Carbonic anhydrase in the marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-45).by Samantha B. Roberts.M.S

The French Official Mistress: Fashioning Female Political Power in the \u3ci\u3eAncien Régime\u3c/i\u3e

This thesis focuses on the French official mistress as a position of unofficial female political power under the French monarchy from the 16th to the 18th century. Centering on three case studies – Diane de Poitiers, Madame de Maintenon, and Madame de Pompadour – this thesis argues that the role of the official mistress extended beyond sexual companion to advisor, negotiator, diplomat, artistic patron, and cultural trendsetter. By taking a deep look at the epistolary and artistic record of these three official mistresses from across France’s modern history, the extent of their autonomy and political maneuvering becomes clear in the tactics they used to project and solidify their power. Diane de Poitiers, Madame de Maintenon, and Madame de Pompadour all existed in unique contexts of the French court and constructed their own methods of fulfilling the role of the official mistress, revealing both changes in the monarchy and their impacts upon it. Notably, the ways in which they projected identity through self-fashioning resulted in a reflection of this image back onto the monarch, expanding the extent of their impact on the monarchy. In striving to understand the political reality of women in France under Salic law and today, the position of maîtresse-en-titre is a crucial framework to recognize the significance of female power structures at court and in the monarchy, and the degree to which women were able to shape these structures themselves

Loudly Lydia: a look at the modern Lydia Bennet in “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,” and what she implies about Austen in contemporary social debates

Pride and Prejudice has captivated audiences for nearly two centuries and its adaptations have given insight to Austen's social commentary in each generation. When The Lizzie Bennet Diaries premiered in 2012, the Bennet sisters were introduced to a new minefield – the 21st century. Using transmedia to relate with a young and eager-to-engage audience, the series modernizes the plots and characters to better relate viewers with the social commentary of the 19th century. The web videos employ Lydia, a character largely ignored in literary scholarship, to explore the dynamics of Austen's women in a male-dominated society. It makes her relatable and dynamic, using the loud, flirtatious girl from the novel to create a still-loud but vulnerable woman viewers are able to empathize and identify with. In this article, I use LBD's Lydia to explore topics of slut-shaming and victim-blaming language, relationship violence and shame-induced silence. Through these topics, Lydia's story warns modern audiences of the consequences of their indifference when it comes to sexual harassment and violence toward women. In light of the #metoo movement and allegations of powerful men keeping victims silent, conversations about victimizing and deprioritizing women have become prevalent across the country. I show how using Austen to examine these social issues can bring light to the progress—or lack there-of—that's occurred over the past 200 years

Puzzling Your Puzzler

The following is summarizing a proposed experimental study based on current literature review and research to evaluate a new interventional therapy for the treatment of concussion compared to current therapeutic practices. Background and Purpose: Concussions have become a major concern in the medical field in recent years. Several research studies have been conducted to learn the signs and symptoms regarding concussions. Recent literature has found that the signs and symptoms of a concussion are similar to those of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Treating Alzheimer’s disease has changed in recent years. Research has found that mental rehabilitation, also known as mental gymnastics, has aided in slowing the progression of the disease. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to see that if the treatment for Alzheimer’s patients, mental gymnastics, could be used as a form of mental rehabilitation of those suffering from a concussion to improve return to baseline cognitive function. Methods: The subjects will be obtained through a convenient sample from the local Akron Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine Center over a three year span. It will include both male and female patients between the ages of 13 and 18 years old. The inclusion parameters for the study are individuals that are diagnosed with a concussion by a sports medicine physician using a SCAT 2 form and clinical evaluation. The patients will first be examined and tested for a concussion using the SCAT 2 form and reaction time test. Then, the patients are randomly assigned to the control group, receiving current standard treatment or the experimental group, receiving standard therapy treatment plus a specific mental gymnastics protocol. After a week, the patients will return to the office for a follow- up visit where the packets will be retrieved and patients will again undergo clinical assessment, SCAT 2 assessment, and reaction time assessment to evaluate concussive symptoms. The data collected will then undergo statistical analysis using a two sample t- test

