The User Is Dead, Long Live the User: Creation through Consumption in the Context of the Reader and the User

In her essay Too Much World: Is the Internet Dead? Hito Steyerl claims that “the internet is not dead. It is undead and it\u27s everywhere. In his essay The Death of the Author Roland Barthes writes: It is necessary to overthrow the myth: the birth of the Reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author. The figure of the reader and the figure of the user have, at different times, been placed on the consumer side of a consumer-producer opposition. The term user was coined by developers to describe a certain type of consumer-- one that knew how to navigate the platforms being developed, but not enough to develop these themselves. In literary theory, the reader was not considered an agent in creating a text until Barthes introduced the reader as an actor in literary discourses to the world. Over time, different critics (particularly in Reader Response Theory) made more room for the reader and the reader\u27s responses to texts as a creative entity. I place these evolving conceptions of the reader in conversation with what writings exist on the user because while I do not seek to equate them, I believe that they do have productive things to say to each other. In comparing the figure of the reader and that of the user, I introduce the term critical bricolage, which refers to a type of creation based in consumption. Critical bricolage encompasses the hunting, gathering, scavenging, and then compiling, collecting, and curating of content by the reader and user -- it is how they create their own space and respond to an environment that didn\u27t leave one for them. Critical bricolage manifests in the form of literary response for the reader. In the case of the user, critical bricolage changed as the environment of the internet changed, and continues to change. Because of this, I spend more time with recent examples of critical bricolage in the context of the user; I primarily focus on the work of user-artists like Guthrie Lonergan, William Boling, LIllian Schwartz, Cory Arcangel, James Bridle, and Jodi

Traditional and nontraditional preservice elementary teachers\u27 perceptions about mathematics and mathematics teaching

In this qualitative dissertation, I examined six nontraditional (based on age) and six traditional preservice elementary teachers\u27 beliefs and changes in beliefs about mathematics and mathematics teaching. These case study participants were enrolled in one of three mathematics content courses designed for preservice elementary teachers at a mid-sized doctoral granting university in the western United States. I selected the twelve participants based on the predetermined criteria of gender (female), age (less than 30 for traditional and at least 30 for nontraditional), mathematics instructor, preservice mathematics course, and group dynamics. Data collection consisted of two approximately 45-minute long interviews per preservice teacher, two approximately 30-minute long interviews per instructor, and classroom observations. After data collection, I coded the data using NVivo and searched for themes in the participants\u27 responses. From the coding, I found six themes in the data: Senses, Socio-cultural, Standards Aligned Beliefs about Mathematics, Nonstandards Aligned Beliefs about Mathematics, Standards Aligned Beliefs about Mathematics Teaching, and Nonstandards Aligned Beliefs about Mathematics Teaching. Findings included the fact that nontraditional preservice teachers, on average, ranked themselves higher in their self confidence in teaching mathematics at the K-6 grade levels than the traditional participants. Nontraditional participants also were less likely than traditional participants to change their belief systems based on preservice mathematics content courses. A common finding among participants included the fact that all participants believed they would teach using all five senses in their future classroom. Implications for teaching of preservice elementary teachers consist of the following: offering activities involving family member participation as classroom practice, providing additional tutoring support and/or a cohort grouping for nontraditional preservice teachers, and giving traditional preservice teachers extra support to decrease possible self efficacy concerns they may have about teaching mathematics

The Role of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Blood Pressure Regulation and Secondhand Smoke-Induced Vascular Dysfunction

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) may lower cardiovascular disease risk by reducing blood pressure (BP). We hypothesized that fat-1 transgenic mice, which convert n-6 PUFAs to n-3 PUFAs, would have improved vascular function in BP regulation and following secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure, compared to wild type (WT) mice. BP was recorded in mice fed an n-6 PUFA, or standard chow diet. On the n-6 PUFA diet fat-1 mice had a lower mean arterial pressure and a greater decrease in diastolic BP when treated with an ACE inhibitor, compared to WT mice. No differences were observed on the chow diet. Next, fat-1 mice on the n-6 PUFA or chow diet were exposed to SHS. SHS enhanced vasoconstriction on the n-6 PUFA diet, but not on chow, but did not affect vasorelaxation. These data suggest n-3 PUFAs have a protective role in basal BP regulation and SHS-induced vascular dysfunction

