Balinese Temples

There is a temple; the name is Pura Dalem. It is the Kerambitan Temple by the post office. The name of the god there is Dewi Durga. Dewi Durga is like a body guard, and protects all of Kerambitan. [excerpt

Investigating Barriers to Mental Health Care in Law Enforcement Officers

The profession of law enforcement is an inherently stressful job. Although the physical stress of the job is often discussed, the mental health impact on officers is often ignored, resulting in poor mental health and increased risk for suicide. The purpose of the current study was to investigate factors related to the reluctance of law enforcement officers (LEOs) to seeking treatment, as well as to gain an understanding of the prevalence rates of disorders in a law enforcement population. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants (N = 306) across a variety of agencies. Correlation, moderated regression analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in order to model barriers to care among officers. Findings suggest that the presence of psychological disorders was not predictive of willingness to seek treatment. However, perceived stigma did predict lower willingness to seek treatment. General conclusions suggest that increasing unit cohesion and unit support may make a positive impact in decreasing stigma and increasing officers’ willingness to seek treatment

Computer-mediation Communication and Changing Expectations of Romantic Couples

Due to the complexity of romantic relationships and the integration of new communication technologies into relationship maintenance, the present study uses expectancy violations theory (EVT) to examine expectations, expectancy violations, and the changing expectations of romantic couples when using computer-mediated communication (CMC; i.e., social media websites, email, text messaging, etc.). Additionally, the study investigates the impact of changing expectations on relational quality. Twenty-five individuals were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. The interviews were analyzed according to Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step approach for thematic analysis. Narrative and in-vivo coding were used to identify themes in participants’ responses. Themes regarding behavioral expectations for CMC included: (a) a response, (b) clear communication, (c) task-oriented versus relational messages and (d) respect. Regarding expectancy violations, themes included: (a) lack of communication, (b) disrespect, (c) sharing/posting as a violation, (d) affectionate messages. Additionally, the ability to discuss expectations with a romantic partner was positively associated with relational quality. Findings uncovered that committed relationships allow for more communication about expectations and changes in expectations. Practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed

QUANTIFYING THE TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE ORGANIC UV FILTERS AVOBENZONE AND HOMOSALATE ON ACROPORA CERVICORNIS

Reports of the environmental effects of organic UV filters such as oxybenzone have led to the marketing of “reef-safe” sunscreen ingredients, including avobenzone and homosalate. Avobenzone provides broad-spectrum UV protection which blocks higher wavelength UV rays, the leading cause of aging and skin cancer. However, as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic UV filters have similar structures to crude oil and estrogens, some of which have been labeled endocrine disrupters. Common in personal care products, UV filters enter marine ecosystems via wastewater effluent and swimmers. Significant stress and mortality have been observed in juvenile and some adult scleractinian corals after exposure to several UV filters, leading to bans in some coastal regions. This study evaluated the individual effects of avobenzone and homosalate on the Atlantic staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis using 96 h assays in a static renewal exposure system. Acropora cervicornis exposed to avobenzone exhibited severe responses, including tissue attenuation, reduced growth rates, hypertrophied mucocytes, and mortality with an EC50 of 324.5 μg/L and an LC50 of 407.6 μg/L. Acropora cervicornis exposed to homosalate also showed tissue attenuation and hypertrophied mucocytes but to a lesser degree, with an EC10 of 629.9 μg/L. Avobenzone exhibited higher acute toxicity levels to adult coral than the previously banned organic UV filters, including oxybenzone and octinoxate. However, toxicity threshold concentrations were above the estimated solubility of each UV filter and quantified levels detected in coastal waters. Additional research is needed regarding chronic exposure to lower concentrations present in marine environments

Story as a Mathematics Instructional Strategy

Traditional mathematics curriculum does not always meet the student’s needs. Lecturing students does not engage, motivate, and activate their critical thinking skills. Essentially, the curriculum has become separated from the real-world context in which mathematical theorems are applied. Students don’t understand the purpose in their learning. STEM curriculum focuses on the content areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; however, the STEAM curriculum takes the STEM curriculum a step further by incorporating the arts into those content areas. By doing so, it reaches more students in an innovative approach of the creative process. The instructional strategy of story is the arts of STEAM curriculum. By incorporating story into mathematics curriculum, it is engaging and motivating students to learn the content from a student-centered approach. Students are become fully embraced within the story and use the mathematical content to apply and predict the story outcomes. It requires students to continuously reflect, communicate, and apply their mathematics ideas to the story

Possible breakdown of dopamine receptor synergism in a mouse model of Huntington\u27s Disease

