How Are Women Farmers Doing and Undoing Gender?: An Exploration of Women\u27s Gender Practices in Farming

The number of women farmers in the US continues to grow even at a time when the number of men farmers is decreasing. But even as women are experiencing growing representation in this historically men-dominated occupation, they are more likely to operate smaller farm operations, own less land, and earn less than men farmers. Additionally, there are barriers to accessing the full farmer identity due to their invisibility in the largely patriarchal structure of agriculture. In this dissertation, I endeavor to learn more about how women farmers navigate the gendered structure of farming, including barriers to accessing occupation-related resources and their farmer identity, and how women farmers are “doing” or “undoing” gender. Utilizing in-depth qualitative interviews, I interviewed 32 women farmers from 11 states and the country of Italy. I find that three main gendered structural barriers were experienced by the women farmers in this study, including access to capital-related resources, learning how to farm, and the women’s perception of conventional agriculture as a masculine occupation. I contributed to the growing “doing and undoing gender” literature by showing that the women in this study were actively engaged in interactions within and outside of their occupation that both conformed to and resisted traditional gendered expectations, demonstrating that doing and undoing gender is contextual and more of a spectrum than mutually exclusive categories of either/or. I also contributed to the “doing difference” literature by including women farmers of color, whose perspectives have been absent from previous research of women farmers. Their narratives included examples of discrimination and unequal treatment due to their race and gender, demonstrating a clear need for an intersectional analysis of women farmers. I conclude with a discussion of these implications and make policy recommendations based on knowledge gained from this research and offer suggestions for future research

Trust in Government: Narrowing the Ideological Gap over the Federal Budget

This is the final version. Available from Journal of Behavioral Public Administration via the DOI in this record.Do liberals and conservatives who trust the government have more similar preferences regarding the federal budget than liberals and conservatives who do not? Prior research has shown that the ideological gap over spending increases and tax cuts narrows at high levels of trust in government. We extend this literature by examining whether the dampening effect of trust operates when more difficult budgetary decisions (spending cuts and tax increases) have to be made. Although related, a tax increase demands greater material and ideological sacrifice from individuals than tax cuts. The same logic can be applied to support for spending cuts. We test the trust-as-heuristic hypothesis using measures of revealed budgetary preferences from a population-based survey containing an embedded budget simulation. Our findings show that trusting liberals and conservatives share similar preferences toward spending cuts and tax increases, adding an important empirical addendum to a theory based on sacrificial costs.European Research CouncilEconomic and Social Research Council (ESRC

The Biotechnology Facility for International Space Station

The primary mission of the Cellular Biotechnology Program is to advance microgravity as a tool in basic and applied cell biology. The microgravity environment can be used to study fundamental principles of cell biology and to achieve specific applications such as tissue engineering. The Biotechnology Facility (BTF) will provide a state-of-the-art facility to perform cellular biotechnology research onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The BTF will support continuous operation, which will allow performance of long-duration experiments and will significantly increase the on-orbit science throughput. With the BTF, dedicated ground support, and a community of investigators, the goals of the Cellular Biotechnology Program at Johnson Space Center are to: Support approximately 400 typical investigator experiments during the nominal design life of BTF (10 years). Support a steady increase in investigations per year, starting with stationary bioreactor experiments and adding rotating bioreactor experiments at a later date. Support at least 80% of all new cellular biotechnology investigations selected through the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) process. Modular components - to allow sequential and continuous experiment operations without cross-contamination Increased cold storage capability (+4 C, -80 C, -180 C). Storage of frozen cell culture inoculum - to allow sequential investigations. Storage of post-experiment samples - for return of high quality samples. Increased number of cell cultures per investigation, with replicates - to provide sufficient number of samples for data analysis and publication of results in peer-reviewed scientific journals

Second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging of cancer heterogeneity in ultrasound guided biopsies of prostate in men suspected with prostate cancer

© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Prostate cancer is a multifocal disease with characteristic heterogeneity and foci that can range from low grade indolent to aggressive disease. The latter is characterised by the well-established histopathological Gleason grading system used in the current clinical care. Nevertheless, a large discrepancy exists on initial biopsy and after the final radical prostatectomy. Moreover, there is no reliable imaging modality to study these foci, in particular at the level of the cells and surrounding matrix. Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling is significant in cancer progression with collagen as the dominant structural component providing mechanical strength and flexibility of tissue. In this study, the collagen assembly in prostate tissue was investigated with second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy: malignant foci demonstrated a reticular pattern, with a typical collagen pattern for each Gleason score. The orientation of collagen for each biopsy was computed by applying a ratio of the anisotropic and isotropic collagen fibres. This value was found to be distinct for each Gleason score. The findings suggest that this approach can not only be used to detect prostate cancer, but also can act as a potential biomarker for cancer aggressiveness. (Figure presented.)