Your love is safe with me

This novel follows Rachael, a young, educated woman, as she descends from a stage of unsatisfied existential curiosities into a criminal underworld, where her appetite for disillusion is met with humanity's most crude and instinctual answers to the problem of desire. Drugs, sex, money, and revenge influence Rachael's relationship with her brother, Jesse, a convicted felon, Jose, and a young prostitute, Diamond, as she struggles to define the difference between who she is and what she must do. The structure of the novel attempts to reflect the consciousness of its narrator, Rachael, as she recalls various episodes from her recent life, which weave in and out of time and space, but together seek to tell her story in the only way Rachael knows how to tell it. Linguistically, the novel seeks to inhabit the mind of its narrator, a frazzled and yet contemplative mind, and to engage the necessary narrative contradictions that define and develop a character. At the center of the novel is the narrator's desire, a center from which all other conflicts must emanate. Rachael's lyrical journey through her memories seeks to reveal the intense emotional connection between her character and the conflicts she witnesses. In this way, the language of the novel seeks to deny reality as much as to illuminate it, to reveal what it is not as much as what it is, and, for Rachael, what it could be

Heat Melt Compaction as an Effective Treatment for Eliminating Microorganisms from Solid Waste

One of the technologies being tested at Ames Research Center as part of the logistics and repurposing project is heat melt compaction (HMC) of solid waste to reduce volume, remove water and render a biologically stable and safe product. Studies at Kennedy Space Center have focused on the efficacy of the heat melt compaction process for killing microorganisms in waste and specific compacter operation protocols, i.e., time and temperature, required to achieve a sterile, stable product. The work reported here includes a controlled study to examine the survival and potential re-growth of specific microorganisms over a 6-month period of storage after heating and compaction. Before heating and compaction, ersatz solid wastes were inoculated with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, previously isolated from recovered space shuttle mission food and packaging waste. Compacted HMC tiles were sampled for microbiological analysis at time points between 0 and 180 days of storage in a controlled environment chamber. In addition, biological indicator strips containing spores of Bacillus atrophaeus and Ceo bacillus stearothermophilus were imbedded in trash to assess the efficacy of the HMC process to achieve sterilization. Analysis of several tiles compacted at 180 C for times of 40 minutes to over 2 hours detected organisms in all tile samples with the exception of one exposed to 180 C for approximately 2 hours. Neither of the inoculated organisms was recovered, and the biological indicator strips were negative for growth in all tiles indicating at least local sterilization of tile areas. The findings suggest that minimum time/temperature combination is required for complete sterilization. Microbial analysis of tiles processed at lower temperatures from 130 C-150 C at varying times will be discussed, as well as analysis of the bacteria and fungi present on the compactor hardware as a result of exposure to the waste and the surrounding environment. The two organisms inoculated into the waste were among those isolated and identified from the HMC surfaces indicating the possibility of cross contamination

Regional sweat distribution in young and older individuals

Regional sweat distribution in young and older individual

Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitor and Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Combination Therapy in Type 2 Diabetes: Protocol for a Kidney End Points Real-world Study (COMBi-KID Study)

BACKGROUND: Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are both considered to be part of standard care in the management of glycemia in type 2 diabetes. Recent trial evidence has indicated benefits on primary kidney end points for individual drugs within each medication class. Despite the potential benefits of combining SGLT2is and GLP-1RAs for glycemia management, according to national and international guideline recommendations, there is currently limited data on kidney end points for this drug combination. OBJECTIVE: The aims of the study are to assess the real-world effects of combination SGLT2i and GLP-1RA therapies for diabetes management on kidney end points, glycemic control, and weight in people with type 2 diabetes who are being treated with renin-angiotensin system blockade medication. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study will use the electronic health records of people with type 2 diabetes that are registered with general practices covering over 15 million people in England and Wales and are included in the Oxford-Royal College of General Practitioners Research and Surveillance Centre network. A propensity score-matched cohort of prevalent new users of SGLT2is and GLP-1RAs and those who have been prescribed SGLT2is and GLP-1RAs in combination will be identified. They will be matched based on drug histories, comorbidities, and demographics. A repeated-measures, multilevel, linear regression analysis will be performed to compare the mean change (from baseline) in estimated glomerular filtration rate at 12 and 24 months between those who switched to combined therapy and those continuing monotherapy with an SGLT2i or GLP-1RA. The secondary end points will be albuminuria, serum creatinine level, glycated hemoglobin level, and BMI. These will also be assessed for change at the 12- and 24-month follow-ups. RESULTS: The study is due to commence in March 2022 and is expected to be complete by September 2022. CONCLUSIONS: Our study will be the first to assess the impact of combination SGLT2i and GLP-1RA therapy in type 2 diabetes on primary kidney end points from a real-world perspective. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/34206