"Our own visions": August Wilson, Lloyd Richards, and the O'Neill--the making of Ma Rainey and a playwright

In this dissertation I examine the creation of August Wilson's first commercially and critically successful play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and the essential roles of his mentor--director Lloyd Richards--and the O'Neill Theater Center in that creation. A three-part chronology gives detailed biographical sketches of the two men, including their work at the O'Neill Center and their similar familial backgrounds, as well as an overview of American theater in the twentieth century, with a special emphasis on African-American drama, placing Wilson's and Richards' work in context. Drawing on interviews and articles about these men and their working relationship, a close view is given of the in-depth revision that Wilson and Richards practiced on Ma Rainey and subsequently on the six plays that they produced together; revision began as soon as Wilson completed a draft of the play and continued well into rehearsals and even performances as each production travelled around the country, ending with a run on Broadway. After working together on the Ma Rainey script for almost two years after meeting at the O'Neill, Wilson and Richards staged the play first at Yale and finally on Broadway in October 1984. The many changes made to Ma Rainey between the time Wilson first submitted the play for consideration for the National Playwrights Conference at the O'Neill and the Broadway script was finalized reveal the profound influence of Richards in terms of overall structure, characterization, scope of stage directions, tone, and message, and other aspects of the play. The program that Richards shaped as artistic director of the O'Neill was focused on extensive rewriting within a workshop environment for playwrights; this approach was the foundation for the way he and Wilson worked together and made it possible for the playwright to realize ambitions that had eluded him. With Richards' genius for working with playwrights--his own original success was with Lorraine Hansberry and A Raisin in the Sun--and his powerful connections in the theater world, he was able to propel his discovery, Wilson, to become one of the most acclaimed American playwrights in history

Anti-Bias Work on Self-Identity in a Primary Montessori Classroom

This research sought to determine the effect of implementing an anti-bias curriculum on the selfidentity of children in a private primary Montessori classroom. Twenty-two students aged three to six from a highly concentrated urban community in a northeastern coastal city participated in the study. Pre and post discussion questions, a running log of personal observations, visible child-produced artifacts, and an attribute checklists were the four tools used in this study. These tools determined the effect of the anti-bias work on each child’s ability to self-identify. The interactions and artifacts produced specific and traceable data on children’s thoughts and perceptions before and during the implementation of anti-bias work. Data analysis concluded that the study impacted the student’s ability to self-identify positively. To further investigate this work, I will continue to present anti-bias materials, engage in discussions, and provide diverse works for all children to explore in the inclusive environment

Effects of patch size and light conditions on the visitation rates of flying pollinators to common marigolds (Claendula officinalis).

General EcologyBiotic pollination takes place in 87.5% of all angiosperms and utilizes animals to transfer pollen. Our study focused on how patch size and light conditions affect pollinator visitation rates to common marigolds. We hypothesized that patches receiving more sunlight would receive more pollinators than shaded patches and that larger patches would receive more pollinators than smaller patches. We manipulated patch size and light conditions by placing marigold plots of different sizes (small, medium, and large) onto a field in areas that received differing amounts of sunlight throughout the day. We then counted the number of pollinators visiting each patch for 10 minute intervals four times a day. A linear regression analysis indicated a significant positive relationship between light availability and pollinators, supporting our first hypothesis. The results of an ANOVA test demonstrated a significant difference between the number of pollinators visiting the large patches over the small patches, supporting our second hypothesis. Our findings corroborate studies of a similar nature that examine patch size and light conditions in correlation with pollinator visitation rates. These studies have global implications for the management of agricultural lands.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116613/1/Gallagher_Reaume_Tift_Tisdale_2015.pd

Insulin and GLP-1 infusions demonstrate the onset of adipose-specific insulin resistance in a large fasting mammal: potential glucogenic role for GLP-1.

