Practical Rationality in the \u3cem\u3eNicomachean Ethics\u3c/em\u3e: An investigation into the use of craft analogies in relation to practical wisdom (\u3cem\u3ephronesis\u3c/em\u3e) and happiness (\u3cem\u3eeudaimonia\u3c/em\u3e)

This thesis is an investigation into Aristotle’s use of craft analogies in the Nicomachean Ethics, as instructional to his concept of practical wisdom and happiness. For Aristotle, ethics is predominantly a practice, thus the focus is on practical rationality rather than theory. For this reason, Aristotle’s discussion of ethics lends itself to the use of craft analogy, in that craft is a practice. It is argued that while being a good pedagogical tool, craft analogies fall short, because they do not cover the full gamut of human experience

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIETAL MOTIVATION TO MAINTAIN IRISH AND CLASSROOM MOTIVATION TO LEARN IRISH IN IRELAND

Using a qualitative lens, this study investigates the role the Irish language classroom plays in Irish language maintenance in the Republic o f Ireland. Data collected in the form of participant observation, questionnaires, and interviews provided the information needed to explore this question. The findings of this study suggest that most students view the Irish language as a school subject in which they must succeed in order to graduate. While they recognize the cultural significance of the language, they do not view Irish as a vehicle of communication in their daily lives. As a result, while students are learning Irish, the transmissibility o f the language following secondary school is very low. Furthermore, emerging from this study is the need for a full immersion setting of language learning where students are able to speak the language socially and experience how the Irish language can become a language of their daily lives

The Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Fatigue During the Progression of Cancer Cachexia

Cachexia is the unintentional loss of body weight secondary to chronic disease and is prevalent is roughly 50% of cancer patients. The loss of body weight and skeletal muscle mass is reduced functional capacity associated with reduced life quality. The etiology of cachexia is multimodal and complex; however, cachexia has been linked to several systemic (e.g. chronic inflammation, hypogonadism, anemia, insulin resistance) and behavioral (e.g. anorexia, inactivity) changes that can compound to accelerate muscle mass and body weight loss. While several inflammatory cytokines are associated with cachexia’s disease progression, our laboratory has established that Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a key regulator of skeletal muscle mass maintenance in tumor-bearing ApcMin/+ (MIN) mice. Additionally, we have shown that reduced volitional activity and increased skeletal muscle fatigue occurs prior to significant wasting and exercise training is able to prevent IL-6- induced cachexia in the MIN without affecting muscle inflammatory signaling. Furthermore, repeated muscle contractions were able to attenuate myofibrillar atrophy, and increase muscle oxidative metabolism without effecting the tumor environment. While the efficacy of exercise to improve skeletal muscle’s metabolic health during aging and disease has been well described, the effects of volitional activity on cancer-induced skeletal muscle fatigue, oxidative metabolism, and muscle inflammatory signaling is not well understood. The overall purpose of this study is to determine the regulation of skeletal muscle fatigue by activity and muscle inflammatory signaling during the progression of cachexia. Our central hypothesis is that cancer-induced skeletal muscle fatigue develops prior to significant weight loss concomitant with decreased muscle use and disrupted muscle oxidative metabolism which occurs through chronically activated muscle gp130 signaling. Our results suggest that the onset of skeletal muscle fatigue developed prior to significant weight loss in MIN mice. Furthermore, elevated circulating IL-6 accelerated skeletal muscle fatigue and reduced muscle oxidative metabolism through muscle gp130 signaling; however, loss of muscle gp130 signaling was unable to improve skeletal muscle fatigue in MIN mice. Last, we demonstrate that there is a direct relationship between activity and skeletal muscle fatigability in healthy and tumor-bearing mice. Together, these results suggest that fatigue develops independent of weight loss and while elevated IL-6 contributes to skeletal muscle fatigue, cancer-induced fatigue was not solely regulated by IL-6/muscle gp130 signaling

