"We will All Look Like This Someday": Santa Muerte in Mexico City

Latin American Studie

Exploring Stretto: An Investigation into the Use of Stretto in J. S. Bach\u27s Well-Tempered Clavier

Stretto—the technique of using a fugue subject in counterpoint with itself, beginning at different time points—occurs prevalently in fugues by J. S. Bach and other baroque composers. This study investigates the formal function of stretto using a corpus analysis of Bach’s use of stretto in the forty-eight fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier. It documents details regarding each instance of stretto within the corpus and explores connections between these data using graphs and statistical tests, generally as well as in investigation of three specific hypotheses. The conclusion, density, and quantity hypotheses predict that there will be more stretto passages, time-intervals between onsets of adjacent entries in stretto passages will become smaller, and there will be more entries per stretto passage towards the end of the composition. The results do not provide strong evidence supporting any of these hypotheses, and they directly contradict the expectations of the density hypothesis

Santa Muerte and the politics of malleability : the angel of Death in Mexico City

This thesis explores and critiques mainstream narratives of Santa Muerte, a marginalized Mexican spiritual figure, through ethnographic data collected in spaces of Santa Muerte spiritual commerce and devotion in Mexico City during the summer of 2015, with an emphasis on Barrio Tepito, Colonia Morelos and Mercado de Sonora. This thesis will argue that Santa Muerte’s malleability, particularly with regards to gender; the embrace of physicality, and its followers’ attitude towards death, demonstrate Santa Muerte’s appeal as a spiritual tool, particularly for marginalized segments of Mexican society.Latin American Studie

Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Her Works and Their Messages

Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, a poetess and playwright during the tenth century, created a body of work that both reflected and instructed people in her society. During this period, Europe witnessed extensive societal changes including the reemergence of the Holy Roman Empire, the eastward expansion of Christianity, and a cultural development known as the Ottonian Renaissance. The imperial court, emphatic sponsors of the arts, approved of the legends, dramas, and histories written by Hrotsvit as Christian alternatives to popular pagan literature. The following text presents interpretations of the legends and dramas identifying how they functioned as didactic devices intended to cultivate particular perceptions of non-Christians while simultaneously providing an idealistically defined Christian society. A new translation of her preface to the dramas confirms the argument that Hrotsvit had intended visual productions of her dramas while grammatical analyses of the legends and dramas further support the position of oral deliveries. Transmitted orally, the works could then reach the largely illiterate population without compromising the aesthetic appeal appreciated by the elites. Investigations into the sources Hrotsvit may have used and the changes she made enable a better understanding of how one woman, representing the aristocratic and religious communities, envisioned her worl

Bioaccumulation kinetics of cadmium and zinc in the freshwater decapod crustacean Paratya australiensis following multiple pulse exposures

Stormwater runoff has been identified as a major source of metal contaminants in urban waterways, where during storm events organisms tend to be exposed to short-term pulses, rather than a constant exposure of contaminants. Current water quality guidelines (WQGs) are generally derived using data from continuous exposure toxicity tests, where there is an assumption that chronic exposures provide a meaningful way of assessing the impacts and effects in organisms as a result of these pulsed storm events. In this current study the radioisotopes 109Cd and 65Zn were used to explore uptake, depuration and organ distribution in the decapod crustacean Paratya australiensis, over three short-term (<10 h) exposures. Exposures to radiolabelled cadmium only, zinc only or a mixture of cadmium and zinc were followed by depuration in metal- and isotope-free water for 7 days. Whole-body metal concentrations were determined by live-animal gamma-spectrometry and an anatomical distribution of the radioisotopes was visualised using autoradiography post-mortem. Both metals were significantly accumulated over the pulsed exposure period. In both treatments cadmium and zinc body burden increased at the same rate over the three pulses. Final metal body burden did not markedly differ when shrimp were exposed to metals individually compared to a binary mixture. Over the course of the depuration period, cadmium efflux was minimal, whereas zinc efflux was significant. Autoradiography indicated the presence of both metals in the gills and hepatopancreas throughout the depuration period. These results demonstrate how short-term repeated exposures result in the accumulation of contaminants by shrimp. This study highlights the importance of considering the inclusion of pulsed toxicity tests in frameworks when deriving WQGs

