered in the airway of patients with several respiratory diseases and in corresponding experimental models. ER stress has been implicated in the initiation and progression of pulmonary fibrosis, and evidence is accumulating suggesting that ER stress occurs in obstructive lung diseases (particularly in asthma), in pulmonary infections (some viral infections and in the setting of the cystic fibrosis airway) and in lung cancer. While a number of small molecule inhibitors have been used to interrogate the role of the UPR in disease models, many of these tools have complex and off-target effects, hence additional evidence (eg, from genetic manipulation) may be required to support conclusions based on the impact of such pharmacological agents. Aberrant activation of the UPR may be linked to disease pathogenesis and progression, but at present, our understanding of the context-specific and disease-specific mechanisms linking these processes is incomplete. Despite this, the ability of the UPR to defend against ER stress and influence a range of respiratory diseases is becoming increasingly evident, and the UPR is therefore attracting attention as a prospective target for therapeutic intervention strategies

Mapping the X-Ray Emission Region in a Laser-Plasma Accelerator

The x-ray emission in laser-plasma accelerators can be a powerful tool to understand the physics of relativistic laser-plasma interaction. It is shown here that the mapping of betatron x-ray radiation can be obtained from the x-ray beam profile when an aperture mask is positioned just beyond the end of the emission region. The influence of the plasma density on the position and the longitudinal profile of the x-ray emission is investigated and compared to particle-in-cell simulations. The measurement of the x-ray emission position and length provides insight on the dynamics of the interaction, including the electron self-injection region, possible multiple injection, and the role of the electron beam driven wakefield.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure