A Gestalt Oriented Phenomenological and Participatory Study of the Transformative Process of Adolescent Participants Following Wilderness Centered Rites of Rassage

This dissertation, addresses intervention and phenomenological and participatory research methodology, through a lens of Gestalt Therapy Theory. The intervention, a wilderness-centered rites of passage, included experiential components of: (1) emersion in nature, (2) nature-based activities and challenges, (3) alone time in wilderness, (4) exposure to nature-based archetypes, elementals, and folklore, and (5) participation in community that supports connection through in ritual, ceremony, dialogue, and reflection. The participants included three early adolescent males and one adult male, a parent-participant. Data collection methods included participant observation, journal entries, photo documentation, photo elicited interviews, processing groups, and field notes. A multiple case narrative format, each focusing on a program activity component, was utilized to present data and findings representing the transformative process of the participant

Structure and Coarsening of Foams: Beyond von Neumann\u27s Law

We report on the statistics of bubble size, topology, and shape and on their role in the coarsening dynamics for foams consisting of bubbles compressed between two parallel plates. We find that in the scaling regime, all bubble distributions are independent not only of time, but also of liquid content. For coarsening, the average rate decreases with liquid content due to the blocking of gas diffusion by Plateau borders inflated with liquid. By observing the growth rate of individual bubbles, we find that von Neumann\u27s law becomes progressively violated with increasing wetness and decreasing bubble size. We successfully model this behavior by explicitly incorporating the border-blocking effect into the von Neumann argument. We report on bubble growth rates and on the statistics of bubble topology for the coarsening of a dry foam contained in the gap between two hemispheres. By contrast with coarsening in flat space, we observe that six-sided bubbles grow with time at a rate that depends on their size. We measure the statistics of bubble topology, and find distributions that differ from the scaling state of a flat two dimensional foam. We report on the statistics of bubble distribution and coarsening of the two dimensional surface of a three dimensional foam. The surface of a three dimensional foam obeys Plateau\u27s laws, but does not obey von Neumann\u27s law on the individual bubble level, although it holds on average. We measure bubble distributions, which to not change with time, but have different values from an ordinary two dimensional foam. We report on a method for optical tomography of three dimensional foams. Using a bottle filled with dry foam that is mounted on a rotation stage, we take pictures of the foam at many different angles. Using these images, it is possible to reconstruct horizontal slices of the foam. By controlling the parameters of this system, it is possible to get good slices, for possible use in reconstruction of the foam structure

Snu40p and Snu66p are required for spliceosome activation at suboptimal temperatures

textIn addressing the pre-mRNA substrate, the splicing machinery requires rearrangement of multiple RNA and protein components. The classical model of spliceosome formation begins with the U1 snRNA recognition of the 5" splice site and U2 snRNP interaction with the branch point. This process is followed by the engagement of a pre-assembled U4/U6·U5 tri-snRNP to form the A2-1 complex. The spliceosome is subsequently activated through a number of structural rearrangements. Among these is the unwinding of the U4/U6 intermolecular helix by the tri-snRNP component Brr2p. While numerous protein components of the tri-snRNP have been identified, the function of many of these remain unknown. The nonessential Snu66p (U4/U6·U5-110K in humans) stably associates only with the U4/U6·U5 tri-snRNP while the similarly nonessential Snu40p (U5-52K in humans) associates exclusively with the U5 snRNP. To understand why two non-essential pre-mRNA splicing factors have been so well conserved through great evolutionary distances, we examined their roles in the assembly and function of the tri-snRNP. Removal of SNU40 alone does not affect snRNP levels, however deletion of SNU66 results in reduced levels of tri-snRNP. The U4/U6·U5 snRNPs in [Delta]snu66 cells are resistant to the ATP-dependent U4/U6 unwinding by Brr2p, and profound U4/U6 accumulation occurs at reduced temperatures. Remarkably, subsequent removal of SNU40 in a [Delta]snu66 strain bypasses the tri-snRNP formation defect while unwinding of U4/U6 remains defective. Additional investigation revealed that Prp6p, another tri-snRNP protein, is destabilized from the complex. Based upon this data in total, I present a model in which Snu40p and Snu66p interact sequentially with Prp6p to maintain directionality for proper biogenesis of the tri-snRNP. Further, the U4/U6 unwinding defect of the double mutant should theoretically arrest the A2-1 spliceosome. Indeed, native gel analysis confirms the buildup of a large complex later determined to be A2-1. I have purified this complex, functionally tested its catalytic viability, and identified its components via mass spectrometry. This is the first full characterization of the A2-1 precatalytic spliceosome complex in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biolog

Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting in Pittsburgh: Preparedness, Prehospital Care, and Lessons Learned

On Saturday, October 27, 2018, a man with anti-Semitic motivations entered Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; he had an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and three handguns, opening fire upon worshippers. Eventually 11 civilians died at the scene and eight people sustained non-fatal injuries, including five police officers. Each person injured but alive at the scene received care at one of three local level-one trauma centers.  The injured had wounds often seen in war-settings, with the signature of high velocity weaponry.  We describe the scene response, specific elements of our hospital plans, the overall out-of-hospital preparedness in Pittsburgh, and the lessons learned

Informed MCMC with Bayesian Neural Networks for Facial Image Analysis

Computer vision tasks are difficult because of the large variability in the data that is induced by changes in light, background, partial occlusion as well as the varying pose, texture, and shape of objects. Generative approaches to computer vision allow us to overcome this difficulty by explicitly modeling the physical image formation process. Using generative object models, the analysis of an observed image is performed via Bayesian inference of the posterior distribution. This conceptually simple approach tends to fail in practice because of several difficulties stemming from sampling the posterior distribution: high-dimensionality and multi-modality of the posterior distribution as well as expensive simulation of the rendering process. The main difficulty of sampling approaches in a computer vision context is choosing the proposal distribution accurately so that maxima of the posterior are explored early and the algorithm quickly converges to a valid image interpretation. In this work, we propose to use a Bayesian Neural Network for estimating an image dependent proposal distribution. Compared to a standard Gaussian random walk proposal, this accelerates the sampler in finding regions of the posterior with high value. In this way, we can significantly reduce the number of samples needed to perform facial image analysis.Comment: Accepted to the Bayesian Deep Learning Workshop at NeurIPS 201

Engaging Students in the Basic Course By Asking Big Questions

This paper advocates for the inclusion of big questions into the basic course curriculum. It begins by exploring the nature of big questions as those that engage pressing and perennial civic and global issues, and details their effectiveness in encouraging students and faculty to think about interpersonal responsibility and social space as dynamically interfacing and mutually reflexive, thus challenging us to negotiate the civic call of engaging in democratic processes. The basic course, whether public speaking or hybrid, offers a crucial opportunity for big questions to emerge because it brings people together to critically question and produce messages about the social and civic contexts in which we all engage as students, faculty, employees, family, and citizens. Thus, the article includes examples from several basic course instructors and administrators of how big questions can be incorporated into the curriculum to enhance the learning outcomes of students, while at the same time situating the basic course as more deeply embedded into the stated mission and requirements of our departments, colleges, and general education programs

Practical Elimination of Raw Meat Microbiological Risk Using Thermal Pasteurization, a Novel Meat-Safety-Driven Technology

Although the safety of raw meat products has improved in recent decades, raw meat is still associated with a considerable incidence of foodborne illnesses and death. Standard raw meat antimicrobial interventions such as chemical sprays can reduce meat quality, and their effectiveness has plateaued. However, a new thermal pasteurization technology implementing direct steam injection into ground meat and subsequent chilling of the meat by expansion under vacuum has the potential to nearly eliminate pathogens in raw ground meat products while preserving the proteins in the raw state. An inoculation (Escherichia coli surrogates) study of a full-scale pilot pasteurization system demonstrated the effectiveness of pasteurization to significantly reduce illness-causing pathogens in raw ground beef. High-level (log 6.3 colony-forming units per gram [cfu/g]) inoculations were used to validate the minimum temperature required to achieve a 5 log microorganism reduction, and low-level (log 3.8 cfu/g) inoculations were used to validate the minimum temperature required to achieve a 3 log microorganism reduction. At both levels of inoculation, pasteurization achieved the targeted reduction in inoculated microorganism populations (mean ± SEM log microorganism reductions for high-level = log 5.8 ± 0.04 cfu/g, low-level = log 3.3 ± 0.03 cfu/g). Ground beef protein profile and color were studied to determine functional effects of the thermal pasteurization technology. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry revealed no significant changes in the protein profile (P > 0.05). Colorimetric measurements revealed minor changes that were visually insignificant in the color profile of processed versus unprocessed ground beef. A consumer acceptance study found similar preferences for pasteurized ground beef products compared with retail-available ground beef products