Alienation and consciousness: Towards a dual-aspect approach to issues of social justice

A great portion of people’s lives are spent in the workplace. I argue that many Western workplaces are neither sites of democratic practices or equality but are based on modes of exploitation that benefit the few. Consequently, workers experience alienation, a term used by Karl Marx to describe the separation of the worker from their work, from others, and from themselves. This separation manifests in the various mental health issues we see today in all arenas and walks of life, and these issues are being addressed in a variety of helping professions, including education and counselling. In recognizing that our society has not taken up an adequate degree of foundational analysis, this thesis proposes a Marxist analysis of alienation and its impact on citizens’ wellbeing. I use the counselling profession as an example at-hand to make the argument as to why the profession must offer critiques of capitalism if it is to properly address social justice issues and to effectively respond to a predominant source of mental distress within our current society. However, helping professions themselves are a product of, and a co-creator of, the capitalist system. Despite their concerns for social justice, I argue that they perpetuate injustice by supporting the status quo and by operating from individualistic, decontextualized, and ahistorical models. The prevalence of world-views that promote a materialistic individualism must be therefore challenged. Hence, it is proposed that consciousness, the original subject matter of psychology itself, must be accounted for within our world-view. An argument is put forth that panpsychism is a promising philosophical position from which to generate new understandings and appreciations for the world and our place in it. A panpsychic dual-aspect monism invites novel ways to consider the ways in which helping professions function at both the micro-level of the individual person, but also, simultaneously, at the macro-level of system change. I call upon Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a good example of a micro-level approach that can be utilized within many helping professions that centers the experience of consciousness as a vital component to personal and societal change. The implications of addressing individual and systemic change in relation to education, especially within the context of our current climate crisis, are discussed

Tiny Tusks Internship: Barriers to Breastfeeding

Tiny Tusks Breastfeeding and Infant Support Internship allows students to gain insight on breastfeeding practices through volunteering at University of Arkansas sporting events. Therefore, I chose to review prevalent barriers to breastfeeding that mothers in the United States face. These mothers were at least one of these: Hispanic, Marshallese, African American, disabled, employed, a veteran, living in a rural area, or a woman of the general American population. This topic is relevant because of the many benefits that breastfeeding provides for both the baby and the mother

Collagen-hyaluronic acid scaffolds for adipose tissue engineering.

Three-dimensional (3-D) in vitro models of the mammary gland require a scaffold matrix that supports the development of adipose stroma within a robust freely permeable matrix. 3-D porous collagen-hyaluronic acid (HA: 7.5% and 15%) scaffolds were produced by controlled freeze-drying technique and crosslinking with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide hydrochloride. All scaffolds displayed uniform, interconnected pore structure (total porosity approximately 85%). Physical and chemical analysis showed no signs of collagen denaturation during the formation process. The values of thermal characteristics indicated that crosslinking occurred and that its efficiency was enhanced by the presence of HA. Although the crosslinking reduced the swelling of the strut material in water, the collagen-HA matrix as a whole tended to swell more and show higher dissolution resistance than pure collagen samples. The compressive modulus and elastic collapse stress were higher for collagen-HA composites. All the scaffolds were shown to support the proliferation and differentiation 3T3-L1 preadipocytes while collagen-HA samples maintained a significantly increased proportion of cycling cells (Ki-67+). Furthermore, collagen-HA composites displayed significantly raised Adipsin gene expression with adipogenic culture supplementation for 8 days vs. control conditions. These results indicate that collagen-HA scaffolds may offer robust, freely permeable 3-D matrices that enhance mammary stromal tissue development in vitro.This was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Twenty one Scottish snow patches survive until winter 2014/2015

Nineteenth annual report on the survival of Scottish snow patches

How One Library\u27s Location Change Impacted Health Information Requests: Comparing Zip Codes and Health Disparities to Shape Library Services

