Same-Gender Pathways to Parenthood

LGBTQ+ individuals and couples who want children negotiate systemic inequalities in the United States of America. This literature review surveys America’s confusing legal map and the gaps in its enduring scholarly theories. The paper then examines the challenges that LGBTQ+ individuals and couples confront in working through the common pathways—same-gender adoption and fostering, in vitro fertilization, and surrogacy—to become parents. Dispersing information on the pathways will be a positive step towards breaking down the inequities for those in the LGBTQ+ community who want to start a family

Case of the Monopolies Some of Its Results and Suggestions

Apparently the monopolistic idea is as old as the history of man. That great and good man, Job, may be counted as the earliest recorded trust-buster, if we read between the lines of his story, and Solomon said, He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him; but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. Doubtless, by exhaustive search, we could find some record of attempts to monopolize during each century from Biblical days to the time of printing, and as surely there must have been a countermovement. But not until the last five hundred years of English history have the pros and cons crystallized in such a way as to be of intelligent use to us. In legal records, the Case of the Monopolies is the first meeting, head-on and with a clear field, of the monopolists and anti-monopolists, and it therefore seems worthy of close scrutiny. If we uncover the reasons for this particular quarrel we shall find something like this: Monopoly

Doris McCarthy: Life and Work

This project involved research for Prof. John Hatch’s monograph on the Canadian landscape artist Doris McCarthy, with the objective of completing all preliminary research by the end of the internship period. The resulting book will be published by the Art Canada Institute with an expected publication date of Fall 2023. Attached includes a powerpoint/video summary of my research and what I learned. As well as an essay, and proposed sub-section of the book, titled McCarthy as a Woman Artist, which goes into detail on how McCarthy\u27s life and career corresponds with social issues at the time

UC-KSU Modular UAS Design

The objective of this project was to design and build a modular unmanned aerial system (UAS) that satisfies the requirements established by United Consulting. United Consulting provides expert consulting engineering and geotechnical services for the built environment. They are partnering with Kennesaw State University to develop new technologies that will enhance and innovate the construction environment. One example of these technologies includes a modular drone. The purpose of this drone is to be able to perform four missions. These include surveying, weld inspection, manhole probing, and thermal/infrared imaging. Key requirements were that the drone must maintain a minimum flight endurance of 30 minutes for the heaviest mission, have a connection range of a minimum of 1 mile, and can support modular equipment. The maximum budget for this project is $5000.00. The design of this modular drone required extensive literature review and benchmarking of existing drones to study and learn from the drones that are currently on the market. In addition, careful research was done on the selection of electronic components to ensure quality, reliability, and compatibility. Calculations for power, weight, flight endurance were performed to ensure the drone would perform as intended. FEA static simulations were performed to ensure structural stability of key parts. Also, connectivity and compatibility between electronic components were ensured. This progress has led to the design of a scaled 3D printed prototype. Ultimately, the goal is to fabricate and test a real prototype with the proper equipment and modules. Due to the overall expertise of the team and time constraints, this was not possible to meet in the Fall 2021 semester. A final report detailing electronic selections, design of key systems like the main drone, pulley system and mount system, wiring diagram, calculations, simulations, and fabrication procedure are provided

Improving water point functionality in Malawi: making the case for minimum financing for direct support

Due to decentralization policy in Malawi, district government water offices responsible for providing direct support for water service delivery find themselves with an increase in devolved responsibilities but without the corresponding funds to carry them out. EWB has been implementing a strategy to advocate for a realistic devolution of funds to district level government to carry out the minimum direct support necessary to improve water point functionality. This approach is focused on the generation of specific evidence, as well as mapping and coordination of sector stakeholders to generate a feasible plan for an increase in devolved funds. This case study highlights the key lessons learned in advocating for more resources to an underfunded sector in a competitive resource constrained context where most sectors remain severely underfunded

SEQUIN: An imaging and analysis platform for quantification and characterization of synaptic structures in mouse

Synapses are crucial to brain function and frequent disease targets, but current analysis methods cannot report on individual synaptic component

Frailty Screening and Impairment Patterns in Older Adults with Cancer: A Dissertation Using the Cancer Aging and Resilience Evaluation (CARE) Registry

