Heaven's Interpreters

In Heaven's Interpreters, Ashley Reed reveals how nineteenth-century American women writers transformed the public sphere by using the imaginative power of fiction to craft new models of religious identity and agency. Women writers of the antebellum period, Reed contends, embraced theological concepts to gain access to the literary sphere, challenging the notion that theological discourse was exclusively oppressive and served to deny women their own voice. Attending to modes of being and believing in works by Augusta Jane Evans, Harriet Jacobs, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, Elizabeth Oakes Smith, Elizabeth Stoddard, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Susan Warner, Reed illuminates how these writers infused the secular space of fiction with religious ideas and debates, imagining new possibilities for women's individual agency and collective action.Thanks to generous funding from Virginia Tech and its participation in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellopen.org) and other repositories

Mirror Lake Management Plan

Management Plan and Comprehensive Lake Inventory of Mirror Lake in Wolfeboro and Tuftonboro, N

The Relationship Between Student Employment in the College Union and Student Success

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between student employment in the college union and student success at public universities in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The study focused on the success of student employees as it relates to satisfaction, persistence, student learning and personal development. The study also focused on the relationship between college union working conditions and student satisfaction. The subjects in this study were 166 student employees who work in the college union at public SEC institutions during the 2016-2017 academic year. A survey was used to collect demographic information and information on how student employees within the college union describe their success and satisfaction. The results of this study generally confirm that student employment in the college union yields student success through satisfaction, persistence, student learning and personal development. The results also confirm that there is a positive correlation between working conditions and satisfaction with the college experience

Student Participation in Coil Programs and its Impact on Study Abroad Enrollment

This capstone paper delves into and exposes the impact of participating in the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program has on students’ decision to study abroad. Focusing on State University of New York (SUNY) institutions, a survey was administered to 25 students who participated in a course which employed COIL principles or pedagogy in its design with the primary intent of discovering: 1) the demographics of who enrolled in the COIL courses, 2) why they enrolled, and 3) if their experience had any impact on their interest to study abroad. The survey employed methods which were largely quantitative in nature, with opportunities for qualitative input among participating students. The findings of this survey reveal that students who did not study abroad experience a strong interest in studying abroad after participating in a COIL course; students who studied abroad before participating in the COIL course express experiencing no impact on their decision to study abroad, though qualitative input mentions that through COIL they learned how to communicate more mindfully than they had while studying abroad; students who studied abroad after participating in a COIL course express feeling more prepared/confident when considering study abroad; more than half of surveyed students studied abroad and took a COIL course, which challenges the common opinion that students take COIL courses as an alternative to studying abroad

Effectiveness of bacteriophages against bloater-causing bacteria Enterobacter cloacae in a model food system

Effectiveness of bacteriophages against bloater-causing bacteria Enterobacter cloacae in a model food system Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology Ashley Reed, Dzhuliya Ignatova, Sandra Kopic, Unique Sardeneta, and Jean Lu Abstract Cucumber fermentation is one of the most important vegetable fermentations in the United States and Europe. Enterobacter cloacae and other gas-producing bacteria can cause bloater defect (the gas pockets or hollow cavities formed in fermented cucumbers) which lowers the quality and the yield of fermented cucumbers, thereby resulting in significant economic losses to the pickling industry. Cost-effective strategies to control E. cloacae and other microbiota need to be developed. Using bacteriophages (phages) to eliminate undesired bacteria is an emerging and promising biocontrol method. Our lab recently isolated two phages, F107E and F115E, infecting E. cloacae strains 107E and 115E, respectively. In this study, we measured 1-step growth curve of phage F107E at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.01 and 37°C in cucumber juice. The data showed that the eclipse period (not including 10-min adsorption) is only 10 min and the burst size is 28 virions per infected cell. We also evaluated the effectiveness of the two phages as biocontrol agents against E. cloacae in cucumber juice. The infection with F107E at MOI of 100 or 1 effectively eliminated its host within 2 or 3 hours, indicating very high lytic activity against its host. The infection with F115E at MOI of 0.2 or 0.02 caused more than 3 log unit reduction in its host concentration within 2 or 3 hours. But thereafter, phage-resistant bacterial mutants emerged. Thus, phage F107E has a greater potential to be used in commercial cucumber fermentation to eliminate its host in order to reduce bloater defect

Retrospective Study of Healthcare Resources Developed for Patients by Interprofessional Teams

Wayne State University (WSU) emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary education by having students participate in an Interprofessional Team Visit (IPTV) program. A 60-minute virtual visit is conducted to assess adults aged over 50 years within the Detroit Metropolitan Area (Metro Detroit) community. This project was designed to prepare healthcare students in evaluating the mental, physical, and social health aspects of assigned patients based on specific disciplinary assessments. Upon completion of assessments, the interdisciplinary team provided the patient with resources based on the team and the patient\u27s agreed-upon area of concern. Twenty-eight IPTV teams, consisting of a medical and occupational therapy student and a healthcare professional student from another discipline studying at WSU, were randomly created. The IPTV resource guides created by each team were reviewed and sorted into two categories based on the health or social need of the individual patient. The data identified three main areas of interest, which included medication management, diet and exercise plans, and the use of technology to stay connected to medical professionals, friends, and family. The purpose of this report is to assess the IPTV program’s findings and analyze patients’ concerns based on health or social needs and the resources presented to them

