Quests for healing and identity in the fiction and films of John Sayles : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

John Sayles, writer and independent filmmaker, is, first and foremost a storyteller. The "stories" in his fiction and films tell of individuals trying to come to terms with personal and/or political issues and often lead their protagonists on journeys or quests in search of healing and identity. These quests frequently involve characters returning to places either from the past, or to the source of the trauma in order to understand and deal with the present. This thesis examines this particular aspect of the fiction and films of John Sayles

Infant self-regulation and body mass index in early childhood

BACKGROUND: Poor self-regulation during preschool and early school age years is associated with rapid weight gain. However, the association between self-regulatory capacities in infancy and weight status in early childhood has not been well studied. Objective: Examine prospective associations between infant self-regulation and body mass index (BMI) in early childhood. We hypothesized that infants exhibiting less optimal self-regulation would be at greater risk of obesity at 3–5 years of life. METHODS: We used data from 5750 children in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), excluding premature infants and infants small or large for gestational age. Our primary predictor was infant self-regulation measured at age 9 months by parent completion of the Infant Toddler Symptom Checklist (ITSC). We defined child obesity at preschool and kindergarten age (approximately 4 years and 5–6 years respectively) as a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 95th percentile for age and sex by US Centers for Disease Control growth charts. We created logistic regression models comparing risk of obesity at preschool and kindergarten age in infants with ITSC scores ≥ 6 to infants with scores < 6, controlling for covariates. RESULTS: Twenty-one percent of children with ITSC scores ≥ 6 at 9 months were obese at preschool age compared to 16% of children with lower ITSC scores. At kindergarten age this difference decreased to 18% vs. 16% respectively. After adjusting for covariates, infants with ITSC scores ≥ 6 had 32% increased odds of being obese at preschool age (aOR 1.32; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.70) though this association decreased at kindergarten age (aOR 1.07; 95% CI: 0.79, 1.45). CONCLUSIONS: Poor infant self-regulation at 9 months is associated with an increased risk of obesity at preschool entry but not at kindergarten entry. Helping parents manage and respond to children’s self-regulation difficulties prior to preschool age may serve as a focal point for future interventions.2016-12-01T00:00:00

Halo abundances within the cosmic web

We investigate the dependence of the mass function of dark-matter haloes on their environment within the cosmic web of large-scale structure. A dependence of the halo mass function on large-scale mean density is a standard element of cosmological theory, allowing mass-dependent biasing to be understood via the peak-background split. On the assumption of a Gaussian density field, this analysis can be extended to ask how the mass function depends on the geometrical environment: clusters, filaments, sheets and voids, as classified via the tidal tensor (the Hessian matrix of the gravitational potential). In linear theory, the problem can be solved exactly, and the result is attractively simple: the conditional mass function has no explicit dependence on the local tidal field, and is a function only of the local density on the filtering scale used to define the tidal tensor. There is nevertheless a strong implicit predicted dependence on geometrical environment, because the local density couples statistically to the derivatives of the potential. We compute the predictions of this model and study the limits of their validity by comparing them to results deduced empirically from $N$-body simulations. We have verified that, to a good approximation, the abundance of haloes in different environments depends only on their densities, and not on their tidal structure. In this sense we find relative differences between halo abundances in different environments with the same density which are smaller than 13%. Furthermore, for sufficiently large filtering scales, the agreement with the theoretical prediction is good, although there are important deviations from the Gaussian prediction at small, non-linear scales. We discuss how to obtain improved predictions in this regime, using the 'effective-universe' approach.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures. Revision matching journal versio

Effects of common genetic variation on fasting and postprandial lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis

