What is Meant and what is Understood? The Role of Written Assessment Feedback in the Fine Art Subject Area

Report written as part of a research project (The Pedagogy of Fine Art) exploring contemporary pedagogy and attitudes to teaching within the fine art subject area

How Do We Understand International Law and Peace?

This review essay provides a comprehensive roadmap of the international law of peace, which has not been so presented in the International Law-International Relations literature before. In Part 1 we review peace law as such, that is, where it is simply and directly mandated in international law. In the second of the two parts, we depict international law that does not mandate peace, but requires behavior that indirectly results in peace. In both parts the three sources of international law, treaty, custom or principles are identified, along with soft law, which is incipient, but non-binding. Laws of peace per se include all the United Nations Charter provisions (treaty and customary) related to peace and peaceful conditions, jus ad bellum (custom) and the law against aggression (treaty), the 1970 Declaration on Friendly Relations Among States (custom and principle) and the Human Right to Peace (custom, soft law). Indirect effects of international laws and conditions on peace include the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (treaty), all international treaty regimes (treaty), expanding authority of international actors and institutions in creating and interpreting international law (custom), humanitarian and human rights law (treaty), and the Responsibility to Protect norm (soft law). The review takes a legal approach. Development of peace law is placed in the history of international law and within the progressive development of international law today. All peace law per se in Part 1 is found to be legalized and binding except the Human Right to Peace which is legalized but non-binding so far. The review identifies how peace is the ultimate purpose of all international law

Final MA Portfolio

This portfolio consists of four projects I selected from various courses I took while completing my Master of Arts in the field of English. The first piece featured in my portfolio is titled “I’m Not Being “Short” With You: Providing Effective Feedback Efficiently Using a Computer Program.” I completed this piece in English 6200: Teaching Writing with Dr. Lee Nickoson. In this essay, I explore the role that feedback plays in the English classroom from both a student and faculty perspective. The second piece in my portfolio is a project I wrote for Teaching Grammar in the Context of Writing with Dr. Sue Wood. This piece is titled, “Grammar? In a Narrative.” This selection presents a teaching unit that demonstrates how I would teach grammar in the context of a written assignment. My third portfolio piece was originally written in 2012 when I took English 6800: Postcolonial Literature and Film with Dr. Khani Begum. The essay is titled, “Departing at Dawn: Re-Birth of Identity,” and it focuses on the main character’s transformation. I completed my final piece in English 6070: Theory and Methods of Literary Criticism with Dr. Erin Labbie. In the paper, titled, “Talking Back: A Feminist Examination of How Kate Chopin Uses Edna Pontellier to “Talk Back” to a Male Dominated Literary Tradition,” I chose to explore Feminism in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. Each of these pieces represents a different aspect of my learning, as well as the growth that I underwent as a student and an instructor

Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Improves Multiple Physiological Markers of Health

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is an evidence-based self-help therapeutic method and over 100 studies demonstrate its efficacy. However, information about the physiological effects of EFT is limited. The current study sought to elucidate EFTs mechanisms of action across the central nervous system (CNS) by measuring heart rate variability (HRV) and heart coherence (HC); the circulatory system using resting heart rate (RHR) and blood pressure (BP); the endocrine system using cortisol, and the immune system using salivary immunoglobulin A (SigA). The second aim was to measure psychological symptoms. Participants (N = 203) were enrolled in a 4-day training workshop held in different locations. At one workshop (n = 31), participants also received comprehensive physiological testing. Posttest, significant declines were found in anxiety (−40%), depression (−35%), posttraumatic stress disorder (−32%), pain (−57%), and cravings (−74%), all P < .000. Happiness increased (+31%, P = .000) as did SigA (+113%, P = .017). Significant improvements were found in RHR (−8%, P = .001), cortisol (−37%, P < .000), systolic BP (−6%, P = .001), and diastolic BP (−8%, P < .000). Positive trends were observed for HRV and HC and gains were maintained on follow-up, indicating EFT results in positive health effects as well as increased mental well-being

The Interrelated Physiological and Psychological Effects of EcoMeditation

This study investigated changes in psychological and physiological markers during a weekend meditation workshop (N = 34). Psychological symptoms of anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and happiness were assessed. Physiological markers included cortisol, salivary immunoglobulin A (SigA), heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure (BP), and resting heart rate (RHR). On posttest, significant reductions were found in cortisol (−29%, P < .0001), RHR (−5%, P = .0281), and pain (−43%, P = .0022). Happiness increased significantly (+11%, P = .0159) while the increase in SigA was nonsignificant (+27%, P = .6964). Anxiety, depression, and PTSD all declined (−26%, P = .0159; −32%, P = .0197; −18%, P = .1533), though changes in PTSD did not reach statistical significance. No changes were found in BP, HRV, and heart coherence. Participants were assessed for psychological symptoms at 3-month follow-up, but the results were nonsignificant due to inadequate sample size (n = 17). EcoMeditation shows promise as a stress-reduction method

The multiplex model of the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease

Genes play a strong role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with late-onset AD showing heritability of 58-79% and early-onset AD over 90%. Genetic association provides a robust platform to build our understanding of the etiology of this complex disease. Over 40 loci are now implicated for AD, suggesting that AD is a disease of multiple components as supported by pathway analyses (immunity, endocytosis, cholesterol transport, ubiquitination, amyloid-β and tau processing). Over 50% of late-onset AD (LOAD) heritability has been captured and allows the calculation of the accumulation of AD genetic risk through polygenic risk scores (PRS). PRS predicts disease with up to 90% accuracy and is an exciting tool in our research armoury that could allow selection of those with high PRS for clinical trials and precision medicine, as well as the cellular modelling of the combined risk. Here we propose the multiplex model as a new perspective from which to understand AD. The multiplex model reflex’s the combination of some, or all, of these model components (genetic and environmental), in a tissue specific manner, to trigger or sustain a disease cascade, which ultimately results in the cell/synaptic loss observed in AD