Dressing for dinner : Renée's literary explorations of the changing roles available to strong women in New Zealand society : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University

Renée has defined herself as a "lesbian feminist with socialist working class ideals." Throughout her oeuvre she has explored the changing roles open to strong women who assume a leadership position in New Zealand society. Among these possibilities is the development of strong bonding between women which can lead to the formation of non-traditional family units. Accordingly, the study of her accessible plays and prose, organised in chronological order of the times in which the fictional events were set, may follow that exploration in terms of a series of key motifs

Faculty and multicultural education: An analysis of the levels of curricular integration within a community college system

The composition of the United States population and its workforce is changing rapidly with a projected increase from 249 million in 1990 to 355 million by the year 2040. The majority white population is projected to only grow by 25 percent during this time period while the Latino, and Hispanic populations in the United States are projected to increase by 187 percent. Consequently, the current minorities will constitute more than half of the nation\u27s total population by mid century and comprise a disproportionately large segment of the workforce. as a result of these changing demographics and increasing economic globalization, America\u27s educational institutions will be confronted with reforming their curricula to meet new societal needs by promoting knowledge and understanding of different cultures.;The purpose of this study was to determine the levels of multicultural education integrated into the general education courses that are requirements for completion of AAS degree programs. Further, it was designed to identify the factors that influenced faculty members to include multicultural education into their courses.;Levels of integration of multicultural education were determined by personal interviews of faculty and supported by evidence presented in their syllabi, tests, and handouts. Analysis of the interviews provided the factors that motivate faculty members to infuse or not to infuse their classes with multicultural perspectives.;It was concluded that the amount of multicultural concepts infused into the courses vary from none to considerable and is determined by the faculty member\u27s commitment to achieving pluralism. Factors that motivate inclusion are the disciplines, institutional atmosphere, and personal values of faculty.;Further study is needed to determine how much of the multicultural perspective students retain from the general education courses. A comparison between two and four-year colleges is needed to help determine whether only community college instructors are deficient in the amount of multicultural education they infuse into their disciplines

Friendships and family ties in Vergil

In choosing a subject for a thesis in the Vergilian Bimillennium, it was only natural and fitting that the choice should fall in the field of Vergil. The difficulty lay in selecting a particular locality of the field that had not been especially explored by the many Vergil admirers. Friendships and Family Ties seemed to have been treated by no writer under such a title nor to have been discussed at length in any book or article. Here was presented an opportunity to renew my acquaintance with Vergil through a more intimate and thoughtful study of his poems and to search out from the numerous books on the general subject of Vergil what conclusions other writers had reached and to follow the line of through of the contemporary Latin scholars, who were contributing to the current literature of the Vergilian year. I was perhaps fortunate in finding that no one has treated the subject at any great length, for it required more serious thought on my part; my interest grew with the task; it was fascinating to piece together the little bits and make a unified whole

Increased levels of B1 and B2 SINE transcripts in mouse fibroblast cells due to minute virus of mice infection

AbstractMinute virus of mice (MVM), an autonomous parvovirus, has served as a model for understanding parvovirus infection including host cell response to infection. In this paper, we report the effect of MVM infection on host cell gene expression in mouse fibroblast cells (LA9 cells), analyzed by differential display. Somewhat surprisingly, our data reveal that few cellular protein-coding genes appear to be up- or downregulated and identify the murine B1 and B2 short interspersed element (SINE) transcripts as being increased upon MVM infection. Primer extension assays confirm the effect of MVM infection on SINE expression and demonstrate that both SINEs are upregulated in a roughly linear fashion throughout MVM infection. They also demonstrate that the SINE response was due to RNA polymerase III transcription and not contaminating DNA or RNA polymerase II transcription. Furthermore, expression of MVM NS1, the major nonstructural protein, by transient transfection also leads to an increase in both murine SINEs. We believe this is the first time that the B1 and B2 SINEs have been shown to be altered by viral infection and the first time parvovirus infection has been shown to increase SINE expression. The increase in SINE transcripts caused by MVM infection does not appear to be due to an increase in either of the basal transcription factors TFIIIC110 or 220, in contrast to that which has been shown for other viruses

A Study of Art Education Beliefs of Teachers and Administrators in a Large School System

The purpose of this study was to examine certain art education beliefs of teachers and administrators in a large school system. A review of related literature furnished information which gave support to the ideas behind the study and helped in the design of the data-gathering opinionnaire. After being tested in a pilot study, a revised opinionnaire was sent to teachers and administrators in ten elementary schools of a large North Texas district. Analysis of the data revealed areas in which respondents were united in their beliefs, as well as areas of controversy. It was concluded that the district could benefit from using the findings to stimulate increased awareness and communication among those who influence its art program

Perception of Stress Observed by Family Members of Dentists Who Have Committed Suicide