Fasting triglyceride (TG) levels are a strong determinant of postprandial lipaemia, which is thought to influence the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) because of the delayed clearance or prolonged presence of atherogenic remnant lipoproteins. Associations were thus sought between common genetic variation in apolipoprotein (apo) B, AI, CIII and E and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and both levels of the TG-rich lipoproteins and severity of atherosclerosis. The role of the LPL gene was emphasized because of the known metabolic relationship between LPL activity and lipid metabolism. In Swedish healthy individuals, the C-265 allele of the C to T polymorphism in the apoB promoter was associated with higher apoB levels, the X+ allele of the apoB-XbaI polymorphism with higher low density cholesterol (LDL) cholesterol levels, the common allele (V+) of the apoCIII-PvuII polymorphism with higher LDL-TG levels, and both the T allele of the apoCIII C1100 to T polymorphism and the common allele (H+) of the LPL-HindIII polymorphism with higher TG levels. In Swedish myocardial infarction survivors, fasting lipids and lipoproteins were associated with variation at the apoE gene but not at the apoB, apoCIII or LPL genes. However homozygosity for the insertion allele of the apoB signal peptide polymorphism, homozygosity for the C allele of the apoCIII C1100 to T polymorphism and the presence of the rare alleles of the HindIII and Serine-Stop447 polymorphisms in the LPL gene were associated with worse baseline severity of atherosclerosis in the MI survivors. When genotypes associated with severe atherosclerosis were considered together, individuals with all three genotypes had a 6-fold greater severity of atherosclerosis compared to those with none. In a British patient sample with CAD, variation at the apoB and apoAI-CIII-AIV genes were associated with baseline severity and progression, respectively, of atherosclerosis; homozygosity for the X- allele of the apoB-Xbal polymorphism and homozygosity for the G allele of the apoAI-G-75 to A polymorphism being associated with worse atherosclerosis. In neither of these patient samples, did the genotype effect on atherosclerosis appear to be mediated through genotype-associated differences in fasting lipid and lipoprotein traits. To test the hypothesis that genetic variation was influencing atherosclerosis severity via modulation of postprandial lipaemia rather than through fasting lipids, the effects of common genetic variation on levels of postprandial TG-rich lipoproteins and their atherogenic remnants were examined. The apoB signal peptide variants influenced production of postprandial lipoproteins of both intestinal and hepatic origin. Polymorphisms in the apoCIII, LPL and apoB genes exerted their largest effect on lipolysis or catabolism of postprandial lipoproteins, and the H+ allele of the LPL-HindIII polymorphism was associated with higher postprandial LPL activity and levels of free fatty acids. Using Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism analysis and sequencing, an A1127 to G substitution that changes Asparagine-291 to Serine was found in exon 6. The frequency of the Serine-291 variant, found on the haplotype defined by the common alleles (presence of cutting site) of the PvuII and HindIII polymorphisms, was approximately 0.1 in two independent samples. The effects of this substitution on fasting and postprandial lipids and lipoproteins, LPL activity, interrelationships between plasma traits and influence on apoE phenotype-mediated effects have been investigated, but do not explain all the effects associated with genotypes of the LPL-HindIII polymorphism. Common variation in the genes for apoB, apoCIII and LPL influences fasting serum lipid and lipoprotein levels, with LPL having the largest effect on TGs, and modulating postprandial lipaemia and interrelationships between lipid traits; these may explain associations seen between genetic variation and atherosclerosis. Additive effects occur between common genetic polymorphisms, modulated by environmental factors, with implications for future population studies

St. Mary\u27s Parish House: Reuse and Rehabilitaion Feasibility Report

Most windows in the structure are historic and in fair condition, consisting of double-hung, six-over-six, divided-light windows throughout most of the building and 12-over-8 divided- light windows in the gymnasium. Windows on the first story of the south façade, in the school addition, are wooden and one-over-one

A Short Term Test for Carcinogenicity: Mouse Embryo Tissue Homografts in BALB/c Strain Mice

RoUS AND SMITH (1945) drew attention to the fact that embryo skin of BALB/c strain mice if minced and inoculated into the thigh muscle of adults of the same strain would survive and differentiate, and that by including methylcholanthrene in the inoculum, squamous carcinomas could be induced in the implantation cysts. The same procedure failed to yield such clear-cut results using other strains of mice. Our procedure for short term testing of substances for carcinogenic potential derived from these observations, is described below. It is essentially simple and we feel it is worth mentioning certain manipulations which permit a rapid turnover of material. Our experiments also confirm that &quot; c &quot; mice are the most satisfactory to use. MATERIAL AND METHODS Source of implant material BALB/c strain female mice were segregated into individual boxes when obviously pregnant, and when within 48 hours of term were killed by cervica

