"Comic self-consciousness" : oblique approaches to the elegiac : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Creative Writing at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

This thesis, composed of a collection of poetry and a critical essay, explores the contemporary elegiac poem. Whereas traditional elegists focused on death, contemporary elegiac poems deal with loss in a broader sense. The challenge contemporary elegiac poets take on is to engage with feeling but without veering into sentimentality. In the critical portion of this thesis, “‘Comic self-consciousness’: Oblique approaches to the elegiac,” I explore how two contemporary poets, Billy Collins and William Matthews, approach loss indirectly to evade sentimentality. Specifically, I argue that Collins and Matthews, both of whom are noted for their elegiac orientation and their use of wit, engage with loss through three strategies: the postponement of acknowledging the loss central to the poem, the use of incongruities manifesting as humour and irony, and by gaining the reader’s complicity through the use of metapoetics. In the creative portion of the thesis, “Farewell, My Lovely,” I have drawn inspiration from the strategies modelled by these two poets to engage with at times light-hearted or ironic approaches to loss—via wit, irony and at times metapoetics—to produce a collection of elegiac lyric poems that approach loss indirectly

Subjective and Non-subjective Information in Children’s Allegations of Abuse

In this study, we were interested in how interviewers elicit subjective information in investigations of child abuse (e.g., descriptions of thoughts, emotions, opinions). Sixty-one interviews of children aged 4-12 years old were analyzed to determine the amount of subjective information versus non-subjective event details reported, and the type of question that elicited the information. Interviewers elicited more non-subjective than subjective information, although there was more focus on subjective information in the rapport-building phase than in the substantive phase when the allegations were elicited. Interviewer prompts and child responsiveness was congruent such that non-subjective questions elicited more non-subjective information, and subjective interviewer questions elicited more subjective information. The presence of subjective information in children’s testimony can influence children’s credibility, and the results of this study demonstrate that forensic interviewers play a significant part in the level of subjective information children provide

A Community-Focused Health & Work Service (HWS)

We recommend establishment of a community-focused Health & Work Service (HWS) dedicated to responding rapidly to new health-related work absence among working people due to potentially disabling conditions. The first few days and weeks after onset are an especially critical period during which the likelihood of a good long-term outcome is being influenced, either favorably or unfavorably, by some simple things that either do or do not happen during that interval. It is the optimal window of opportunity to improve outcomes by simultaneously attending to the worker’s basic needs and concerns as well as coordinating the medical, functional restoration, and occupational aspects of the situation in a coordinated fashion

The influence of shc proteins on the whole body energetic response to calorie restriction initiated in 3-month-old mice.

There is increasing evidence that Shc proteins play a role in energy metabolism, and we have previously reported that knockdown of Shc proteins influences the energetic response to acute (3 days) calorie restriction (CR) in 18-month-old mice. Whether Shc proteins play a role in the metabolic response to CR in younger mice has yet to be elucidated. Hence, we sought to determine the impact of 3 days and longer term (2 months) CR on energy expenditure (EE) and respiratory quotient (RQ) in 3 month-old Shc knockout (ShcKO) and wild-type (WT) mice. ShcKO mice decreased (P < 0.001) EE normalized for body weight (EEBW) by 3 days of CR, while no such change was observed in WT animals. However, both ShcKO and WT mice decreased (P < 0.001) EEBW at 2 months of CR and there were no differences in body weight between the ShcKO and WT mice at either 3 days or 2 months of CR. Consistent with increased fatty acid oxidation, only ShcKO mice maintained decreased (P < 0.001) 24 h RQ through 2 months of CR, suggesting that they were able to maintain increased fatty acid oxidation for a longer period of time than WT mice. These results indicate that Shc proteins may contribute to some of the acute energetic responses to CR

The influence of shc proteins and aging on whole body energy expenditure and substrate utilization in mice.

While it has been proposed that Shc family of adaptor proteins may influence aging by regulating insulin signaling and energy metabolism, the overall impact of Shc proteins on whole body energy metabolism has yet to be elucidated. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the influence of Shc proteins and aging on whole body energy metabolism in a mouse model under ambient conditions (22°C) and acute cold exposure (12°C for 24 hours). Using indirect respiration calorimetry, we investigated the impact of Shc proteins and aging on EE and substrate utilization (RQ) in p66 Shc-/- (ShcKO) and wild-type (WT) mice. Calorimetry measurements were completed in 3, 15, and 27 mo mice at 22°C and 12°C. At both temperatures and when analyzed across all age groups, ShcKO mice demonstrated lower 24 h total EE values than that of WT mice when EE data was expressed as either kJ per mouse, or adjusted by body weight or crude organ mass (ORGAN) (P≤0.01 for all). The ShcKO mice also had higher (P<0.05) fed state RQ values than WT animals at 22°C, consistent with an increase in glucose utilization. However, Shc proteins did not influence age-related changes in energy expenditure or RQ. Age had a significant impact on EE at 22°C, regardless of how EE data was expressed (P<0.05), demonstrating a pattern of increase in EE from age 3 to 15 mo, followed by a decrease in EE at 27 mo. These results indicate a decline in whole body EE with advanced age in mice, independent of changes in body weight (BW) or fat free mass (FFM). The results of this study indicate that both Shc proteins and aging should be considered as factors that influence energy expenditure in mice

A non-abelian conjecture of Tate-Shafarevich type for hyperbolic curves

We state a conjectural criterion for identifying global integral points on a hyperbolic curve over $\mathbb{Z}$ in terms of Selmer schemes inside non-abelian cohomology functors with coefficients in $\mathbb{Q}_p$-unipotent fundamental groups. For $\mathbb{P}^1\setminus \{0,1,\infty\}$ and the complement of the origin in semi-stable elliptic curves of rank 0, we compute the local image of global Selmer schemes, which then allows us to numerically confirm our conjecture in a wide range of cases.Comment: Improvements to the exposition and numerous minor corrections throughou