Gender, Race, And Secular Agency In American Protestant Fiction, 1820-1870

This dissertation argues that disenfranchised authors of the antebellum and early postbellum periods used fiction as an imaginative space in which to explore new forms of collaborative agency grounded in particular Protestant beliefs. In chapters on Catharine Maria Sedgwick, William Wells Brown, Susan Warner and Augusta Jane Evans, and Elizabeth Stoddard, it asserts that authors excluded not just from voting citizenship but also from the clergy and from sectarian journals explored in fiction questions of atonement, free will, and predestination that helped them to imagine into being new forms of spiritual and temporal agency. This narrative of religiously based cultural innovation has been overlooked by historicist critics working within a secularized and individualist model of self-determination. Building on recent work in the field of secularism studies that replaces inaccurate sociological models of secularization with a more nuanced description of post-Enlightenment secular society, this project illuminates how modern secular conditions offered new opportunities for the circulation and expression of religious thought and enabled nineteenth-century authors to envision collaborative action across race and gender lines. By attending to the religious concerns woven into fictional plots, this dissertation reveals how states and behaviors that look (to a secularized criticism) like passivity--expressions of belief, unconscious cognition, collective immersion, or willful submission--often represent potent forms of theological engagement that helped writers at the political margins catalyze significant cultural change in a volatile period in American history.Doctor of Philosoph

Physical and functional fitness changes in older adults in response to a traditional training program and a Wii enhanced training program

The Wii Fit Plus Balance program has been recommended as an alternative training tool for older adults to improve physical and functional fitness. However, the effectiveness of the Wii Fit Plus in combination with traditional training approaches in older adults is unclear. PURPOSE: To compare changes in physical fitness measures in older adults (OA) engaging in two different training programs: 1) traditional exercises performed by the control group (CG) and 2) traditional exercises complemented by Wii balance games performed by the experimental group (EG). METHODS: 35 untrained OA (mean ± SD Age: 68.86 ± 6.13; BMI: 28.89 ± 5.32) with no exercise history were recruited and randomly assigned to either the CG or EG group. CG and EG programs both included cardio, strength, flexibility, and balance training exercises. However, subjects in the EG group performed additional balance exercises using Wii fit plus program. Both CG and EG subjects exercised twice per week for twelve weeks. Fitness assessments were based on standard procedures including the chair stand, gallon jug transfer, 8 foot up-and-go tests, as well as a long ramp walk and medicine ball throw tests. Data were collected at weeks 1, 6, and 12. Data analysis was conducted using the general linear mixed model with alpha level set at p\u3c0.05. RESULTS: A significant time effect was found for all fitness measures in both groups from week 1 to 6 (p\u3c0.001) and week 1 to 12 (p\u3c0.001). In general CG and EG subjects made 5.5% to 31.7% improvement from Week 1 to 6 and 8.1% to 52.5% improvement from Week 1 to 12. No significant group effects were observed between the CG and EG groups (p\u3e0.370). Also, no significant group by time interactions were observed for any of the fitness measures (p\u3e0.290). CONCLUSION: It appears that the use of the Wii Fit Plus Balance in conjunction with a traditional exercise program does not provide added significant fitness benefits for older adults. While additional fitness benefits are not evident, it appears that both a traditional exercise program alone and a traditional exercise program combined with the Wii Fit Plus Balance training may elicit significant fitness improvements

Effects of Dietary Sodium Intake on Blood Flow Regulation During Exercise in Salt Resistant Individuals

PURPOSE: Dietary sodium intake guidelines is ≤2,300 mg/day, yet is exceeded by 90% of Americans. This study examined the impact of a high sodium diet on blood flow regulation during exercise. METHODS: Six males (25 ± 2 years) consumed dietary sodium intake guidelines for two weeks, with one week salt-capsule supplemented (HS: 6,900 mg/day of sodium) and the other week placebo-capsule supplemented (LS: 2,300 mg/day of sodium). At the end of each week, peripheral hemodynamic measurements [blood flow (BF), shear rate (SR), and flow mediated dilation (FMD)/SR)] of the brachial and superficial femoral artery were taken during handgrip (HG) and plantar flexion (PF) exercise, respectively. Each exercise workload was 3 minutes and progressed by 8 kilograms until exhaustion. RESULTS: There were no differences between LS and HS in blood pressure (82 ± 4 v 80 ± 5 mmHg; p = 0.3) or heart rate (56 ± 6 v 59 ± 10 bpm; p = 0.4). HG and PF exercise increased BF, SR, and FMD/SR across workload (p \u3c 0.03 for all), but no difference between diets (p \u3e 0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Despite previous reports that HS impairs resting vascular function, this study revealed that peripheral vascular function and blood flow regulation during exercise is not impacted by a HS diet.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1082/thumbnail.jp