No Delicate Flower: Victorian Floral Symbolism’s Mediation of Social Issues in Selected Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Alfred Tennyson, John Ruskin, and Isabella Bird Bishop

No Delicate Flower: Victorian Floral Symbolism’s Mediation of Social Issues in Selected Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Alfred Tennyson, John Ruskin, and Isabella Bird Bishop examines floral symbols in the writings of four Victorian authors. Although a large body of work exists on the Romantic literary symbol, its Victorian counterpart is often ignored: Barrett Browning, Tennyson, Ruskin, and Bird Bishop use floral symbols in their work as outward-looking instruments, in contrast to the more inward-looking Romantic symbol, to help understand changing social conditions and address real-world concerns. Chapter one offers an overview of the Victorian symbol and the language of flowers. Chapter two examines Barrett Browning’s floral symbolism in “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship” (1844) and Aurora Leigh (1857), focusing on the way the poet adds to the transcendent Romantic symbol by looking beyond the symbol to real-world issues. Chapter three examines how, in Tennyson’s minor poems, floral symbols model the social unification he advocates. Chapter four analyzes Maud (1855), in which Tennyson alters his use of the floral symbol to stress the impossibility of unification in a world gone mad. Chapter five moves away from poetry to prose to explore Ruskin’s The Queen of the Air (1869); Ruskin wields the floral symbol to try to unite God and humankind in a time rife with religious doubt. Lastly, chapter six provides a postcolonial reading of Bird Bishop’s The Hawaiian Archipelago (1875). When Bird Bishop visits Hawaii, she uses Victorian floral symbolism to critique the inhabitants’ morality and to reinforce existing power hierarchies

Multi-Modal and Short-Range Transmission Loss in Ice-Covered, Near-Shore Arctic Waters

In the past century, extensive research has been done regarding the sound propagation in arctic ice sheets. The majority of this research has focused on low frequency propagation over long distances. One of the most commonly used excitation methods for air-ice-water layers has been explosives. However, environmental regulation has become more stringent, disallowing the use of almost all explosive excitation types. Due to changing climate conditions in these environments, new experimentation is warranted to determine sound propagation characteristics in, through, and under thin ice sheets, in shallow water, over short distances. In April, 2016 several experiments were conducted approximately 2 km off the coast of Barrow, Alaska on shore-fast, first year ice, approximately 1 m thick. To determine the propagation characteristics of various sound sources, Frequency Response Functions (FRFs) were measured between a source location and several receiver locations at various distances from 1 m to 1 km. The primary sources used for this experiment were, an underwater speaker with various tonal outputs, an instrumented impact-hammer on the ice, and a propane cannon that produced an acoustic blast wave in air. The transmission characteristics of the multipath propagation (air, ice, water) are investigated and reported

ACOUSTIC LOCALIZATION TECHNIQUES FOR APPLICATION IN NEAR-SHORE ARCTIC ENVIRONMENTS

The Arctic environment has undergone significant change in recent years. Multi-year ice is no longer prevalent in the Arctic. Instead, Arctic ice melts during summer months and re-freezes each winter. First-year ice, in comparison to multi-year ice, is different in terms of its acoustic properties. Therefore, acoustic propagation models of the Arctic may no longer be valid. The open water in the Arctic for longer time periods during the year invites anthropogenic traffic such as civilian tourism, industrial shipping, natural resource exploration, and military exercises. It is important to understand sound propagation in the first-year ice environment, especially in near-shore and shallow-water regions, where anthropogenic sources may be prevalent. It is also important to understand how to detect, identify, and track the anthropogenic sources in these environments in the absence of large acoustic sensory arrays. The goals of this dissertation are twofold: 1) Provide experimental transmission loss (TL) data for the Arctic environment as it now exists, that it may be used to validate new propagation models, and 2) Develop improved understanding of acoustic vector sensor (AVS) performance in real-world applications such as the first-year Arctic environment. Underwater and atmospheric acoustic TL have been measured in the Arctic environment. Ray tracing and parabolic equation simulations have been used for comparison to the TL data. Generally good agreement is observed between the experimental data and simulations, with some discrepancies. These discrepancies may be eliminated in the future with the development of improved models. Experiments have been conducted with underwater pa and atmospheric pp AVS to track mechanical noise sources in real-world environments with various frequency content and signal to noise ratio (SNR). A moving standard deviation (MSD) processing routine has been developed for use with AVS. The MSD processing routine is shown to be superior to direct integration or averaging of intensity spectra for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation. DOA error has been shown to be dependent on ground-reflected paths for pp AVS with analytical models. Underwater AVS have been shown to be feasible to track on-ice sources and atmospheric AVS have been shown feasible to track ground vehicle sources

Primary Productivity And Nitrogen-Fixation In 2 Macroalgae-Cyanobacteria Associations

