Lanyer\u27s Virtual Community: The Defense of Female Community in \u3ci\u3eSalve Deus Rex Judaeorum\u3c/i\u3e

This thesis discusses how Aemilia Lanyer\u27s poem Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum represents a virtual space that allows for female community among women who share similar ideals. The three main areas of investigation are the dedications that serve as a structural community for her dedicatees, Christ and his disciples\u27 community breaking down, and Eve\u27s thwarted community in Eden. Christ is a feminized figure in Lanyer\u27s poem who gives women a representative in the Bible, and his interactions with his disciples are something that scholars of Lanyer\u27s work have not discussed. Lanyer\u27s section on Eve is often dissected for its protofeminist, or non-protofeminist, statements, but scholars have yet to view Eve\u27s importance in Lanyer\u27s argument for female community, which is another aim of this thesis. The community built by writing to and for women begins with the dedications. These eleven introductory poems are the most critically commented on portion of Lanyer\u27s work. Scholars discuss Lanyer\u27s dedications in terms of seeking patronage, but I wish to add to that argument by explaining how the dedications are also a call for equality among the high-born women she directly addresses and a general female audience. The idea of eliminating class distinction also moves into the Christ section because of the notion that all who follow Christ are made one through his sacrifice. By feminizing Christ through the language she attributes to him, Lanyer shows a female figure unable to thrive in a masculine community, and once the disciples flee, the daughters of Jerusalem rise up in an attempt to support Christ during his final hours. Like Christ, Eve is used to show the negative effects of denying women community; withholding knowledge and likeminded individuals from women forces them to seek community with men, who will ultimately betray them as Adam did to Eve. I will go into how Eve is denied community and knowledge by Adam, and how Lanyer\u27s final poem, \u27The Description of Cooke-ham,\u27 attempts to bring women back a new Eden at Cooke-ham by providing them with knowledge to join with and thrive in Lanyer\u27s virtual community, constructed through her text

Student Experiences Leaving Health Profession Interest Areas

The undergraduate major change or declaration process can be cumbersome for students who find themselves in unknown territories when making decisions or seeking help during this transition. One of the most challenging groups of students to assist through this transition are those who are denied access to their intended program of study. These students are often pursuing selective degree programs with limited enrollment and competitive admission requirements. Research on students pursuing selective degree programs is largely outdated, with most studies being older than ten years. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how undergraduate students experience leaving selective health profession interest areas in dental hygiene, nursing, and radiologic sciences at a public research university located in Tennessee. This qualitative study included the experiences of 12 third and fourth-year college students at one institution who applied for a selective degree program, were not accepted, and remained enrolled at the institution. It included semi-structured, open-ended individual interviews to investigate these undergraduate students’ experiences when undergoing an undergraduate major change away from a selective degree program. The results aligned with the theoretical framework of Schlossberg’s transition theory (Schlossberg, 1981; Schlossberg, 1991; Schlossberg et al., 1995). The students leaving selective health profession interest areas in dental hygiene, nursing, and radiologic sciences placed importance on college and career choice, experienced change of major difficulties, used campus and other support resources, and developed new strategies for success throughout the change of major process. Recommendations for further study include expanding the sample size and adding other selective degree programs to gain a more holistic picture, developing studies at multiple institutions that follow students throughout the entirety of their undergraduate careers, and investigating students’ coping strategies to identify ways to foster resiliency

The temporal and spatial distribution of dissolved and particulate iron over the Gulf of Alaska shelf

