Ruth Payne to Mr. Meredith (3 October 1962)

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/mercorr_pro/1230/thumbnail.jp

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LONGHAND PENMANSHIP AND SHORTHAND WRITING

The purpose of this study is to determine the predictive value of longhand penmanship for success in Gregg Shorthand writing. The longhand tests consisted of copying the first four sentences of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address; the shorthand specimens were obtained from copying the entire Address. The rating scale selected for classifying longhand samples was the Ayres Handwriting Scale by Leonard P. Ayres, while the shorthand specimens were rated by Hoke’s Shorthand Penmanship Scale. Three longhand specimens were secured from each pupil, one at the first of the year, one at the beginning of the second semester, and one at the conclusion of the school year. The shorthand specimen was obtained at the end of the year, together with the causes for withdrawals from shorthand. These tests were administered to 676 Shorthand I students, who represented thirty high schools in the state of Kansas. The students were composed of 662 girls and 14 boys, 628 righthanded students and 48 lefthanded students. The correlations obtained between the speed and quality of longhand and shorthand writing are significant. Further consideration of longhand penmanship might prove its usefulness as a part of a battery of tests for predictive and selective purposes

Cleaning Up After Sex: An Environmental History of Contraceptives in the United States, 1873—2010

I argue in my dissertation, \u27Cleaning Up After Sex: An Environmental History of Contraceptives in the United States, 1873—2010,\u27 that through the processes of contraceptive production, consumption, and disposal, over time, the role of contraceptives in human/nature interactions has become more significant and the impact more direct. I examine the production, consumption, and disposal histories of condoms, diaphragms and cervical caps, intrauterine devices, and hormonal birth control. Production, consumption, and disposal of the birth control methods I study have determined physical experiences with both our bodies and with the non-human natural world, but those three processes have also shaped discourse about nature and bodies. Likewise, discourse about nature and bodies helped to determine which contraceptives were made, how they were made, who had access to them, the manners in which they could be used, and what happened to them when humans were done with them. This environmental history of contraceptives in the United States illustrates the interwoven, contingent, and reciprocal relationships among device production, consumption, and disposal; contraceptive discourse; and human bodies

Moths & Legends The contribution of chitoumou, the edible caterpillar Cirina butyrospermi, to food security, agriculture and biodiversity in a low-intensity agroforestry system

The global food system is essential for sustaining human life, yet in its current form it does so at a great cost to both human and environmental health. Food insecurity and diet-related disease are responsible for 70% of deaths worldwide, and the global extinction rate is ~1000 times estimated background rates due to the widespread destruction of wild habitat for agriculture. The production of livestock for animal protein is a key driver of both trends. This thesis considers the potential of edible insects in existing agricultural systems to mitigate these problems, with a focus on the role of chitoumou (Cirina butyrospermi), the commonly consumed shea caterpillar harvested from agroforestry systems in Burkina Faso, West Africa. I begin this thesis with a review of the role of edible insects in agricultural systems worldwide. Though certain insects are currently touted for commercial scale production, many popular edible insects are already harvested from existing systems, in which they prey on plant crops. These insects often cause damage to crop yields, but also provide vital provisioning, regulating, maintaining and cultural ecosystem services. Yet, few data are available to enable farmers and policymakers to weigh up the costs and benefits of edible insects in agricultural systems. Therefore, I examine the contributions of chitoumou – a popular edible insect in a region with acute food insecurity and environmental degradation – to food security, crop yields and biodiversity. Firstly, I evaluate the contribution of shea caterpillars to food security. I show that animal protein consumption and food security are higher during caterpillar season, and that higher food security is associated with caterpillar collection, sale and consumption. Shea caterpillars contribute positively to food security, but this effect is seasonal. Secondly, I investigate the relationship between defoliation by shea caterpillars and crop yields. Observational data show that defoliation does not have a negative association with yields of either shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) or maize (Zea mays). This challenges assumptions held by some stakeholders that it is necessary to take measures to eradicate these insects. Thirdly, I look at the relationship of caterpillars to biodiversity, using defoliation as a proxy for caterpillar abundance and bird abundance as a proxy for biodiversity. I find no significant relationship, suggesting that defoliation by caterpillars is not a significant threat to biodiversity in this region. Consequently, policymakers and smallholder farmers alike should recognize that shea caterpillars are not pests, and that the retention of shea trees will promote food security. However, policymakers in particular should be aware that the contribution of shea caterpillars to food security is seasonally limited. For this reason, assessments of food insecurity and strategies to mitigate food insecurity in this region are best conducted out of caterpillar season. Future research that aims to tackle acute global problems of human and environmental health using edible insects should consider the role of insects in existing agricultural systems, and quantify how such insects affect regions where these problems are most severe.I received funding for this work from: the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK (NERC); the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN); crowdfunding campaign on Experiment.com; the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science; King’s College, Cambridge; the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge

Mechanisms of pelvic floor muscle function and the effect on the urethra during a cough