Older adults with cancer often have multiple health impairments. Although geriatric assessments are recommended to identify older adult impairments not captured in oncology assessments, impairments are not often evaluated. Thus, patients may undergo treatment without support for impairments associated with adverse outcomes. The objectives were to evaluate the screening performance of skeletal muscle density (SMD) in classifying frailty in older adults with cancer (Aim 1) and to identify and describe geriatric assessment impairment patterns in older adults with gastrointestinal cancers (Aim 2). We used the Cancer Aging and Resilience Evaluation (CARE) registry (University of Alabama at Birmingham). Patients completed the CARE tool, a self-reported geriatric assessment, and responses were used to calculate frailty scores and categorize impairment indicators. SMD was calculated from computed tomography scans (L3 vertebrae), and performance in classifying frailty was evaluated using diagnostic model methods and compared by gender-diabetes status. Using latent class analysis (LCA) with impairment indicators, we identified impairment classes among patients with gastrointestinal malignancies and described classes using impairment probabilities, patient characteristics, and one-year mortality. SMD performed poorly. Area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) estimates were low for all four gender-diabetes subsets (range: 0.58-0.68). Third quartile gender-specific cut-off points for SMD had high sensitivity (0.76-0.89), but low specificity (0.25-0.34). Positive and negative likelihood ratio results indicated that utility was most promising for men with diabetes compared to other subgroups. We identified 6 impairment latent classes (LC): mild impairment (LC1, 28% prevalence); social support impairment (LC2, 12%); weight loss alone (LC3, 16%); impaired, low anxiety/depression (LC4, 23%); impaired with anxiety/depression (LC5, 11%); global impairment (LC6, 11%). One-year mortality risk estimates ranged from 11% (mild impairment) to 44% (global impairment) compared to 14-34% when using frailty categories. In overall and stratified analyses (high- vs. low-risk cancers), mortality estimates for the 3 impaired classes (LC4, LC5, LC6) were greater than the mild impairment class. Work is needed to improve classification of frailty with SMD and to assess performance in other subgroups and populations. The identified geriatric assessment impairment classes can facilitate awareness of impairment clustering and the planning of support services for older adults with cancer.Doctor of Philosoph

Brain Age from the Electroencephalogram of Sleep

The human electroencephalogram (EEG) of sleep undergoes profound changes with age. These changes can be conceptualized as "brain age", which can be compared to an age norm to reflect the deviation from normal aging process. Here, we develop an interpretable machine learning model to predict brain age based on two large sleep EEG datasets: the Massachusetts General Hospital sleep lab dataset (MGH, N = 2,621) covering age 18 to 80; and the Sleep Hearth Health Study (SHHS, N = 3,520) covering age 40 to 80. The model obtains a mean absolute deviation of 8.1 years between brain age and chronological age in the healthy participants in the MGH dataset. As validation, we analyze a subset of SHHS containing longitudinal EEGs 5 years apart, which shows a 5.5 years difference in brain age. Participants with neurological and psychiatric diseases, as well as diabetes and hypertension medications show an older brain age compared to chronological age. The findings raise the prospect of using sleep EEG as a biomarker for healthy brain aging

Sequence and organization of coelacanth neurohypophysial hormone genes: Evolutionary history of the vertebrate neurohypophysial hormone gene locus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The mammalian neurohypophysial hormones, vasopressin and oxytocin are involved in osmoregulation and uterine smooth muscle contraction respectively. All jawed vertebrates contain at least one homolog each of vasopressin and oxytocin whereas jawless vertebrates contain a single neurohypophysial hormone called vasotocin. The vasopressin homolog in non-mammalian vertebrates is vasotocin; and the oxytocin homolog is mesotocin in non-eutherian tetrapods, mesotocin and [Phe²]mesotocin in lungfishes, and isotocin in ray-finned fishes. The genes encoding vasopressin and oxytocin genes are closely linked in the human and rodent genomes in a tail-to-tail orientation. In contrast, their pufferfish homologs (vasotocin and isotocin) are located on the same strand of DNA with isotocin gene located upstream of vasotocin gene separated by five genes, suggesting that this locus has experienced rearrangements in either mammalian or ray-finned fish lineage, or in both lineages. The coelacanths occupy a unique phylogenetic position close to the divergence of the mammalian and ray-finned fish lineages.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have sequenced a coelacanth (<it>Latimeria menadoensis</it>) BAC clone encompassing the neurohypophysial hormone genes and investigated the evolutionary history of the vertebrate neurohypophysial hormone gene locus within a comparative genomics framework. The coelacanth contains vasotocin and mesotocin genes like non-mammalian tetrapods. The coelacanth genes are present on the same strand of DNA with no intervening genes, with the vasotocin gene located upstream of the mesotocin gene. Nucleotide sequences of the second exons of the two genes are under purifying selection implying a regulatory function. We have also analyzed the neurohypophysial hormone gene locus in the genomes of opossum, chicken and <it>Xenopus tropicalis</it>. The opossum contains two tandem copies of vasopressin and mesotocin genes. The vasotocin and mesotocin genes in chicken and <it>Xenopus</it>, and the vasopressin and mesotocin genes in opossum are linked tail-to-head similar to their orthologs in coelacanth and unlike their homologs in human and rodents.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results indicate that the neurohypophysial hormone gene locus has experienced independent rearrangements in both placental mammals and teleost fishes. The coelacanth genome appears to be more stable than mammalian and teleost fish genomes. As such, it serves as a valuable outgroup for studying the evolution of mammalian and teleost fish genomes.</p