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2018The Gulf of Alaska (GOA) is a region with contrasting ecosystems where the availability of the essential micronutrient iron (Fe) contributes to the observed productivity. However, knowledge on the temporal and spatial variability of iron species over the GOA shelf is limited. The offshore GOA displays lower annual production and residual nitrate in surface waters throughout the year due to low Fe supply, while high spring production is observed over the shelf due to ample nitrate and Fe supply, but these waters become nitrate limited by mid-summer. Processes promoting the exchange of the Fe rich shelf waters with the nitrate rich offshore GOA waters create favorable conditions for phytoplankton to bloom. Mechanisms for Fe introduction and transport are seasonal freshwater input, alongshore advection from the Alaska Coastal Current eddies, deep wintertime mixing, downwelling, downwelling relaxation, and/or upwelling conditions. Additional Fe sources from subsurface waters and sediment re-suspension can impact Fe distributions. Highly seasonal glacial and river input bring in an abundance of both particulate and dissolved Fe species, which differ in their biological availability. For example, dissolved Fe (DFe) is much more readily available than particulate Fe (PFe). The PFe pool can be separated into a labile fraction, which is potentially transferable to the dissolved phase on time scales relevant to phytoplankton blooms, and a refractory fraction, which is considered biologically unavailable. Seawater samples to determine Fe speciation were collected in spring and early fall of 2013 during three GOA scientific cruises. Trace metal clean procedures were followed during sample collection, processing and analysis. Seawater samples were collected by two methods: 1) Vertical samples were obtained using custom-made samplers (UAF vanes) and filtered offline for PFe analysis; 2) surface samples were obtained by using a towed pump system ("the Fe fish") and filtered in-line for DFe analysis. The PFe fractions of suspended particles were further processed using chemical separation: a) 25 % acetic acid leach with a reducing agent to determine leachable particulate Fe; b) complete digestion of the filter using strong acids to determine refractory particulate Fe. Quantitative determination was by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results indicate the broader Western GOA shelf displayed higher average concentrations of total particulate Fe (~121 nM on average) compared to the narrower Southeastern GOA shelf (~18 nM on average). Areas of high glacial input, such as in the vicinity of the Copper River discharge (western side of Kayak Island) and within Prince William Sound near Columbia Glacier, exhibited highly elevated concentrations of total particulate Fe (~430 nM to ~1100 nM). When comparing geographic location, the suspended leachable particulate Fe was higher (~ 22%) over the Southeastern shelf, while the Northern and Western shelf had lower percentage of leachable Fe (11 - 12 %). Over the Southeastern shelf, DFe concentrations were higher in late spring ranging (0.22 - 3.13 nM), while in early fall concentrations were lower (0.07 - 0. 84 nM). Surface water results indicate that there is a significant input of PFe and DFe that occurs in the early fall that extends over much of the Northern shelf and at the inner Western shelf. Variability in downwelling, downwelling relaxation, and upwelling conditions were observed to impact Fe distributions over the Southeastern shelf. These results highlight the impact that the intense environmental variability characteristic of the GOA has on the distribution of Fe species seasonally and geographically.North Pacific Research Board’s Gulf of Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Research Project (G84/F4185-00

Summer Employment and Tobacco Use among College Students

Background: Research has shown that tobacco use among college students is influenced by the social environment, especially amonga subset of smokers known as social smokers. Although many college campuses now have tobacco-free policies that could restrictsocial use of tobacco products, these policies often do not extend to common places of summer employment for college students thathave similar social environments. Currently, no recommended tobacco policy exists for such summer programs, and little research hasbeen done to assess their need.Methods: The objective of this study was to examine trends in tobacco use among the college-aged summer employees of a non-profit organization. Participants included the college-aged summer employees of a seasonal non-profit organization based in the Appalachian region from May through August 2015. At the beginning and end of the summer employment period, an online cross-sectional survey was distributed to each eligible staff member to examine trends in tobacco use.Results: Among the 60 follow-up respondents, 22.8% (n=13) reported an overall increase in tobacco use over the summer, while 3.5%(n=2) reported a decrease in tobacco use and 73.7% (n=42) reported no change.Conclusions: These results indicate that college students are at risk of increasing their tobacco use during summer employment. There is a need for further research into the role of summer workplace influences on tobacco use among college students

Meeting room personalization

Hardware for teleconferencing and videoconferencing is installed in meeting rooms. Typically, such hardware has several settings, e.g., microphone sensitivity, speaker volume, display contrast, etc. Such settings are manually entered or changed upon entry of participants in a meeting. Settings change frequently based on the preferences of different users of the meeting rooms. Each change requires participants to perform manual actions during a meeting. It is also possible that multiple meeting participants in a room disagree on settings. Techniques of this disclosure enable automatically setting meeting room equipment parameters based on user preferences. Personal meeting room settings are stored locally on a mobile device of meeting participants. These settings are automatically applied to meeting room equipment when a user is present in the meeting room. Further, the techniques can automatically resolve conflicting settings across multiple participants. Settings for meeting room equipment are seamlessly personalized for meeting participants