The Relationship Between Adolescent Marijuana Use and Impulsivity: A Meta-Analytic Review

poster abstractObjective: Sensation seeking, a component of impulsivity, has been studied extensively as a personality predictor of marijuana-related behaviors. Other traits of impulsivity have been examined sporadically; however, to date, no review has synthesized the research of this multidimensional trait. The present study reviewed existent literature to examine (1) how separable impulsive personality traits relate to marijuana use and to marijuana use consequences and (2) how these relationships might differ across gender and race. Method: 46 total studies (51 independent samples) were analyzed using a random effects model to examine the relationship between individual impulsive personality traits and marijuana use and consequences. Results: Impulsivity had a small but significant association with marijuana-related behaviors (r= 0.22, p<0.01). Relationships were more robust for marijuana use consequences than marijuana use (Qbetween= 9.60, p<0.01). Importantly, facets of impulsivity such as lack of planning, negative urgency, and positive urgency, had similar relationships with marijuana use (rlpl= 0.13, p<0.01; rnur= 0.23, p<0.01; rpur= 0.19, p<0.01) and marijuana use consequences (rlpl= 0.47, p<0.01; rnur= 0.26, p= 0.22; rpur= 0.37, p<0.01) as sensation seeking (rss= 0.22, p<0.01 and rss= 0.39, p<0.01, respectively). While non-significant, there was a large effect for gender (β= -0.26, p=0.12) and a medium effect for race (β= 0.38, p=0.40) in moderating the relationship between impulsivity and marijuana consequences, such that samples with more Whites and more males had trends towards more robust effect sizes. Discussion: Impulsivity has a robust association with marijuana-related consequences than with marijuana use. Multiple facets of impulsivity were related to marijuana use and its consequences. Research and intervention should consider targeting multiple impulsivity traits to reduce the harmful consequences associated with adolescent marijuana use. Such initiatives should also consider gender and race differences in the impulsivity-marijuana use relationship

Subsistence Patterns as Markers of Cultural Exchange: European and Taino Interactions in the Dominican Republic

Thesis (PhD) - Indiana University, Anthropology, 2006Although the stories of Christopher Columbus's voyages to the New World are well known, the daily life of his sailors and the indigenous people they met are not as clearly understood. This research investigates the reciprocal influence of cultures in contact through an analysis of a basic element in the lives of these people: food. Although documentary records and paleoenvironmental studies can explain which plants and animals were gathered, these sources suffer from biases. For instance, at the site of La Isabela in the Dominican Republic, European chroniclers were motivated by specific agendas colored by pride, cultural superiority, and salesmanship. They rarely recorded the activities of any but the elites of either the colonists or the Tainos encountered there. Also, because the faunal and floral remains are often poorly preserved or statistically inconclusive, an archaeological reconstruction of the typical diet is less than accurate. To learn more about the interactions between the native people and the explorers, comparisons were made of domestic ceramic artifacts and the associated food residue recovered from the La Isabela colony and the surrounding indigenous villages. Further, absorbed organic residue analysis is employed to resolve many questions surrounding the interactions of cultures in such an unprecedented arrangement. The method uses gas chromatography - mass spectrometry to identify the preserved organic molecules extracted from within walls of domestic pottery. By evaluating specific fatty acids and lipid constituents from both native and colonial ceramics, the research distinguishes broad food categories as well as various families of plants and animals that were consumed. Contrary to the established paradigm which holds that the Spanish starved and the indigenous people were completely destroyed, the food residue reflects similar patterns of sustenance and vessel use between the groups, suggesting a more complex pattern of cultural exchange. While this method has its limitations, especially with regards to the reconstruction of cuisines exploiting a wide variety of resources and the recovery of residues from sherds deposited in tropical environments, the research can supply valuable information on the little understood dietary practices of colonists and their hosts

A Model Diversified Occupations Curriculum and Instructional Program Designed for Special Needs Students in Snohomish School District #201

The purpose of this project was to develop a Model Diversified Occupations Curriculum and Instructional Program designed specifically for special needs students in Snohomish School District #201, Snohomish, Washington. To accomplish this purpose, current research and literature concerned with serving special needs students in diversified occupations programs were reviewed. Additionally, unit overviews, student learning objectives, performance criteria, learning activities, teaching strategies, and instructional materials were adapted and developed

Basal buoyancy and fast-moving glaciers: in defense of analytic force balance

The geometric approach to force balance advocated by T. Hughes in a series of publications has challenged the analytic approach by implying that the latter does not adequately account for basal buoyancy on ice streams, thereby neglecting the contribution to the gravitational driving force associated with this basal buoyancy. Application of the geometric approach to Byrd Glacier, Antarctica, yields physically unrealistic results, and it is argued that this is because of a key limiting assumption in the geometric approach. A more traditional analytic treatment of force balance shows that basal buoyancy does not affect the balance of forces on ice streams, except locally perhaps, through bridging effects