Primary productivity and nitrogen fixation (acetylene reduction) were estimated in two macroalgae-cyanobacteria associations from coral reef communities. Microdictyon sp., collected at 20 m on the reef proper and Laurencia sp., from 1-2 m on an inshore sand flat, showed high productivity rates: 1.15 and 1.90 mg C g-l h-I, respectively. Dissolved organic carbon excretion for both associations was less than 0.5% of the total carbon fixed. Nitrogenase activity was much higher in the Laurencia association than in the Microdictyofl association (9,61 vs, 1.04 f.Lg N g-l h-1); this probably was due to differences in the cyanobacterial epiflora, The effect of light on the rates of photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation was evaluated for the Microdictyon association. Nitrogen fixation supplied approximately 2% of the nitrogen demand of the Microdictyon complex and 19% of the demand on the Laurellcia complex, In a nutrient poor environment, any de novo nutrient input is of value; for the Laure/lCia association, nitrogen fixation could supply a substantial portion of the nitrogen required for photosynthesis

Elder abuse screening tools: a systematic review

Purpose: Elder Abuse results in high rates of morbidity and mortality. It has longstanding physical and psychological effects and is difficult to detect. Due to fear or embarrassment victims may make attempts to hide it rather than to disclose and professionals are often reluctant to report it as they may worry about worsening a situation. If detected early enough serious harm can be prevented and lives saved. Screening and screening tools can assist health and social care practitioners to detect abuse. This review of screening tools was undertaken as part of an MSc in Clinical Research, funded by the National Institute for Health Research; the paper reports on the review and its findings. Design/methodology/approach: This was a systematic review with eligibility inclusion and exclusion criteria decided in advance. Keywords and their synonyms were combined and then used to search health and social care databases. Data items were collected from the included studies. The preferred reporting item for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) was followed for the reporting of the results. A narrative synthesis approach was applied to the analysis. Findings: Thirty- four full text studies were downloaded read and analysed. Eleven met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. Of these, three studies reported sensitivity and specificity, with the remainder reporting validity and reliability testing. Twelve tools of varying length and quality were found. The length and characteristics of tools affects the efficacy of their use. The clinical environment will determine choice of screening tool to be used. Screening tools should be used within an overall system of detection and management of abuse. Research limitations/implications: The synthesis of results was challenging due to the lack of homogeneity between the included studies. The variations in tool characteristics and qualities added to this challenge. A further limitation was the lack of a gold standard tool in elder Originality/value: This systematic review highlights a lack of robust evidence in the development and validation of screening tools to detect elder abuse. Though there is an increasing awareness and knowledge about elder abuse, its detection remains problematic and the lack of research in this area is worth emphasizing. Specific tools, centred on the clinical setting in which they are used, are recommended

Could curiosity save lives?:An exploration into the value of employing professional curiosity and partnership work in safeguarding adults under the Care Act 2014

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the importance of professional curiosity and partnership work in safeguarding adults from serious harm, abuse and neglect. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on a range of materials including: review of published materials in relation to professional curiosity, reports from adult serious case reviews (SCRs) and safeguarding adult reviews (SARs); relevant materials drawn from the SAR Library, thematic reviews of SARs and Google searches; observations from practice and experience. It also refers to the relevant academic literature. Findings Lessons from SCRs and SARs show that a lack of professional curiosity and poor coordination of support can lead to poor assessments and intervention measures that can fail to support those at risk of harm and abuse. There are a number of barriers to professionals practicing with curiosity. Working in partnership enhances the likelihood that professional curiosity will flourish. Practical implications There are clear implications for improving practice by increasing professional curiosity amongst professionals. The authors argue that there is a scope to improve professional curiosity by utilising and developing existing partnerships, and ultimately to help reduce the number of deaths and incidents of serious harm. Originality/value The paper considers the importance of employing professional curiosity and partnership work in safeguarding adults’ practice, so enabling practitioners to better safeguard adults at risk of abuse and neglect

Older care-home residents as collaborators or advisors in research: a systematic review

Background: patient and public involvement (PPI) in research can enhance its relevance. Older care-home residents are often not involved in research processes even when studies are care-home focused. Objective: to conduct a systematic review to find out to what extent and how older care-home residents have been involved in research as collaborators or advisors. Methods: a systematic literature search of 12 databases, covering the period from 1990-September 2014 was conducted. A lateral search was also carried out. Standardised inclusion criteria were used and checked independently by two researchers. Results: 19 reports and papers were identified relating to 11 different studies. Care-home residents had been involved in the research process in multiple ways. Two key themes were identified: (i) the differences in residents’ involvement in small-scale and large-scale studies, (ii) the barriers to and facilitators of involvement. Conclusions: small-scale studies involved residents as collaborators in participatory action research, whereas larger studies involved residents as consultants in advisory roles. There are multiple facilitators of and barriers to involving residents as PPI members. The reporting of PPI varies. While it is difficult to evaluate the impact of involving care-home residents on the research outcomes, impact has been demonstrated from more inclusive research processes with care-home residents. The review shows that older care-home residents can be successfully involved in the research process