Research aimed at the observed stress from being a dentist, and how it may have impacted the occurrence of their suicide did not appear to be prevalent among empirical suicide studies. The purpose of this basic, qualitative study was to explore how the family members perceived occupational stress as precursor events in dentists who committed suicide. Using the interpersonal theory of suicide as the conceptual basis, 4 family members of dentists who committed suicide were interviewed to understand how family members perceived occupational stress in the dentist using semi structured interviews. Through a series of precoding and recoding, interview data were analyzed to identify similarities that may have identified the presence of occupational stressors as a precursor to suicide. There were six themes identified in the data: (a) observations of stress, (b) thwarted belongingness, (c) negative perceptions, (d) perceived burdensomeness, (e) work-life balance, and (f) substance abuse. These themes identified stressors that due to occupation was not the cause of the suicide, but there was a pattern of factors that preceded the suicide in each dentist. This study contributes to suicide research and should substantiate the need for education centered on the identification of suicide precursors. This study has the potential to create social change in reducing stigma associated with suicide, and encouraging individual, societal, and legislative level changes focused on increasing suicide education programs and suicide reduction interventions

BMI, Body Image, Emotional Well-Being and Weight-Control Behaviors in Urban African American Adolescents

Importance: While urban African American adolescents face significant health disparities associated with overweight and obesity that follow them into adulthood; there is limited data on body image, emotional well-being, and weight control behaviors in this population to design effective public health interventions.Objective: This study was designed to understand the association of weight status to adolescent weight control, body image, and emotional well-being responses, in African American high school students.Design/Setting/Participants: The study cohort consisted of 776 students, mean age 15.8 years (±1.2). Data from Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS) student surveys and anthropometric studies were collected at School-Based Health Centers.Main Outcome Measures: Associations between adolescent responses on the GAPS and body mass index (BMI) status (healthy weight: 5th to less than 85th percentile, overweight: 85th to less than 95th percentile, obese: 95th percentile or greater) were estimated using logistic regression and dose- response plots.Results: There were statistically significant associations between BMI category and weight control (ranging from a mean 5.18 to 7.68 odds of obesity) and body image (3.40 to 13.26 odds of obesity) responses. Responses to weight control and body image questions exhibited a dose- response for odds of overweight and obesity. Feelings of depressed mood were associated with obesity (1.47 times the odds of obesity compared to students who did not endorse depressed mood; 95% CI, 1.01 to 2.13) but not overweight status.Conclusion and Relevance: Overweight and obese urban African American adolescents are more likely to screen positively on weight control risk behaviors and negative body image questions than their normal weight peers. The weight control and body image measures on the GAPS may provide information to identify youth in need of services and those motivated for brief school-based weight control interventions

Further Validation of the Realness Scale: Are Celebrity Worshipers Unreal?

We administered the Realness Scale (RS), Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), and the modified Authentic Living Subscale (ALS) from the Authenticity Scale (AS) to undergraduate students from four American institutions of higher learning. We sought to further validate the RS by showing that it correlated positively with the ALS and negatively with the CAS. We also hypothesized that African Americans would score lower than Whites on the RS. Our results supported the first hypothesis, but we found only weak or non-existent support for the other two hypotheses. Discussion focused on reasons why our latter two hypotheses yielded mostly negative results and suggested improvements for future research

Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra for the diagnosis of HIV-associated tuberculous meningitis: a prospective validation study.

INTRODUCTION: Tuberculous meningitis accounts for 1-5% of tuberculosis cases. Diagnostic delay contributes to poor outcomes. We evaluated the performance of the new Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra (Xpert Ultra) for tuberculous meningitis diagnosis. METHODS: In this prospective validation study, we tested the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of adults presenting with suspected meningitis (ie, headache or altered mental status with clinical signs of meningism) to the Mulago National Referral Hospital and Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda. We centrifuged the CSF, resuspended the cell pellet in 2 mL CSF, and tested 0·5 mL aliquots with Xpert Ultra, Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert), and mycobacterial growth indicator tube (MGIT) culture. We quantified diagnostic performance against the uniform case definition of probable or definite tuberculous meningitis and a composite microbiological reference standard. FINDINGS: From Nov 25, 2016, to Jan 24, 2019, we screened 466 adults with suspected meningitis and tested 204 for tuberculous meningitis. Uniform clinical case definition classified 51 participants as having probable or definite tuberculous meningitis. Against this uniform case definition, Xpert Ultra had 76·5% sensitivity (95% CI 62·5-87·2; 39 of 51 patients) and a negative predictive value of 92·7% (87·6-96·2; 153 of 165), compared with 55·6% sensitivity (44·0-70·4; 25 of 45; p=0·0010) and a negative predictive value of 85·8% (78·9-91·1; 121 of 141) for Xpert and 61·4% sensitivity (45·5-75·6; 27 of 44; p=0·020) and negative predictive value of 85·2% (77·4-91·1; 98 of 115) for MGIT culture. Against the composite microbiological reference standard, Xpert Ultra had sensitivity of 92·9% (80·5-98·5; 39 of 42), higher than Xpert at 65·8% (48·6-80·4; 25 of 38; p=0·0063) and MGIT culture at 72·2% (55·9-86·2; 27 of 37; p=0·092). Xpert Ultra detected nine tuberculous meningitis cases missed by Xpert and MGIT culture. INTERPRETATION: Xpert Ultra detected tuberculous meningitis with higher sensitivity than Xpert and MGIT culture in this HIV-positive population. However, with a negative predictive value of 93%, Xpert Ultra cannot be used as a rule-out test. Clinical judgment and novel highly sensitive point-of-care tests are still required. FUNDING: Wellcome Trust, National Institute of Health, National Institute of Neurologic Diseases and Stroke, Fogarty International Center, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases