THE PATRIARCHY BECOMES THAT GIRL: TIKTOK AND THE MEDIATIZATION OF HEGEMONIC FEMININITY

With the advancement of digital and social media come innovative forms of self-expression and creativity. This M.A. thesis manuscript studies how content creators on the fast-growing social media platform, TikTok, arrange aesthetics, trends, and discourse to promote self-care through hegemonic beauty and wellness standards while empowering themselves through postfeminist sensibilities. Much like early beauty standards set by social media applications such as Instagram, TikTok (along with its algorithm and users) is (re)defining femininity by asking women to look at reexamine their appearance and mentalities to better themselves internally for the sake of self-improvement. Trends such as That Girl illustrate lifestyles that commercialize wellness, organization, and beauty while simultaneously engaging in rhetoric reproducing problematic gender relations, postfeminist values, and hegemonic beauty standards. Using a critical cultural approach, I examine how the mediatization of wellness and beauty essentially illustrates Western culture\u27s transformation of mindfulness into a productivity method and asks participating women to partake in trending practices while pursuing an illusion of control in their daily lives

Banning the deviant out-group member: the use of anger and contempt toward in-group and out-group members

Prior research has argued that contempt behaves as an exclusionary emotion generally felt against strangers, whereas anger tends to be an attack emotion felt toward close others (Fischer & Roseman, 2007). Participants were assigned to conditions where they interacted with a target player who was either an in-group or out-group member who behaved in either socially adherent or deviant ways. It was hypothesized that when the player was a deviant out-group member, the participant would experience higher levels of contempt than the in-group deviant, whereas participants interacting with an in-group deviant were expected to experience higher levels of anger than the out-group deviant. The results of the experiment demonstrate that participants tended to desire more control over an in-group deviant than an out-group deviant. The findings demonstrated here can be applied to studies of aggression, group dynamics, and the black sheep effect (Marques & Paez, 2011)

Cold-Arid Deserts: Global Vernacular Framework for Passive Architectural Design

Among the most unforgiving climates, cold-arid deserts have inspired a myriad of solutions towards passive architecture. Developed over hundreds of years, lessons from vernacular architecture can be the key to challenges of the future. “Since antiquity, man has reacted to his environment, using his faculties to develop techniques and technologies, in such a psychological balance with nature that humanity historically lived attuned to the environment” (Fathy 1986) As concerns for the future of our planet steadily increase pertaining to the depletion of resources, energy consumption, and globalization, alternative solutions can improve the impact we have on our environment, as well as provide the ideal environment for us. The provision of housing for the rapidly growing population continually keeps architects and developers seeking ways to provide the most economically friendly, site specific design that can also be sustainable. Design solutions do not have to be costly or in-corporate complicated modern technology to be sustainable and energy efficient. However, technological advancements continue to dictate the relationship between man and comfort. Can a blended principle of past solutions and modern technologies work together to improve the effects of climate on human environment? This dissertation is meant to gather vernacular lessons to develop a valid framework, in order to create environmentally and culturally sustainable residential prototypes. Through a global analysis, a framework is extrapolated from existing vernacular case studies and modeled to test their relationships and possible improvements to prove their validity today within a single site, the Chihuahua Desert in North America

Amino Acids and N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate as Neurotransmitter Candidates in the Monkey Retinogeniculate Pathways

The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNd) receives chemically identified inputs from brain stem structures, the thalamus and visual cortex. The identity of the neurotransmitter(s) in the retinal input, however, is unknown. To investigate the possibility that some amino acids and certain dipeptides, such as N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate (NAAG), fulfill this function, changes in their concentration were measured in the optic tract, parvocellular and magno-cellular segments of the LGNd, superior colliculus and visual cortex of six monkeys (Macaca fascicularis), seven days after right optic tractotomy. The LGNd was studied also in two additional macaques, three months after occipital lobectomy. Tissue was frozen within five minutes of death, regions were dissected with the micropunch technique, and substances were analyzed by HPLC. Of the ten compounds measured in the normal side, glutamate, glutamine, glycine, and alanine had homogeneous distributions. GABA was highest in the superior colliculus, cystathionine and NAAG decreased in the rostrocaudal direction, and N-acetyl-aspartate showed an opposite gradient of concentration. The heterogeneity in taurine and aspartate was less systematic. Optic tract section induced significant, large reductions in NAAG, glutamate and aspartate in the optic tract distal to the lesion. Significant decreases in NAAG, and to a lesser extent in glutamate, were observed in the LGNd. Changes in the dipeptide were apparent in both the parvocellular and magnocellular segments. Reductions in glutamate reached significance in the parvocellular laminae, and those of aspartate approached significance in the magnocellular division. No significant differences were detected in the superior colliculus and striate cortex. Occipital lobectomy produced large declines in aspartate and glutamate in the LGNd, as well as moderate reductions in alanine and GABA, and minor changes in glutamine and glycine. The results of optic tractotomy support the role of NAAG as a neurotransmitter candidate in the monkey retinogeniculate pathways; its significant decrease in both geniculate segments suggests that X- and Y- retinal axons utilize this substance. Although at times the reductions in glutamate or aspartate failed to reach significance, their role cannot be excluded. The findings after occipital lobectomy strongly favor these latter substances as corticogeniculate transmitters

