Thirty lessons in outlining for fourth grade

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

The Effect of Valence and Arousal on Spatial Attention

Conceptual metaphor theory suggests that to mentally represent abstract concepts we use metaphorical associations to map them onto more concrete constructs (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; 1999). Using a choice reaction time (CRT) task, Meier and Robinson (2004) found that positively valenced words primed attention to higher areas in vertical space, while negatively valenced words primed attention to lower areas in vertical space, consistent with the good is up/bad is down conceptual metaphor. Meier and Robinson (2004; 2005) suggest this provides evidence that emotional words create an automatic and obligatory metaphor-congruent shift in spatial attention, driven by a Valence x Position interaction. However, other research shows that the arousal level, not just the valence of emotional words can affect reaction time (Robinson, Storbeck, Meier & Kirkeby, 2004). This means concluding that valence alone is driving the shift in attention is premature. Furthermore, Brookshire, Irvy and Casasanto (2010) dispute Meier and Robinson’s claim that the relationship between affect and metaphor is automatic, instead suggesting that affect-metaphor associations are optional and only accessed under certain contextual conditions. The purpose of this thesis was therefore two-fold. First, it aimed to explore whether valence, arousal, or an interaction between the two was responsible for driving the metaphor-consistent shift in spatial attention observed by Meier and Robinson (2004). Second, it aimed to progress the discussion about when affective stimuli, in the form of emotional words, automatically activate the good is up/bad is down conceptual metaphor. Three CRT experiments were conducted in which (a) emotional stimulus words were differentiated by arousal level as well as valence and (b) the evaluation of stimulus words’ affective tone (pleasant/unpleasant) was manipulated. A Valence x Position interaction in relation to the good is up but not bad is down conceptual metaphor was found when the valence of priming words was evaluated, suggesting valence, rather than arousal or a combination of both, is driving the affect-metaphor relationship. No evidence for the automatic activation of affect-metaphor associations was found when the word’s affective tone was not evaluated. These findings suggest that while driven by valence, affect-metaphor associations are not fully automatic and occur only under certain contextual conditions. The implications for our understanding of how emotion impacts spatial attention are discussed, suggesting metaphors enrich, rather than monopolise our mental representation of abstract, affective concepts

Bacteria and Politics: The Application of Science to the Yellow Fever Crisis in Reconstruction New Orleans

The emergence of germ theory during the nineteenth century transformed Western medicine. By the 1870s, public health officials in the American South used germ theory to promote sanitation efforts to control public health crises, such as yellow fever epidemics. Before the discovery of mosquito transmission of yellow fever, physicians of the late nineteenth century believed the disease was spread by a highly contagious germ. Prominent medical practitioners of New Orleans, such as Confederate Army veteran Dr. Joseph Jones, used available scientific knowledge and investigation to attempt to control yellow fever during the Reconstruction period, a period rife with political and racial tension in New Orleans. This paper will analyze nineteenth century Southern medicine through the work of Dr. Joseph Jones and will argue that despite the use of cutting edge scientific methods of the era, the political challenges of the Reconstruction period shaded the public health policies in New Orleans

A Reconceptualization of the Self-In-Relationship: Contributions from Voices of Cherokee Americans

In any worldview the Self is a central concept. This article summarizes doctoral dissertation research that re-centers a Cherokee American conceptualization of the Self-In-Relationship. In conversational format, the summary details study results that show how a concept analysis methodology plumbs a depth of meaning that a dictionary definition cannot reach in grasping the complex intersection between two meta-worldviews, American Indian and Western. Concepts that emerged about the Self or Self-In-Relationship were held in focus by the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model lens. The conceptualization of Self in the IFS model was found to be resonant with Cherokee American study participants’ narratives and with Cherokee literature about the Self-In-Relationship. Findings from Cherokee descendants’ perspectives may contribute to widening a crosswalk of understanding for those who straddle Cherokee and Western worldviews. Metaphors that emerged from bringing voices from traditional Cherokee knowledge systems into side-by-side interrelationship with voices from Western scholarship re-centered Cherokee conceptual frameworks as foundational for wellbeing and with potential to inform consciousness about healing beyond the sphere of Cherokee culture

Eg5 steps it up!

Understanding how molecular motors generate force and move microtubules in mitosis is essential to understanding the physical mechanism of cell division. Recent measurements have shown that one mitotic kinesin superfamily member, Eg5, is mechanically processive and capable of crosslinking and sliding microtubules in vitro. In this review, we highlight recent work that explores how Eg5 functions under load, with an emphasis on the nanomechanical properties of single enzymes

Combined optical trapping and single-molecule fluorescence

BACKGROUND: Two of the mainstay techniques in single-molecule research are optical trapping and single-molecule fluorescence. Previous attempts to combine these techniques in a single experiment – and on a single macromolecule of interest – have met with little success, because the light intensity within an optical trap is more than ten orders of magnitude greater than the light emitted by a single fluorophore. Instead, the two techniques have been employed sequentially, or spatially separated by distances of several micrometers within the sample, imposing experimental restrictions that limit the utility of the combined method. Here, we report the development of an instrument capable of true, simultaneous, spatially coincident optical trapping and single-molecule fluorescence. RESULTS: We demonstrate the capability of the apparatus by studying force-induced strand separation of a rhodamine-labeled, 15 base-pair segment of double-stranded DNA, with force applied perpendicular to the axis of the DNA molecule. As expected, we observed abrupt mechanical transitions corresponding to the unzipping of DNA at a critical force. Transitions occurred concomitant with changes in the fluorescence of dyes attached at the duplex ends, which became unquenched upon strand separation. CONCLUSIONS: Through careful optical design, the use of high-performance spectral notch filters, a judicious choice of fluorophores, and the rapid acquisition of data gained by computer-automating the experiment, it is possible to perform combined optical trapping and single-molecule fluorescence. This opens the door to many types of experiment that employ optical traps to supply controlled external loads while fluorescent molecules report concurrent information about macromolecular structure

Moving from traditional government to new adaptive governance: the changing face of food security responses in South Africa

The food system faces increasing pressure from dynamic and interactive, environmental, political and socio-economic stressors. Tackling the complexity that arises from such interactions requires a new form of 'adaptive governance'. This paper provides a review of various conceptions of governance from a monocentric or politicotechnical understanding of governance through to adaptive governance that is based in complex adaptive systems theory. The review is grounded by a critique of the existing institutional structures responsible for food security in South Africa. The current Integrated Food Security Strategy and tasked governmental departments are not sufficiently flexible or coordinated to deal with an issue as multi-scalar and multidisciplinary as food security. However, actions taken in the non-governmental sector signal the emergence of a new type of governance. Apart from an increasing recognition of food security as an issue of concern in the country, there is also evidence of a changing governance structure including collaboration between diverse stakeholders. We review these governance trends with an understanding of the food system as a complex adaptive socio-ecological system where actors in the food system self-organize into more flexible networks that can better adapt to uncertain pressure