Online Dating Profile Analysis: The Intersection of Identity, Gender & Religion

According to standpoint theory, individuals experience the world based on the social groups that they belong to. Using this theoretical lens, my content analysis compared how gender and religion were conveyed on the user profiles of three online dating sites: JDate.com, ChristianMingle.com and OkCupid.com. In my initial reading of data, I used inductive thematic analysis to distinguish 7 categories of words and 7 categories of photographs that were relevant to portrayals of gender and religion. These categories were then analyzed through frequency counts by adding the total number of word types and photograph types used by men and women on each site. Findings showed an emphasis on religious cultural background on ChristianMingle.com. Gender roles were supported overall with male emphasis on career and sports and female emphasis on attractiveness and care

When investors buy up the neighborhood: preventing investor ownership from causing neighborhood decline

Across the country, communities are struggling with the negative spillover effects of foreclosure. In states such as Arizona, California, and Nevada, an additional concern is the increased number of investors who are purchasing distressed properties. While investors are an important part of a vibrant housing market and can provide high-quality and affordable rental properties, there is a danger that unscrupulous investors are buying these properties without the intent to maintain them or contribute to the health of the surrounding neighborhood. This article, an excerpt from a longer report published by PolicyLink, reviews strategies that local governments can use to prevent investor ownership from causing neighborhood decline.

Tense and aspect in the Vetālapañcaviṅśati, a work of late classical Sanskrit

The loss of many of the finite verbal forms of Sanskrit between the Vedic period (1200- 700 B.C.) and the Classical period (400-1700 A.D.) has been well documented (Burrow 1955; Taraporewala 1967; Pap 1990; Masica 1991). By the Classical period, the three finite past tenses, the aorist, perfect and imperfect, had "fallen together" and were being used interchangeably to relate past events (Taraporewala 1967:76; Misra 1968:62; Whitney 1889/1967:201). -- This thesis investigated verbal forms of a text of late Classical Sanskrit, the Vetālapañcaviṅśati, ‘Twenty Five Tales of a Demon', with a view to discovering some of the directions taken in the post-Vedic process of "rebuilding" the verbal system. -- Jambhaladatta's version of the Vetālapañcaviṅśati was found to contain two systems used to indicate past events: the 'archaic' (including the aorist, imperfect and perfect) and the 'innovative' (including the P-oriented participle -ta and the A-oriented participle -tavant). The three 'old' tenses showed no significant semantic differences, consistent with their acknowledged "collapse", although the perfect did show a discourse function of indicating "finality". The P-oriented -ta participle was used three times as often as the A-oriented -tavant participle, indicating that in the 'new’ system, the syntactic shift from A- to P-orientation (as in Hock 1986) was well underway. -- The Historical Present, consistent with its function in all periods of the language, was heavily used for the "lively" narration of past events, both as a main verb, and as the auxiliary component of analytic forms. -- The 'new’ system also showed numerous analytic aspectual forms. To indicate imperfective aspect, constructions involving the present participle plus auxiliaries ✓sthā 'to stand’, ✓ās 'to stay,sit', and vidyate<✓vid ‘to find' were used extensively. The auxiliary vidyate was noted to be a recategorized middle voice verb, with features of both A- and P- orientation. Retrospective aspect was regularly indicated by constructions involving the PPP combined with the auxiliary ✓as 'to be; this construction was especially common in direct speech. -- The increase in analytic forms, clearly marked for imperfective aspect, was considered to be a strategy to redress an imbalance in the 'old' system of preterite tenses where imperfective aspect was under represented

Estimating Effects Of Non-Normality In Assessing Structural Equation Model Fit For Use Of Physical Science Data

ABSTRACT ESTIMATING EFFECTS OF NON-NORMALITY IN ASSESSING STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL FIT FOR USE OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE DATA by SARAH ALTA ROSE May 2016 Advisor: Dr. Barry Markman Major: Education (Evaluation and Research) Degree: Doctor of Philosophy The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of selected fit index statistics in determining model fit when the distribution varied from normality, as is typically true of data research for the physical sciences. SEM is a popular statistical method and is used in many physical and social behavioral science research projects; however, the sensitivity of the model fit indices when normality is violated had never been estimated. The original intent for performing the research was to analyze the legitimacy of the model fit indices’ results against three different types of distributions. One data distribution contained five variables (Torque at Transmission, Engine Speed, Vehicle Speed, Accelerator Pedal Position, and Fuel Used). The variables were assessed using an SEM, and a Monte Carlo simulation of 10,000 iterations for varying sample sizes of n = 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, and 250. It was determined that an indication of poor model fit occurred with greater consistency as the sample size of the data set increased. It was also determined that the magnitude of the correlation decreased as sample size decreased, and as the correlation approached zero the model fit resulted in illogical results. Additional Monte Carlo simulations were therefore conducted, with 1,000 repetitions, and varying magnitudes of correlation matrix values randomly selected from a range of a base value plus or minus 0.015. Twenty four Monte Carlo simulations were performed, with the base value increasing from 0.04 to 0.27. As the correlation matrix values were increased in magnitude, the results of the model fit indices became first illogical and then finally logical, with an increasing indication of a poor model fit. At a certain specified magnitude, the results of the model fit indices were an indication of a poor model fit for the model fit index studied for all Monte Carlo repetitions. These results were forwarded to a subject matter expert. This expert, in citing Kline (2011), opined the most likely explanation for the study results was the default method of Maximum Likelihood that assumes variables are unstandardized. When variables are standardized, the results could be incorrect. The subject matter expert concluded that no systematic Monte Carlo study could be conducted by inputting an incrementally increasing correlation matrix, such as was attempted in this study

