Reliquary

I am interested in ritual – the rituals we inherit, and those we choose for ourselves. By situating the everyday mugs, cups, plates, and bowls next to objects more closely associated with ritual and ceremony, I am suggesting that all of these are significant objects. On one hand, the tableware essential to the rituals of daily living we share at home, on the other, communion vessels and reliquaries are used to deepen a spiritual ritual shared by a community. Both rituals are important experiences worthy of introspection, and consideration. This is why I make pottery. I believe that handmade objects have the ability to slow us down, and compel us to notice the kind of objects we’ve become oblivious to. The pots in this show were made during the Covid-19 pandemic. I found the upheaval of daily life held together by my studio practice. I looked towards mindfulness, meditation, and flow in that practice, making discoveries as I made incremental steps. My pots are strongest when I am making them as part of a routine, not by rote, but rather through the daily ritual of my studio practice. I believe these rituals exist for all of us in some fashion, choosing to acknowledge and examine them will add significance and meaning to daily life

Beverage Consumption and Body Composition Among College-aged Women

In the U.S., over 67 million adults are obese and 300,000 annual deaths are related to obesity. Among college-aged women, over 60% report daily consumption of caloric beverages. Prior studies indicate positive associations between these beverages and obesity, but conflicting results for diet drinks. Studies were limited, however, by obesity measures that failed to accurately assess abdominal adiposity or percent body fat, and few studies included college-aged women. We examined this relationship among participants aged 18-30 in the University of Massachusetts Vitamin D Status Study (n=237). We assessed average diet in the past two months using a modified version of the Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire and calculated percent body fat by dual-energy X-ray absorptiomtery. Confounding factors were assessed using a lifestyle questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression was used to adjust for important risk factors. We found no association between intake of sugar-sweetened beverages or juice and obesity after controlling for confounding factors. However, high consumption of diet drinks (i.e., \u3e2 servings per week) was associated with an increased risk of overweight (BMI\u3e25) (OR=2.88, 95% CI 1.34, 6.21), high waist circumference (\u3e80 cm) (OR=3.14, 95% CI 1.56, 6.35) and high percent body fat (\u3e33%) (OR=2.86, 95% CI 1.42, 5.77) as compared to light consumption (i.e, \u3c1 serving per\u3emonth). These associations were not attenuated by controlling for total caloric intake. Findings should be evaluated in additional longitudinal studies to determine whether diet drinks contribute to adiposity or if the association is due to higher diet drink consumption by overweight women

An Infrared Study of the Circumstellar Material Associated with the Carbon Star R Sculptoris

The asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star R Sculptoris (R Scl) is one of the most extensively studied stars on the AGB. R Scl is a carbon star with a massive circumstellar shell ($M_{shell}\sim 7.3\times10^{-3}~M_{\odot}$) which is thought to have been produced during a thermal pulse event $\sim2200$ years ago. To study the thermal dust emission associated with its circumstellar material, observations were taken with the Faint Object InfraRed CAMera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) at 19.7, 25.2, 31.5, 34.8, and 37.1 $\mu$m. Maps of the infrared emission at these wavelengths were used to study the morphology and temperature structure of the spatially extended dust emission. Using the radiative transfer code DUSTY and fitting the spatial profile of the emission, we find that a geometrically thin dust shell cannot reproduce the observed spatially resolved emission. Instead, a second dust component in addition to the shell is needed to reproduce the observed emission. This component, which lies interior to the dust shell, traces the circumstellar envelope of R Scl. It is best fit by a density profile with $n \propto r^{\alpha}$ where $\alpha=0.75^{+0.45}_{-0.25}$ and dust mass of $M_d=9.0^{+2.3}_{-4.1}\times10^{-6}~M_{\odot}$. The strong departure from an $r^{-2}$ law indicates that the mass-loss rate of R Scl has not been constant. This result is consistent with a slow decline in the post-pulse mass-loss which has been inferred from observations of the molecular gas.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted to Ap

Towards an ethical framework for publishing Twitter data in social research: taking into account users’ views, online context and algorithmic estimation

New and emerging forms of data, including posts harvested from social media sites such as Twitter, have become part of the sociologist’s data diet. In particular, some researchers see an advantage in the perceived ‘public’ nature of Twitter posts, representing them in publications without seeking informed consent. While such practice may not be at odds with Twitter’s terms of service, we argue there is a need to interpret these through the lens of social science research methods, that imply a more reflexive ethical approach than provided in ‘legal’ accounts of the permissible use of these data in research publications. To challenge some existing practice in Twitter based research, this paper brings to the fore i) views of Twitter users through analysis of online survey data, ii) the effect of context collapse and online disinhibition on the behaviors of users, and iii) the publication of identifiable sensitive classifications derived from algorithms