ALMA Thermal Observations of Europa

We present four daytime thermal images of Europa taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. Together, these images comprise the first spatially resolved thermal dataset with complete coverage of Europa's surface. The resulting brightness temperatures correspond to a frequency of 233 GHz (1.3 mm) and a typical linear resolution of roughly 200 km. At this resolution, the images capture spatially localized thermal variations on the scale of geologic and compositional units. We use a global thermal model of Europa to simulate the ALMA observations in order to investigate the thermal structure visible in the data. Comparisons between the data and model images suggest that the large-scale daytime thermal structure on Europa largely results from bolometric albedo variations across the surface. Using bolometric albedos extrapolated from Voyager measurements, a homogenous model reproduces these patterns well, but localized discrepancies exist. These discrepancies can be largely explained by spatial inhomogeneity of the surface thermal properties. Thus, we use the four ALMA images to create maps of the surface thermal inertia and emissivity at our ALMA wavelength. From these maps, we identify a region of either particularly high thermal inertia or low emissivity near 90 degrees West and 23 degrees North, which appears anomalously cold in two of our images.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Monitoring the Breakdown of Plastic Materials Under Ultraviolet and Visible Light

The accumulation of plastic waste in landfills and especially in water systems is a pressing environmental concern. Every year, roughly 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans, which over time can then break down into microplastics, less than a quarter inch in size, that are consumed by ocean wildlife. The plastic degradation can occur by mechanical means, but energy absorbed from sunlight is also involved in the breakdown of plastic materials. If the efficiency of this degradation was increased, solar energy could be used to eliminate plastic waste and regenerate fuels or chemical feedstocks. In this study, films of four commonly used polymer materials (high-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) were exposed to UV and visible light radiation to study how light can be used to degrade plastics. During exposure times of 2 – 3 weeks, the samples were periodically monitored by infrared (IR) spectroscopy to obtain information on structural changes occurring within the polymers. The IR spectra showed the growth of a new IR vibration from carbon-oxygen double bonds, indicating that bonds in the polymer material were breaking and then reacting with molecular oxygen or water in the air. The vibrational band became more intense with continued irradiation as well as when left in the dark. Raman spectroscopy has also been utilized to better understand the pathway of photo-degradation. Overall, the results were much more dramatic when using high-energy UV light compared to visible light

Synthesis of α-hydroxy-β,β-difluoro-γ-ketoesters via [3,3]sigmatropic rearrangements

Readily available γ,γ-difluorinated allylic alcohols obtained from trifluoroethanol were esterified efficiently. Exposure to strong base (LDA) afforded the ester enolates, in which chelation both controlled configuration and stabilised against fragmentation, which were trapped as their silyl ketene acetals. Rearrangement occurred to afford base-sensitive acid products. Esterification under mild conditions afforded the purifiable methyl esters in which the masked ketone had been released. Educts with either a benzyloxy or an allyloxy group at the α-position could be deprotected releasing the alcohols

Back from the Brink: The Process of Revitalization at a Small, Private, Religious Institution

Since the recession of 2008, small, private institutions have faced increased challenges, including little to no return on endowments, reductions in philanthropic support, escalating overhead costs, competition for students, families in need of additional financial aid, and growing public concern about the cost of higher education (Brown, 2011). From 2002 to 2012, 49 four-year, private, not-for-profit higher education institutions closed (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2012). Many were in a state of decline for years before closure (Porter & Ramirez, 2009). However, closure is not the only outcome of institutional decline. Institutional revitalization is an alternative to closure. Limited research has been conducted in the area of revitalization and college turnaround. Due to the changing landscape of higher education, it is crucial for higher education administrators at small, private institutions to not only understand what determined decline but also factors or decisions that determined institutional revitalization. Participants in this study included eight senior administrators, faculty, staff, and governing board members. A case study methodology was employed to provide a thorough and complete understanding of the case

Talk within Literature Circles in an 8th Grade ELA Classroom

This study investigates what kinds of talk students engage in during a Literature Circle with assigned roles. Participants were asked in an interview which type of discussion they preferred (Literature Circles or Whole Group) and why they preferred one type of discussion to the other. Data were collected through the use of semi-structured interviews, audio recordings, and observations. These data were collected and analyzed using a constant comparison method. Results of the study showed that students preferred Literature Circles rather than whole group discussion and that student talk varies in a Literature Circle discussions ranging from content-based talk and off task discussions. The four focal group students demonstrated a need to feel comfortable in their learning environment and the need for time to share their thoughts and ideas about the Literature they were reading

The many assembly histories of massive void galaxies as revealed by integral field spectroscopy

We present the first detailed integral field spectroscopy study of nine central void galaxies with M*>10¹⁰Mʘ using the Wide Field Spectrograph to determine how a range of assembly histories manifest themselves in the current day Universe.While the majority of these galaxies are evolving secularly, we find a range of morphologies, merger histories and stellar population distributions, though similarly low Hα-derived star formation rates (10¹⁰Mʘ have similarly low star formation rates