Testing the Efficacy of Surface Swab Sampling to Determine Post-Mortem Submersion Interval (PMSI), Using the Microbiome Colonization of Skeletal Remains Submerged in a Lotic Environment

Estimating the post-mortem submersion interval (PMSI) can provide a valuable forensic tool for medicolegal death investigations involving victims discovered in aquatic environments. Previous studies conducted by Cartozzo et al. (2021) successfully demonstrated the use of microbial succession to create predictive models for the estimation of PMSI from submerged bone. Though effective, bone sampling requires time consuming processing techniques that result in destruction of decedent tissue. This study investigates the use of bone surface swabbing as an effective alternative method to bone sampling, with the goal of predicting PMSI using a simpler, non-invasive sampling technique. Porcine (Sus scrofa) skeletal remains (rib and scapulae) were caged and submerged in the James River at the Rice Rivers Center in Charles City, Virginia. One cage, containing five scapulae and five ribs, was collected every 250 ADD along with water samples (Cartozzo et al. 2021). In this study, swabs and water from the original experiment were analyzed at 500 ADD intervals, from baseline (0 ADD/0 days) to 4500 ADD (276 days). DNA was extracted from the swabs using the ChargeSwitch® gDNA Plant Kit and protocol, and variable region 4 (V4) of 16S rDNA was amplified and sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq Sequencing platform. Sequence analysis was performed with the Mothur (v.1.39.5) bioinformatics pipeline using the Mothur MiSeq SOP and R (v.4.1.1). Alpha diversity increased over the course of the study and Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) detected significant differences in beta diversity among bone, swab, and water groups (p\u3c0.001, F=6.32137). These differences in beta diversity are likely explained by greater abundances of Clostridia and Gammaproteobacteria found in the bone samples compared to the swabs, and the overall variable presence and abundance of top taxa between bone and swab samples. Random forest models to predict PMSI were constructed using swabs for both ribs (R 2=0.822 and RMSE=600.6 ADD vs. R2=0.94, RMSE=477 ADD in bone) as well as scapulae (R 2=0.766 and RMSE=681.4 ADD vs. R2=0.93, RMSE=501 ADD in bone). Swab samples predicted PMSI, albeit less accurately than bone powder, though this may well be due to the reduced sample of swabs (n=34) used in this study compared to bone (n=54). These results suggest that further investigation into bone surface swabbing is warranted, as improved models may provide an accurate, less labor-intensive, and non-destructive alternative for sampling skeletal remains to perform microbial PMSI prediction

Buzz Bark: From Traditional Illustration to Interactive App

Buzz Bark: From Traditional Illustration to Interactive App “Buzz Bark” was a character created in 2013 at Suny Oswego by student, Sarah Rose. The protagonist and storyline of Buzz Bark as well as the media it lives on has developed over the years alongside the artist herself. The original story with images created in illustrator lives on the traditional bound pages of a book. With the consideration that modern technology is driving many to turn to interactive multimedia devices for entertainment, Sarah made the decision to translate her character to a digital interface. In 2014 the Buzz Bark app was born. Since then, the app has been improved and revisited as the artist acquires more skills and knowledge as a professional and as an artist. This presentation focuses on the journey of an idea from its beginning to its current progress, and the importance of adapting to modern technologies

Keeping Up Appearances: Analysis of the Look-At-Me Generation

My thesis consists of a series of mixed media sculptures exaggeratedly depicting the affects of technology that allows humans to instantly communicate with one another, such as the social networking tool, Facebook. My works deal with the idea of a preoccupation with creating an image of oneself to project to other people. I wanted to explore how now with the ability to instantly update one another on what is happening in our everyday lives, every mundane detail becomes important and more important situations we deal with become less so. My work is similar to that of the artist Red Grooms and reflects similar ideas to the work of Jim Henson. My sculptures are dioramas, a term originally coined by Jacques Louis Daguerre. Each diorama is either a computer or a television, the devices used for instantly communicating and projecting reflections of reality. I used crude materials such as cardboard and duct tape to create my dioramas. I believe that the impermanence of these materials sheds light on the brevity of our focus on any I don’t intend to cast any judgment. I believe that I take part in what is occurring in my generation, the Look-At-Me generation, as much as the next member. 1 want to pose questions such as, how are websites like Facebook and YouTube and the technological capabilities we have using iPhones, etc, affecting us? My hope is that my one issue. dioramas raise this question and more

Rocking the Suburbs: Suburban Renewal

Many Americans prefer to live in the suburbs with their own house and yard. However, the inner suburbs are aging and deteriorating, effectively pushing those who wish to live in the suburbs further and further out from the metropolitan centers, which is not sustainable. This pattern provides an opportunity to rethink the existing inner suburb and single-family residence so that it might become more attractive and competitive compared to new suburban development. The chosen location is the neighborhood of Harundale, which is a typical American suburb --a placeless development that could be located outside of any American city. Therefore, experimentation in this location is potentially applicable across the country. Developed in the late 1950's, Harundale houses hold historical value as mass-produced postwar design and construction, while the Harundale mall was the first enclosed air-conditioned mall east of the Mississippi River. This was once the "happening place to be", but over time the area has declined. This thesis proposes the use of existing infrastructure as a springboard for rethinking the function and image of the suburbs