Machine Learning Tool for Transmission Capacity Forecasting of Overhead Lines based on Distributed Weather Data

Die Erhöhung des Anteils intermittierender erneuerbarer Energiequellen im elektrischen Energiesystem ist eine Herausforderung für die Netzbetreiber. Ein Beispiel ist die Zunahme der Nord-Süd Übertragung von Windenergie in Deutschland, die zu einer Erhöhung der Engpässe in den Freileitungen führt und sich direkt in den Stromkosten der Endverbraucher niederschlägt. Neben dem Ausbau neuer Freileitungen ist ein witterungsabhängiger Freileitungsbetrieb eine Lösung, um die aktuelle Auslastung des Systems zu verbessern. Aus der Analyse in einer Probeleitung in Deutschland wurde gezeigt, dass einen Zuwachs von ca. 28% der Stromtragfähigkeit eine Reduzierung der Kosten für Engpassmaßnahmen um ca. 55% bedeuten kann. Dieser Vorteil kann nur vom Netzbetreiber wahrgenommen werden, wenn eine Belastbarkeitsprognose für die Stromerzeugunsgplanung der konventionellen Kraftwerke zur Verfügung steht. Das in dieser Dissertation vorgestellte System prognostiziert die Belastbarkeit von Freileitungen für 48 Stunden, mit einer Verbesserung der Prognosegenauigkeit im Vergleich zum Stand-der-Technik von 6,13% in Durchschnitt. Der Ansatz passt die meteorologischen Vorhersagen an die lokale Wettersituation entlang der Leitung an. Diese Anpassungen sind aufgrund von Veränderungen der Topographie entlang der Leitungstrasse und Windschatten der umliegenden Bäume notwendig, da durch die meteorologischen Modelle diese nicht beschrieben werden können. Außerdem ist das in dieser Dissertation entwickelte Modell in der Lage die Genauigkeitsabweichungen der Wettervorhersage zwischen Tag und Nacht abzugleichen, was vorteilhaft für die Strombelastbarkeitsprognose ist. Die Zuverlässigkeit und deswegen auch die Effizienz des Stromerzeugungsplans für den nächsten 48 Stunden wurde um 10% gegenüber dem Stand der Technik erhöht. Außerdem wurde in Rahmen dieser Arbeit ein Verfahren für die Positionierung der Wetterstationen entwickelt, um die wichtigsten Stellen entlang der Leitung abzudecken und gleichzeitig die Anzahl der Wetterstationen zu minimieren. Wird ein verteiltes Sensornetzwerk in ganz Deutschland umgesetzt, wird die Einsparung von Redispatchingkosten eine Kapitalrendite von ungefähr drei Jahren bedeuten. Die Durchführung einer transienten Analyse ist im entwickelten System ebenfalls möglich, um Engpassfälle für einige Minuten zu lösen, ohne die maximale Leitertemperatur zu erreichen. Dieses Dokument versucht, die Vorteile der Freileitungsmonitoringssysteme zu verdeutlichen und stellt eine Lösung zur Unterstützung eines flexiblen elektrischen Netzes vor, die für eine erfolgreiche Energiewende erforderlich ist

Coibanoles, a new class of meroterpeniods produced by pycnoporus sanguineus

ManuscriptThree new terpenoids of mixed biosynthetic origin were isolated from the culture filtrate of the endophytic fungus Pycnoporus sanguineus. Their structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic analyses. We have named these tricyclic and tetracyclic metabolites ?coibanoles A?C? in reference to Coiba Island and Coiba National Park, Panam?, from which the plant and endophyte were collected. The extract was inactive to the human parasites Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania donovani, and Plasmodium falciparum at a test concentration of 10 ?g/mL

Development of a Meat Tenderizer Based on Papaya Peel

Green papaya (Carica papaya L.) peels, obtained as a waste product in the processing of papaya pickles, were dried and their proteolytic activity was compared with that of the enzyme in the papaya latex. The proteolytic activity of the enzyme in papaya peel was about 10 times lower than that in the latex. Taking into account the activity of the enzyme, spice batches were mixed with 30% and 45% papaya peels, in order to formulate meat tenderizers. According to the sensory evaluation of the cooked samples, the meat marinated with 30% of green papaya peel, for 2 h at room temperature had the highest level of acceptance for its soft texture and good flavor. In conclusion, green papaya peel, dried, ground, and mixed with various spices showed a great potential for use as a low-cost meat tenderizer. Furthermore, the process described here allows the conversion of papaya peels with a negative value to an essential value added ingredient