Critical Inquiry and the First-Year Experience

Though the perception is that they “know how to navigate the online information world,” research shows even students who might be labeled “digital natives” struggle with what critical inquiry is and how to do it. This workshop examines the current state of undergraduate students’ critical inquiry skills as demonstrated by the Albertsons Library micro-credential taken by all University Foundations students since Fall 2018. It will also include practical solutions for reinforcing these foundational critical inquiry skills in other first-year student classrooms. Participants are encouraged to have a syllabus or course assignment available to use with the accompanying worksheet to brainstorm critical inquiry integrations that create a coherent and connected flow to this essential aspect of student learning

Geographies of colour: Practices and performances of repair

PhDDespite its historical associations with excess and contamination, colour is increasingly being used as a popular transformative tool to revitalise bodies and spaces. In this thesis, I examine the variety of ways that colour is mobilised in the pursuit of repair. Traditional approaches used to explain feelings emerging from exposure to particular colours are overwhelmingly positivist, dominated by the biological and psychological sciences and present conflicting results. In contrast, my research is grounded in an ethnographic, geographical approach that examines colour from the scale of the city, the neighbourhood and the body, allowing for a more carefully considered, qualitative exploration between colour, human experience and space. Beginning with the scale of the city, the first part of this thesis concerns colour in the architectural imagination, examining the claims made by architects and artists working on the design of regeneration projects in London. Analysing the vitalist discourses embedded in the claims circulating around the use of colour, I examine how colour is perceived to perform repair amongst practitioners, with respect to the range of architectural imaginations of urban vitality. The second focus of this thesis is placed the neighbourhood level, framed within the politics of localism that seeks to empower communities. Focusing on the Dulux Let’s Colour project, a scheme that donates paint to local communities to revitalise grey spaces, I examine the politics of nominated spaces ‘in need’ of colour and draw on my participation in an active community painting initiative, colouring a disused bingo hall in Barking, East London. Lastly, my investigation hones in to explore the relationship between colour, the body and emotion. Investigating the proliferation of new ludic colour experiences, such as colour runs, I explore the complexity of how emotional responses to colour in these events are orchestrated and experienced. From the perception of colour’s therapeutic repair of bodies in the hospital, to the urban and social repair performed through local painting initiatives, my research critically examines how the contingent and affective chromatic materiality of our urban environment emerges in the claims, knowledge production and practices of colour in urban culture, architecture and health.AHRC and the Leverhulme Trade Charities Trus

Relationships, Personal Communities and Visible Facial Difference

People with visible facial difference often experience other people reacting negatively to their appearance. For many, this is part of everyday life. Research has identified social support as critical in adaptation processes. This is the case both for those whose facial difference was apparent at birth, and those who experienced injury or illness. There is a lack of a comprehensive theoretical construct for exploring how personal communities provide resources needed by adults to live well with visible facial difference. The combination of semi-structured interviews and creation of personal community maps provided opportunities to explore the interplay between respondent accounts and patterns of relationships people are embedded within. Seventeen adults with visible facial difference and two unaffected ‘significant others’ were interviewed. The findings provide evidence that personal communities are important social spaces for negotiation of resources that enable adults to feel connected, valued and safer within wider communities. Social support was not described as a property of the individual, but as experienced with combinations of people that change according to situation, place, or time. A diversity of personal community patterns were found, largely consistent with findings from Spencer and Pahl (2006), with one variation which increased intimate support. Some personal communities were less supportive and consequently people were at risk of isolation. Processes within personal communities were helpful both in dealing with negative social environments and in helping establish different versions of ‘normal’ life. The importance of focussing on social contexts, when seeking to understand how people live with visible facial differences, is highlighted.University of Bradford Studentshi