The model of basal ganglia function proposed by Albin, Young and Penney (1989) describes two anatomically independent motor pathways, the direct and indirect. However, under normal conditions striatal dopamine (DA) is required for the expression of motor behavior, and DAergic control of the two pathways (via D1 and D2 receptors, respectively) is dependent on co-activation. We tested for a possible breakdown of D1/D2 synergism using transgenic R6/1 mice bearing the human huntingtin allele (Htt). Motor stereotypy, observed prior to the onset of HD-related symptoms, was rated on a 5-point scale following activation of: A) D1 receptors alone, B) D2 receptors alone, and C) stimulation of both D1 and D2 receptors. Results revealed that mice with the HD allele, like their WT litter mates, depend on the co-activation of the indirect and direct motor pathways to facilitate deliberate behavior

Chancing the Arm to Save the Face: The Fight for Irish Gaelic Recognition and Ending the Stormont Deadlock

Since January 2017, the Northern Irish government has been shut down, with both the Executive and Assembly collapsed and the two major political coalitions deadlocked. Since then, civil servants with no major decision-making power have largely run the government. One of the deadlock’s major battlegrounds is whether there should be legislation in Northern Ireland mandating that Gaeilge, or Irish Gaelic, be treated as a language of equal status to that of English. This Note explores this issue and argues that the right to equal language protections is founded in the right to one’s cultural identity, and as such should be granted, both for the sake of peace in Northern Ireland and its people’s heritage. It suggests that a compromise similar to the one enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement is necessary to achieve both of these aims, and that the current regime is ill-equipped to handle such a compromise

Principles and practices for the application of systems engineering to heterogeneous research partnerships

A heterogeneous research partnership (HRP) is one in which industry, academia and government collaborate to conduct research, typically of national importance. Whilst most HRPs complete their planned duration and deliver their agreed tasks, it is not uncommon for participants to be left feeling somewhat dissatisfied, suggesting that the requirements which are being met are incomplete. There is an opportunity to improve the success of HRPs by establishing principles and practices for the application of systems engineering in their development. The thesis reviews literature drawn from a broad body of work covering three main areas: the context of HRPs themselves, systems engineering and related disciplines, and research methodology. The research adopts an interpretive approach, initially applying Soft Systems Methodology in a pilot case study and subsequently conducting a qualitative analysis of sixteen HRP case studies in order to develop and refine generic models which are relevant to HRPs. Drawing from the commentary of interviewees, published sources and other evidence, major themes across the case studies are integrated in order to develop ten principles and ten practices for the application of systems engineering to HRPs. The importance of consistency between the research context, systems approach and research methodology is emphasised, and the thesis highlights a significant philosophical challenge facing system of systems research as the discipline seeks to use a range of hard and soft systems approaches which are fundamentally rooted in different paradigms

Global Music Perspectives: Music Outside the Western Canon in Local Schools

As a class, we are designing a research project for investigating how music teachers from counties in South-Central Pennsylvania use music from outside the Western canon (i.e. world music ). We are performing a qualitative study by interviewing k-12 music teachers from school districts in South-Central Pennsylvania. Teachers may choose to participate in a focus group interview with other teachers or in one-on-one interviews. The focus group interview will not exceed two hours and the one-on-one interviews will not exceed an hour. The interviews will be guided using a questionnaire (see attached), but the conversation may deviate from these questions at the discretion of the interviewer(s). We will transcribe these interviews to extract common thematic materials and relevant information. We will also compile a literature review of relevant peer-reviewed articles and use the data from said articles to expand upon our gathered information

Distance constraints on activation of TRPV4 channels by AKAP150-bound PKCα in arterial myocytes.

TRPV4 (transient receptor potential vanilloid 4) channels are Ca2+-permeable channels that play a key role in regulating vascular tone. In arterial myocytes, opening of TRPV4 channels creates local increases in Ca2+ influx, detectable optically as "TRPV4 sparklets." TRPV4 sparklet activity can be enhanced by the action of the vasoconstrictor angiotensin II (AngII). This modulation depends on the activation of subcellular signaling domains that comprise protein kinase C α (PKCα) bound to the anchoring protein AKAP150. Here, we used super-resolution nanoscopy, patch-clamp electrophysiology, Ca2+ imaging, and mathematical modeling approaches to test the hypothesis that AKAP150-dependent modulation of TRPV4 channels is critically dependent on the distance between these two proteins in the sarcolemma of arterial myocytes. Our data show that the distance between AKAP150 and TRPV4 channel clusters varies with sex and arterial bed. Consistent with our hypothesis, we further find that basal and AngII-induced TRPV4 channel activity decays exponentially as the distance between TRPV4 and AKAP150 increases. Our data suggest a maximum radius of action of ∼200 nm for local modulation of TRPV4 channels by AKAP150-associated PKCα