TGF-β1 Induces an Age-Dependent Inflammation of Nerve Ganglia and Fibroplasia in the Prostate Gland Stroma of a Novel Transgenic Mouse

TGF-β1 is overexpressed in wound repair and in most proliferative disorders including benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. The stromal microenvironment at these sites is reactive and typified by altered phenotype, matrix deposition, inflammatory responses, and alterations in nerve density and biology. TGF-β1 is known to modulate several stromal responses; however there are few transgenic models to study its integrated biology. To address the actions of TGF-β1 in prostate disorders, we targeted expression of an epitope tagged and constitutively active TGF-β1 via the enhanced probasin promoter to the murine prostate gland epithelium. Transgenic mice developed age-dependent lesions leading to severe, yet focal attenuation of epithelium, and a discontinuous basal lamina. These changes were associated with elevated fibroplasia and frequency of collagenous micronodules in collapsed acini, along with an induced inflammation in nerve ganglia and small vessels. Elevated recruitment of CD115+ myeloid cells but not mature macrophages was observed in nerve ganglia, also in an age-dependent manner. Similar phenotypic changes were observed using a human prostate epithelium tissue recombination xenograft model, where epithelial cells engineered to overexpress TGF-β1 induced fibrosis and altered matrix deposition concurrent with inflammation in the stromal compartment. Together, these data suggest that elevated TGF-β1 expression induces a fibroplasia stromal response associated with breach of epithelial wall structure and inflammatory involvement of nerve ganglia and vessels. The novel findings of ganglia and vessel inflammation associated with formation of collagenous micronodules in collapsed acini is important as each of these are observed in human prostate carcinoma and may play a role in disease progression

Mechanisms of Injury and Countermeasures for EVA Associated Upper Extremity Medical Issues: Extended Vent Tube Study

The goal of this study is to determine the role that moisture plays in the injury to the fingers and fingernails during EVA training operations in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Current Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU, with a PLSS) as configured in the NBL was used for all testing and a vent tube was extended down a single arm of the crewmember during the test; vent tube was moved between left and right arm to serve as experimental condition being investigated and the other arm served as control condition

Age-specific periictal electroclinical features of generalized tonic-clonic seizures and potential risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)

Generalized tonic–clonic seizure (GTCS) is the commonest seizure type associated with sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). This study examined the semiological and electroencephalographic differences (EEG) in the GTCSs of adults as compared with those of children. The rationale lies on epidemiological observations that have noted a tenfold higher incidence of SUDEP in adults.Weanalyzed the video-EEG data of 105 GTCS events in 61 consecutive patients (12 children, 23 seizure events and 49 adults, 82 seizure events) recruited from the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. Semiological, EEG, and 3-channel EKG features were studied. Periictal seizure phase durations were analyzed including tonic, clonic, total seizure, postictal EEG suppression (PGES), and recovery phases. Heart rate variability (HRV)measures includingRMSSD (root mean square successive difference of RR intervals), SDNN (standard deviation of NN intervals), and SDSD (standard deviation of differences) were analyzed (including low frequency/high frequency power ratios) during preictal baseline and ictal and postictal phases. Generalized estimating equations (GEEs)were used to find associations between electroclinical features. Separate subgroup analyses were carried out on adult and pediatric age groups as well as medication groups (no antiepileptic medication cessation versus unchanged or reduced medication) during admission.Major differences were seen in adult and pediatric seizures with total seizure duration, tonic phase, PGES, and recovery phases being significantly shorter in children (p b 0.01). Generalized estimating equation analysis, using tonic phase duration as the dependent variable, found age to correlate significantly (p b 0.001), and this remained significant during subgroup analysis (adults and children) such that each 0.12-second increase in tonic phase duration correlated with a 1-second increase in PGES duration. Postictal EEG suppression durations were on average 28 s shorter in children. With cessation of medication, total seizure duration was significantly increased by a mean value of 8 s in children and 11 s in adults (p b 0.05). Tonic phase duration also significantly increased with medication cessation, and although PGES durations increased, this was not significant. Root mean square successive difference was negatively correlated with PGES duration (longer PGES durations were associated with decreased vagally mediated heart rate variability; p b 0.05) but not with tonic phase duration. This study clearly points out identifiable electroclinical differences between adult and pediatric GTCSs that may be relevant in explaining lower SUDEP risk in children. The findings suggest that some prolonged seizure phases and prolonged PGES duration may be electroclinical markers of SUDEP risk and merit further study