Gerard Goggin, Apps: From Mobile Phones to Digital Lives, 2021, Cambridge, UK: Polity, 166 pp., 23.95(paperback),23.95 (paperback), 64.95 (hardcover), $18.00 (e-book)

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Process development and implementation for the imaging of heat treated a2 steel for consolidation into an atlas

Material processes, properties, and microstructure are interconnected, often visualized as the points of a triangle. Changing the process a material goes through will in turn change the properties and microstructure of that material. In materials research and education (specifically with metals), comparison between research or experiment results and scholarly-accepted results is important. When reading textbooks addressing different properties of metals and the process of metal treatment, images are often shown of the various microstructures associated with each property or process stage. The difficulty comes in trying to compare the stages or properties to one another; often different materials and processes are used for the various images, making comparison difficult. This project prototyped a process for heat treating and preparing samples for micrographic imaging by taking 13 treatments of one material, A2 steel, a medium alloy air- quenchable tool steel, through the developed heat treatment process at various austenitizing and tempering temperatures, then developed a process for preparing treatments for microscopic imaging. This developed process can be used to image microstructures resulting from the heat treatment process and organize these micrographs in a comparable manner (for the purposes of this project, this organization is labeled ‘Atlas’). The organized micrographs can then be used in further research or for educational purposes. There are many ways this research could develop further, and as a result this project only prototyped the heat treatment and image preparation process, and did not continue to the stage of imaging all the treatments’ microstructures. An initial organization of micrographs into an Atlas was begun, to which further projects and research could later expand

Keeping It Real: A Historical Look at Reality TV

In the summer of 2000 CBS launched a wilderness and competition reality show called Survivor. The show became a monster hit with more than fifty million viewers watching the finale, ratings only second to Super Bowl. That summer and that show forever changed many aspects of the television industry. Reality TV had been around for years, but with Survivor it began a period of lightening fast development, growth, and influence. During the past decade, many different reality shows have emerged and this research categorizes those shows into four sub-genres that it is argued all reality shows during this time could fit into. Those genres, and the hybrids of them that are still emerging, will play a huge part in how television in the future is created, financed, and produced. In addition, reality TV and all its genres have expanded what is considered acceptable as scripted and unscripted broadcast content in less than 10 years. The implications this has had and will continue to have on the television industry are numerous and important to understand if one is to recognize where television programs are headed in the future. This detailed history gives a much needed glimpse into the people, the programs, and the processes that went into creating one of the most dominant and influential formats of television programming today and in the future

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act as an Antidiscrimination Law

This Article provides the first in-depth reading of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) as an antidiscrimination statute. GINA, touted as the first major civil rights legislation of the new century, passed in May 2008. Thus, both to understand GINA\u27s potential impact, as well as to improve its efficacy, the statute must be analyzed as an antidiscrimination law. When read as an antidiscrimination statute, GINA takes a clear position on one of the most contested issues in that area of law: antisubordination versus anticlassification. This debate queries whether antidiscrimination law should seek to elevate the social status of certain subordinated groups or should prevent all consideration of particular forbidden characteristics. GINA as currently drafted plainly favors anticlassification;it protects individuals from any intentional differential treatment by health insurers or employers based on genetic information. In contrast, an antisubordination approach to protecting genetic information would focus not on outlawing all forms of intentional, differential treatment, but on preventing a genetic underclass from forming. In particular, an antisubordination framework would allow employers to consider genetic information for accommodation purposes and victims of discrimination to challenge facially neutral policies that produce discriminatory results. This Article Reprinted by permission of the publisher

Preempting Discrimination: Lessons from the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ( GINA\u27), enacted in May 2008, protects individuals against discrimination by insurance companies and employers on the basis of genetic information. GINA is not only the first civil rights law of the new millennium, but it is also the first preemptive antidiscrimination statute in American history. Traditionally, Congress has passed retrospective antidiscrimination legislation, reacting to existing discriminatory regimes. However, little evidence indicates that genetic-information discrimination is currently taking place on a significant scale. Thus, unlike the laws of the twentieth century, GINA attempts to eliminate a new brand of discrimination before it takes hold. This Article provides a detailed look at this unprecedented new statute, beginning with its initial introduction in 1995. Next, the Article examines the justifications for passing preemptive genetic-information discrimination legislation, concluding that Congress had twin objectives: a research justification and an antidiscrimination justification. Lastly, the Article explores the implications of passing antidiscrimination legislation absent a history of discrimination. It concludes that GINA\u27s preemptive nature may be both its greatest attribute and its deepest flaw

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationAsthma is a common disease that is most frequently treated with inhaled glucocorticoids which are used to decrease inflammation and mucus production in the airways. However, about 30% of asthma patients do not respond to treatment. A possible hypothesis for glucocorticoid insensitivity is increased metabolism of inhaled glucocorticoids by cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) enzymes, particularly in the lung. The objectives for this dissertation were to evaluate the metabolism of five inhaled glucocorticoids (budesonide, beclomethasone dipropionate, fluticasone propionate, triamcinolone acetonide, and flunisolide) by CYP3A enzymes, and to determine if treatment with glucocorticoids in lung cells induced CYP3A enzyme expression, further increasing the metabolism of glucocorticoids in the lung. All three CYP3A enzymes (CYP3A4, 3A5, and 3A7) metabolized the five glucocorticoids, but to varying degrees and with unique products. CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 were the most efficient at metabolizing the glucocorticoids; CYP3A7 had the lowest rates of metabolism. The most common metabolites produced by CYP3A enzymes with triamcinolone acetonide, budesonide, flunisolide, and beclomethasone dipropionate were 6β-hydroxylated and Δ6-dehydrogenated product, all of which are believed to be clearance metabolites. Investigation into the metabolism of beclomethasone dipropionate by A549 lung cells showed that a dehydrogenated P450-mediated metabolite, [M5], was produced, decreasing bioavailability of the active drug. It was also demonstrated that CYP3A5 mRNA was induced in A549 cells with glucocorticoid treatment. The induction of CYP3A mRNA was blocked when cells were co treated with esterase inhibitors and BDP, confirming the active metabolite, beclomethasone 17-monopropionate ([M1]), was mediating the induction of CYP3A5 mRNA, presumably through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). CYP3A5 mRNA induction was also attenuated by inhibiting GR using the antifungal drug, ketoconazole, further supporting the hypothesis that glucocorticoids binding to GR was the mechanism of CYP3A5 induction in A549 cells. Additional experimentation with primary cells (NHBE, lobar, SAEC, BEAS-2B, and tracheal cells) demonstrated that only SAEC cells expressed CYP3A5. However, CYP3A5 mRNA was not induced in SAEC cells with glucocorticoid treatment despite extensive manipulation of cell culture conditions, such as removing hydrocortisone and utilizing charcoal-stripped FBS for treatment, which could have interfered with the mechanism observed in A549 cells. Overall, the collective results described in this dissertation support the hypothesis that increased metabolism of glucocorticoids in the lung could lead to decreased bioavailability of pharmacologically active drug, and that continued treatment with inhaled glucocorticoids could perpetuate the inefficacy by inducing CYP3A5 enzymes, potentially causing glucocorticoid insensitivity seen in patients