Background: Current measurement tools have difficulty identifying the automaticphysiologic processes maintaining continence, and many questions still remainabout pelvic floor muscle (PFM) function during automatic events.Objective: To perform a feasibility study to characterise the displacement, velocity,and acceleration of the PFM and the urethra during a cough.Design, setting, and participants: A volunteer convenience sample of 23 continentwomen and 9 women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) from the generalcommunity of San Francisco Bay Area was studied.Measurements: Methods included perineal ultrasound imaging, motion trackingof the urogenital structures, and digital vaginal examination. Statistical analysisused one-tailed unpaired student t tests, and Welch’s correction was applied whenvariances were unequal.Results and limitations: The cough reflex activated the PFM of continent women tocompress the urogenital structures towards the pubic symphysis, which wasabsent in women with SUI. The maximum accelerations that acted on the PFMduring a cough were generally more similar than the velocities and displacements.The urethras of women with SUI were exposed to uncontrolled transverse accelerationand were displaced more than twice as far ( p = 0.0002), with almost twicethe velocity ( p = 0.0015) of the urethras of continent women. Caution regardingthe generalisability of this study is warranted due to the small number of women inthe SUI group and the significant difference in parity between groups.Conclusions: During a cough, normal PFM function produces timely compressionof the pelvic floor and additional external support to the urethra, reducing displacement,velocity, and acceleration. In women with SUI, who have weakerurethral attachments, this shortening contraction does not occur; consequently,the urethras of women with SUI move further and faster for a longer duratio

Investigation into the frontal lobe functioning of young offenders with and without a head injury

Recent research has established a high prevalence of head injuries in both the adult and youth offending populations. Offenders often have difficulties with tasks that involve executive and frontal lobe functioning compared to non-offenders, but research has often not recorded or controlled for the effect of head injury. This research aimed to investigate whether young offenders in the community, with self-reported traumatic brain injury (TBI), perform differently to young offenders without a TBI on tasks that are associated with frontal lobe functioning. Participants completed a battery of assessment measures that related to four different areas of frontal lobe functioning. In addition measures of mood, socio-economic status (SES) and IQ were taken as possible confounding variables. A total of 20 participants were recruited in the TBI group and 15 in the non-TBI group. Participants were aged between 12-17 years old and had either past or current involvement with Youth Offending Services (YOS). The TBI group had significantly lower IQ and SES than the non-TBI group but similar levels of self-reported depression. The TBI group were more impulsive on an inhibition task and were poorer at intuitive and emotion-based decision making, and reading emotions from the eyes. There were no significant differences between the groups on reaction time tests. The study concluded that within this sample of young offenders, those with a self-reported head injury had poorer performance on some tasks associated with frontal lobe functioning, but not others. The findings are considered in the context of theoretical and clinical implications with suggestions for further research

Assessment of the Safety, Immunogenicity and Efficacy of Novel Blood-Stage Malaria Vaccines

Despite decades of research and the availability of effective medications, malaria remains a significant global health issue. The vast majority of infections are caused by two species: Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. There is currently no licensed malaria vaccine but an effective vaccine is widely considered necessary to maintain the progress towards eradication, particularly given the increasing issues of insecticide and antimalarial resistance developing. The manifestations of malaria disease are caused by the blood-stage of the parasite against which endemic populations, who are exposed to multiple episodes of malaria, develop some degree of natural immunity. It is therefore considered that vaccines against the blood-stage may mimic the immunity seen in these individuals. This thesis describes three early-phase clinical trials for blood-stage malaria vaccines, all carried out in healthy volunteers at the Jenner Institute in Oxford. The first of these was a Phase Ia trial of a novel P. vivax blood-stage vaccine, ChAd63/MVA PvDBP. This is the only blood-stage vivax vaccine to reach clinical trial and was safe and immunogenic, with functional activity of the antibodies induced by vaccination demonstrated in vitro. The second trial was a Phase I/IIa trial of a candidate P. falciparum vaccine, FMP2.1/AS01B. Vaccine efficacy was assessed by blood-stage controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) using a model developed for this trial. Although the vaccine did not demonstrate any efficacy, the CHMI model was highly reproducible. The final Phase Ia trial examined novel P. falciparum vaccines, ChAd63/MVA RH5. This is the first clinical trial in which purified IgG demonstrated inhibition of growth of P. falciparum in vitro in all strains tested. These studies have demonstrated the potential for developing an effective vaccine against blood stage vivax and falciparum malaria as well as the potential for using the CHMI model for proof-of-concept efficacy testing of novel malaria vaccines

The Transition of a Historically Black College to a Predominantly White Institution

This study investigates the evolution of Bluefield State College from Black to White. The college is located in Bluefield, West Virginia and was founded in 1895 as an all-Black institution. By 1980 it lost that identity. This study attempted to determine why that transition occurred. The research examined the forces that played an essential role in the transition. They included the demographics of the college community, the socio-economic-politico forces, curricular and programmatic changes, and the role of the Alumni Association. These forces were examined from the pre-Brown vs. Board of Education 1954 Supreme Court decision throughout the transition to determine how each force impacted, influenced, or provided direction for the transition. Both a qualitative and quantitative approach was used to study these forces. The literature review included the history of Bluefield State College and other historically Black colleges regarding desegregation. The study also relied on media accounts, journals, magazines and other documents. Brown's Tipping Point Theory (2002) and Parker's Critical Race Theory (2003) provided a frame of reference to examine the social, economic and political forces affecting the transition. Descriptive data were gathered through the administration of 100 survey questionnaires and ten in-depth interviews. The findings indicated that all the forces except the role of the Alumni Association combined and interacted to bring about the transition of Bluefield State College from an all-Black to a predominantly White institution. While the 1954 Brown decision played a critical role it did not act alone to bring about the transition. Further, the findings of this study are consistent with Brown's (2002) earlier study of Bluefield State College and are also supported by Parker's (2004) Critical Race Theory and his research on desegregation. Finally, evidence that emerged from the study suggested that the Alumni Association remains the last vestige of Black tradition at Bluefield State College