Lost Alongside My Daughter with Anorexia Nervosa A Mother’s Story

We used narrative principles to represent the storyof a mother caring for her adolescent daughter hospitalizedwith anorexia nervosa. The data were greeting cards, dailyletters written by the mother to her daughter, and audio-tapedindividual interviews with the mother and daughter. Weidentified themes or categories of information (e.g., settings,relationships, temporality, and voice elements) within themother’s story, and re-storied them into a chronological plotincorporating the mother’s struggle and its resolution.Narrative threads of seeking a clearing, drawing strength,taking stock, ethic of repair, fending off the beast of starvation,and homecoming were identified. Together these threadscomprise the core story of “lost alongside my daughter” thatdescribes the mother’s overarching concern for the daughter’simmediate and future well-being while seeking a pathway tocontribute to her daughter’s care in a meaningful way

Intervention for School Anxiety and Absenteeism in Children (ISAAC):Co-designing a brief parent-focused intervention for emotionally-based school avoidance

Emotionally-based school avoidance (EBSA) is an important driver of persistent school absenteeism and may have worsened in the context of COVID-19. This paper describes the development of a brief parent-focused psychosocial intervention with the goal to address the lack of accessible early interventions for EBSA. The developmental process used a person-centred approach (Yardley, 2015) with two phases. In Phase 1, qualitative data were collected about intervention preferences and priorities from N=10 parents and N=7 practitioners in a series of co-design workshops. Phase 2 refined an intervention blueprint based on iterative consultations with N=4 parents and N=3 practitioners. Framework analysis was used to organise findings around key intervention parameters, including relevant mechanisms, content, and delivery methods needed to provide effective, acceptable and feasible support for families affected by EBSA. The resulting blueprint incorporates three online modules to be delivered over three weeks with each module consisting of psychoeducational videos, self-completed learning tasks and a corresponding coaching session. Respective module content includes: (i) self-care strategies to increase parent wellbeing and self-efficacy; (ii) parenting strategies to change behavioural patterns that maintain child distress and avoidance of school; and (iii) strategic communication strategies to increase the quality of home-school relationships. The blueprint has been developed into a full prototype for a forthcoming feasibility study

Performance, power and production: a selective, critical and cultural history of the radio interview.

This thesis charts the historical evolution of the ‘personal’ radio interview, in order to understand its use as a speech device, a social relationship and a communicative genre. Four contrasting styles of interviewing have been chosen to illustrate key moments and to illuminate significant shifts in the history of UK broadcasting: Desert Island Discs (1942-1954), The Radio Ballads (1958-64 & 2006), the confessional style phone interview format on independent local radio (1975) and Prison Radio projects (1993-present). These cases draw together an assortment of live and pre-recorded material, across a variety of genres that encompass over seventy years of production output, granting an opportunity to demonstrate the specificities of each example, whilst also identifying any overarching themes or differences. Primary research has been carried out using an assortment of audio content and written archive, comprising of scripts, memos, letters, diaries, training documents, contracts, policies and guidelines, which give us a further sense of how this method of talk has developed over the decades. Power dynamics permeate all levels of broadcasting, so particular emphasis has been placed on how both ‘on air’ and ‘backstage’ interaction has been experienced by an institution, an interviewer and an interviewee. For instance, how might the interview have been used to serve, restrict or benefit the needs of a particular group, an individual or an institution? The different types of interaction that has taken place between participants before, during and after an interview exchange provide clues about the purpose, motivations and agendas of those who contribute towards on-air talk. So, while this thesis values the significance of broadcast audio and historical documentation, it also honours the experiences of individual figures, and seeks to highlight the relationship dynamics within production teams; all of which have an impact on the on-air interview exchange. As a result, research interviews have been conducted with industry practitioners, including editors, engineers, presenters, producers and phone operators. This study will not only start to develop our knowledge of the contextual history of interview production on commercial, public service and community radio in the UK, but also begin to lay the foundation for an expansion of our wider knowledge concerning the use of the mediated interview across other disciplines and throughout other countries. This thesis suggests that the on-air incarnation of interview talk, its ‘backstage’ production, and its principal position within speech radio genres all over the world, should be viewed as a powerful barometer of institutional, individual and national cultural hopes, desires and identities