Crime sensing with big data: the affordances and limitations of using open-source communications to estimate crime patterns

This paper critically examines the affordances and limitations of big data for the study of crime and disorder. We hypothesise that disorder-related posts on Twitter are associated with actual police crime rates. Our results provide evidence that naturally occurring social media data may provide an alternative information source on the crime problem. This paper adds to the emerging field of computational criminology and big data in four ways: i) it estimates the utility of social media data to explain variance in offline crime patterns; ii) it provides the first evidence of the estimation offline crime patterns using a measure of broken windows found in the textual content of social media communications; iii) it tests if the bias present in offline perceptions of disorder is present in online communications; and iv) it takes the results of experiments to critically engage with debates on big data and crime prediction

Forge 2.0 Clean Burning Cook Stove

Team Forge 2.0 is a team of mechanical engineers that has designed, modified, and manufactured a cook stove that creates a clean burn in order to help relieve respiratory disease and harmful environmental impacts resulting from the combustion of biomass in developing nations. The stove is developed specifically for developing communities in Nicaragua that still use traditional cooking methods which contribute to premature deaths due to respiratory illness. The designed product is a cylindrical cooking device that has a unique air flow system which optimizes the gasification process. Gasification is the process in which gas released from the primary combustion of biomass is reignited, creating a more complete combustion and thus reducing harmful emissions compared to a traditional wood fire. From testing with a previous design team’s prototype, observations were made which led to the implementation of an air flow system which could be regulated manually. The air flow regulator is a mechanical attachment that allows users to adjust the air flow in the stove to prolong the gasification process; this modification helps the stove maintain gasification throughout usage, and resulted in an 8% reduction of particulate matter in the stove’s exhaust compared to the most recent design

Linking Twitter and Survey Data: The Impact of Survey Mode and Demographics on Consent Rates Across Three UK Studies

In light of issues such as increasing unit nonresponse in surveys, several studies argue that social media sources such as Twitter can be used as a viable alternative. However, there are also a number of shortcomings with Twitter data such as questions about its representativeness of the wider population and the inability to validate whose data you are collecting. A useful way forward could be to combine survey and Twitter data to supplement and improve both. To do so, consent within a survey is first needed. This study explores the consent decisions in three large representative surveys of the adult British population to link Twitter data to survey responses and the impact that demographics and survey mode have on these outcomes. Findings suggest that consent rates for data linkage are relatively low, and this is in part mediated by mode, where face-to-face surveys have higher consent rates than web versions. These findings are important to understand the potential for linking Twitter and survey data but also to the consent literature generally

Subacute neural stem cell therapy for traumatic brain injury.

INTRODUCTION: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently results in devastating and prolonged morbidity. Cellular therapy is a burgeoning field of experimental treatment that has shown promise in the management of many diseases, including TBI. Previous work suggests that certain stem and progenitor cell populations migrate to sites of inflammation and improve functional outcome in rodents after neural injury. Unfortunately, recent study has revealed potential limitations of acute and intravenous stem cell therapy. We studied subacute, direct intracerebral neural stem and progenitor cell (NSC) therapy for TBI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The NSCs were characterized by flow cytometry and placed (400,000 cells in 50 muL 1x phosphate-buffered saline) into and around the direct injury area, using stereotactic guidance, of female Sprague Dawley rats 1 wk after undergoing a controlled cortical impact injury. Immunohistochemistry was used to identify cells located in the brain at 48 h and 2 wk after administration. Motor function was assessed using the neurological severity score, foot fault, rotarod, and beam balance. Cognitive function was assessed using the Morris water maze learning paradigm. Repeated measures analysis of variance with post-hoc analysis were used to determine significance at P \u3c 0.05. RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry analysis revealed that 1.4-1.9% of infused cells remained in the neural tissue at 48 h and 2 wk post placement. Nearly all cells were located along injection tracks at 48 h. At 2 wk some cell dispersion was apparent. Rotarod motor testing revealed significant increases in maximal speed among NSC-treated rats compared with saline controls at d 4 (36.4 versus 27.1 rpm, P \u3c 0.05) and 5 (35.8 versus 28.9 rpm, P \u3c 0.05). All other motor and cognitive evaluations were not significantly different compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: Placement of NSCs led to the cells incorporating and remaining in the tissues 2 wk after placement. Motor function tests revealed improvements in the ability to run on a rotating rod; however, other motor and cognitive functions were not significantly improved by NSC therapy. Further examination of a dose response and optimization of placement strategy may improve long-term cell survival and maximize functional recovery

1999-2000 Young Musician Competition - Winds and Brass

https://spiral.lynn.edu/conservatory_other-competitions/1000/thumbnail.jp