Prolonged food deprivation increases lipid oxidation and utilization, which may contribute to the onset of the insulin resistance associated with fasting. Because insulin resistance promotes the preservation of glucose and oxidation of fat, it has been suggested to be an adaptive response to food deprivation. However, fasting mammals exhibit hypoinsulinemia, suggesting that the insulin resistance-like conditions they experience may actually result from reduced pancreatic sensitivity to glucose/capacity to secrete insulin. To determine whether fasting results in insulin resistance or in pancreatic dysfunction, we infused early- and late-fasted seals (naturally adapted to prolonged fasting) with insulin (0.065 U/kg), and a separate group of late-fasted seals with low (10 pM/kg) or high (100 pM/kg) dosages of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) immediately following a glucose bolus (0.5g/kg), and measured the systemic and cellular responses. Because GLP-1 facilitates glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, these infusions provide a method to assess pancreatic insulin-secreting capacity. Insulin infusions increased the phosphorylation of insulin receptor and Akt in adipose and muscle of early and late fasted seals; however the timing of the signaling response was blunted in adipose of late fasted seals. Despite the dose-dependent increases in insulin and increased glucose clearance (high dose), both GLP-1 dosages produced increases in plasma cortisol and glucagon, which may have contributed to the glucogenic role of GLP-1. Results suggest that fasting induces adipose-specific insulin resistance in elephant seal pups, while maintaining skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity, and therefore suggests that the onset of insulin resistance in fasting mammals is an evolved response to cope with prolonged food deprivation

2014 Kennesaw State Festival of New Music

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents the 2014 Kennesaw State Festival of New Music with featured guest composer, Chen Yi.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1374/thumbnail.jp

Lessons in immune adaptations to hypoxia revealed by comparative and evolutionary physiology

Recent findings from comparative and evolutionary physiologists reveal novel insights into the regulation of inflammation and immune function under conditions of chronic-sustained and intermittent hypoxia. Comparative approaches provide a valuable gateway for discovering essential principals of physiology and adaptive molecular strategies utilized in nature that protect against clinically relevant stressors, which can guide therapeutic developments in biomedical science

Relationship between red blood cell lifespan and endogenous carbon monoxide in the common bottlenose dolphin and beluga

Certain deep-diving marine mammals (i.e., northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirosis), Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii)) have blood carbon monoxide (CO) levels that are comparable to those of chronic cigarette smokers. Most CO produced in humans is a by-product of heme degradation, which is released when red blood cells (RBC) are destroyed. Elevated CO can occur in humans when RBC lifespan decreases. The contribution of RBC turnover to CO concentrations in marine mammals is unknown. Here, we report the first RBC lifespans in two healthy, marine mammal species with different diving capacities and heme stores, the shallow diving bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and deep-diving beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) and relate the lifespans to the levels of CO in blood and breath. The belugas, with high blood heme stores, had the longest mean RBC lifespan compared to humans and bottlenose dolphins. Both cetacean species were found to have three times higher blood CO content compared to humans. The estimated CO production rate from heme degradation indicates some marine mammals may have additional mechanisms for CO production, or delay CO removal from the body, potentially from long duration breath-holds

Primer set 2.0 for highly parallel qPCR array targeting antibiotic resistance genes and mobile genetic elements

The high-throughput antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) qPCR array, initially published in 2012, is increasingly used to quantify resistance and mobile determinants in environmental matrices. Continued utility of the array; however, necessitates improvements such as removing or redesigning questionable primer sets, updating targeted genes and coverage of available sequences. Towards this goal, a new primer design tool (EcoFunPrimer) was used to aid in identification of conserved regions of diverse genes. The total number of assays used for diverse genes was reduced from 91 old primer sets to 52 new primer sets, with only a 10% loss in sequence coverage. While the old and new array both contain 384 primer sets, a reduction in old primer sets permitted 147 additional ARGs and mobile genetic elements to be targeted. Results of validating the updated array with a mock community of strains resulted in over 98% of tested instances incurring true positive/negative calls. Common queries related to sensitivity, quantification and conventional data analysis (e.g. Ct cutoff value, and estimated genomic copies without standard curves) were also explored. A combined list of new and previously used primer sets is provided with a recommended set based on redesign of primer sets and results of validation

A Molecular–Structure Hypothesis

The self-similar symmetry that occurs between atomic nuclei, biological growth structures, the solar system, globular clusters and spiral galaxies suggests that a similar pattern should characterize atomic and molecular structures. This possibility is explored in terms of the current molecular structure-hypothesis and its extension into four-dimensional space-time. It is concluded that a quantum molecule only has structure in four dimensions and that classical (Newtonian) structure, which occurs in three dimensions, cannot be simulated by quantum-chemical computation