Objective In 2014, the Preston Medical Library underwent a radical change, moving from an academic office building to the main floor of a regional medical center. While the library previously served the public, health information requests have substantially increased in volume due to the new location. Each health information request is logged with the subject nature and patron contact information. The objective is: to analyze this data to see if our reach has expanded to counties that previously have not used the service, to see which counties request the most health information, and to ascertain whether more requests are from counties with a higher poverty level. Methods Consumer health request data was downloaded from the library database. First names and other identifying data were removed. The request forms were sorted by county and zip code. For the largest three counties, researchers further sorted by zip code. GIS will be used to create maps, visually showing where the largest concentrations of patrons are located. Requests were reviewed by zip code and county, comparing number of requests as well as poverty levels. Results There were 3,141 health information requests from September 21, 2014 to May 31, 2019. Ninety-nine results were omitted because they were from out-of-state. The majority of requests were from Knox county and adjacent counties. Requests were also received from counties not previously reached and counties with elevated poverty levels. Conclusion Collecting data on patron interactions is not only critical for institutional reporting, but also for community outreach. Understanding that data requires taking additional steps to filter the information, assess local demographics, and customize library services. Researchers anticipate being able to better tailor services to the community based on the results

Climate Change in the Piscataqua/Great Bay Region: Past, Present, and Future

Earth ’s climate changes. It always has and always will. However, an extensive body of scientific evidence indicates that human activities are now a significant force driving change in the Earth’s climate system. This report describes how the climate of the Piscataqua/Great Bay region of coastal New Hampshire in the United States has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region will be affected by human activities that are warming the planet. Overall, the region has been getting warmer and wetter over the last century, and the rate of change has increased over the last four decades. To generate future climate projections for the region, simulated temperature and precipitation from four general circulation models were fitted to local, long-term weather observations. Unknowns regarding future fossil fuel consumption were accounted for by using two future emissions scenarios. As greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, temperatures will rise, extreme heat days are projected to occur more often and will be hotter, extreme cold temperatures are projected to occur less often, and cold days will be warmer.. Annual average precipitation is projected to increase 12 to 17% by end-of-century and the region can expect to see more extreme precipitation events in the future. Tidal gauge data indicates relative sea level at Portsmouth has risen 0.7 inches per decade over the past eight decades. Projected sea level rise of 1.7 to 6.3 feet will result in higher storm surges and more frequent flooding in coastal New Hampshire

Estimating the masses of extra-solar planets

All extra-solar planet masses that have been derived spectroscopically are lower limits since the inclination of the orbit to our line-of-sight is unknown except for transiting systems. It is, however, possible to determine the inclination angle, i, between the rotation axis of a star and an observer's line-of-sight from measurements of the projected equatorial velocity (v sin i), the stellar rotation period (P_rot) and the stellar radius (R_star). This allows the removal of the sin i dependency of spectroscopically derived extra-solar planet masses under the assumption that the planetary orbits lie perpendicular to the stellar rotation axis. We have carried out an extensive literature search and present a catalogue of v sin i, P_rot, and R_star estimates for exoplanet host stars. In addition, we have used Hipparcos parallaxes and the Barnes-Evans relationship to further supplement the R_star estimates obtained from the literature. Using this catalogue, we have obtained sin i estimates using a Markov-chain Monte Carlo analysis. This allows proper 1-sigma two-tailed confidence limits to be placed on the derived sin i's along with the transit probability for each planet to be determined. While a small proportion of systems yield sin i's significantly greater than 1, most likely due to poor P_rot estimations, the large majority are acceptable. We are further encouraged by the cases where we have data on transiting systems, as the technique indicates inclinations of ~90 degrees and high transit probabilities. In total, we estimate the true masses of 133 extra-solar planets. Of these, only 6 have revised masses that place them above the 13 Jupiter mass deuterium burning limit. Our work reveals a population of high-mass planets with low eccentricities and we speculate that these may represent the signature of different planetary formation mechanisms at work.Comment: 40 pages, 6 tables, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society after editing of Tables 1 & 6 for electronic publication. Html abstract shortened for astro-ph submissio

Climate Change In The Casco Bay Watershed: Past, Present, And Future

This report describes how the climate of Casco Bay watershed in Maine has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region is likely to be affected by human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases that are warming the planet. Overall, the region has been getting warmer and wetter over the last century, and these trends have increased over the last four decades. To generate future projections for Portland, Farmington, and Lewiston, simulated temperature and precipitation from four climate models were fitted to local, long-term weather observations. Unknowns regarding fossil fuel consumption were accounted for by using two future scenarios. The scenarios describe climate in terms of temperature and precipitation for three future periods: the near-term, 2010-2039, mid-century, 2040-2069, and end-of-century, 2070-2099. All changes are relative to a historical baseline, 1970-1999. Some future changes are inevitable, so smart choices must be made to ensure our society and our environment will be able to adapt to coming change. But with prompt action, many of the most extreme consequences of climate change could be avoided or their worst impacts reduced