RACIAL VARIATION IN THE USE OF ONCOTYPE DX TESTING FOR WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER

Oncotype DX (ODX) is a tumor gene-profiling test that aids in adjuvant chemotherapy decision-making. While ODX has the potential to improve quality of care, <50% of eligible women receive it. If there is differential ODX testing by race, well-documented disparities in quality of cancer care may persist or worsen. Thus, we had three research objectives: (1) examine racial variation in ODX test uptake, (2) examine racial variation in subsequent adjuvant chemotherapy initiation, and (3) explore how oncologists use the test, identifying barriers and facilitators. We used mixed methods to explore these objectives. We used data from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study Phase III (n=2,998), a population-based cohort study of women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008-2014. We used modified Poisson regression to determine the associations between race and (1) ODX testing (stratified by node status), and (2) adjuvant chemotherapy initiation (stratified by ODX risk group). We also conducted semi-structured interviews with oncologists (n=15). Interview transcripts were double-coded using template analysis. Overall, 42% of women (n=1468) had ODX testing. We found no racial disparities in the uptake of ODX testing among node negative patients. However, among node positive patients, Black patients were 46% less likely to receive testing than non-Black women after controlling for clinical factors (aRR: 0.54, 95%CI:0.35-0.84, p=0.006). Among women who underwent ODX testing (n=541), 54.2%, 37.5%, and 8.3% of women had low-, intermediate- and high-risk tumors, respectively. We did not observe racial variation in adjuvant chemotherapy initiation. Several themes emerged from our provider interviews, including organizational, interpersonal, and intrapersonal factors that influenced ODX testing. Overall, we did not find racial disparities in ODX testing for node negative patients for whom the test is guideline-recommended and widely covered by insurers; however, our findings suggested that a newer application of ODX testing for node positive breast cancer was accessed less often by Black than non-Black women. This finding indicates more guideline-concordant treatment, but also may signal slower diffusion of newer test-applications among Black patients. As treatment decision-making becomes increasingly targeted with the use of genetic technologies, it may be important to examine their use across racial subgroups during early adoption.Doctor of Philosoph

Exploring if social support has an impact on men's experiences with male mental health stigma : a thematic analysis.

This study was carried out with the aim to bridge the gap between previous research and provide insight into social support and male mental health stigma. The present study explores the thoughts and experiences of the potential impact of social support on male mental health stigma. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to maximise the detail on experiences of male mental health stigma, and of the different ways that social support could reduce any stigma perceived. Thematic analysis was implemented to analyse the data along with the epistemology of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) in order to gain a better insight into the participant’s lived experience. Four main themes were identified and within the themes, there were sub-themes. The findings were interesting, and have left ample room for further research to be conducted into the different aspects of social support that can alleviate stigma

Design and fabrication of a flexible membrane ultrasound transducer

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 143-152).Wearable ultrasound sensing could enable novel medical diagnostics by facilitating continuous, real-time, and direct measurement of physiological phenomena, such as blood pressure. Currently, ultrasound is not used in wearable health sensing applications because clinical ultrasound systems are expensive, bulky, and require high operating power. Realizing wearable ultrasound therefore requires significant reductions in cost, size, and power consumption. Manufacturing cost is of particular concern because sensors are frequently incorporated into consumer goods, where cost is a key driver of technology adoption. Toward that goal, this thesis explored the first steps toward the opportunity to fabricate low-cost ultrasound transducers by contact printing. Contact printing was selected because it could be scaled for high-throughput manufacturing, and it could be performed at ambient temperature and pressure. For this thesis, a capacitive microscale ultrasound transducer was fabricated by contact printing a gold-parylene composite flexible membrane onto a silicon chip substrate. Significant challenges with the adhesion between the membrane and the chip were overcome during fabrication process development and a high yield process for the contact printing step was developed. The transducer was characterized for electromechanical performance. The first mode resonant frequency of the transducer was 2.2MHz, with a 2MHz bandwidth, placing it in the range of interest for medical ultrasound applications (typically 1-15MHz). These results demonstrate that flexible membrane ultrasound transducers can be fabricated. Furthermore, they illuminate a path toward wearable ultrasound sensing and more broadly, flexible medical devices.by Megan Johnson Roberts.Ph. D