Negotiating gender relations in the context of heterosexual intimate partner relationships : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology, at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Contemporary neoliberal postfemininism portrays women as empowered and existing in heterosexual relationships where equality is negotiated between two equal beings. The current study is a feminist project seeking to understand how men and women negotiate gendered relations in the context of heterosexual intimate partner relationships. The research draws on individual semi-structured interviews conducted with six men and six women aged between 25 and 40, who had been in a heterosexual intimate relationship for at least two years, thus having experience in the area of interest. A feminist poststructural discourse analysis was used to attend to the gendered power relations and dominant discourses that enabled and constrained subjectivities and positioning for the men and women. This research indicates that whilst equality and women’s empowerment are popularised ideals, the lived reality is quite different. In both their own gendered subjectivities and gendered performances in their intimate heterosexual relationships, men and women are navigating the positions/roles on offer in hegemonic masculinity, emphasised femininity and neoliberal postfeminist ‘choice’ femininity that are both enabled and constrained by heteronormativity. Heteronormativity produces discourses, subjectivities and positioning that are so dominant they are invisible, and are taken up as one’s own individualised choices. Social sanctions make resisting or developing new positions difficult. The result is the continuing enactment of traditional gendered roles in intimate heterosexual relationships, rather than negotiating new positioning, which is reproducing inequality and the continued subordination of women

Do calcium supplements prevent postmenopausal osteoporotic fractures?

Calcium supplementation (1000-1200 mg daily) decreases menopause-related bone loss and reduces the rate of vertebral and non- vertebral fractures. Calcium is more efficacious in conjunction with vitamin D (700-800 IU daily), particularly in elderly patients, who have a high rate of vitamin D deficiency (strength of recommendation: A, based on randomized controlled trials)

Reference gene selection and RNA preservation protocol in the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, for gene expression studies

This work was supported by a Knowledge Transfer Network BBSRC Industrial Case (#414 BB/L502467/1) studentship in association Zoetis Inc.Peer reviewedPostprin

Factors Constraining Labor Force Participation of Rural Oklahoma Women

Housing, Interior Design and Consumer Studie

Fieldwork Educators\u27 Perspectives: Professional Behavior Attributes of Level II Fieldwork Students

A review of the literature revealed a lack of consistent expectations for professional behaviors required of level II fieldwork students. This study sought to obtain a consensus of perspectives of level II fieldwork educators by asking, “What are the essential professional behavior attributes for level II fieldwork students?” Delphi methodology was used to collect data in two rounds of surveys. In the first, 49 fieldwork educators listed professional behavior attributes they believed to be important for fieldwork students. The data was synthesized into themes for distribution in the second survey, which were identified as essential, non-essential, or site-specific by 53 participants. The 218 different professional behavior attributes provided by Survey 1 respondents were categorized into 22 attribute themes. In Survey 2, 20 of the 22 attribute themes reached a consensus level of at least 75% and five reached 100% agreement. These results show a current perspective of what fieldwork educators value in level II fieldwork students and may be informative to occupational therapy faculty, students, and fieldwork educators

Quantification of indirect pathway inhibition by the adenosine A 2a antagonist SYN115 in Parkinson disease

Adenosine A(2a) receptor antagonists reduce symptom severity in Parkinson disease (PD) and animal models. Rodent studies support the hypothesis that A(2a) antagonists produce this benefit by reducing the inhibitory output of the basal ganglia indirect pathway. One way to test this hypothesis in humans is to quantify regional pharmacodynamic responses with cerebral blood flow (CBF) imaging. That approach has also been proposed as a tool to accelerate pharmaceutical dose-finding, but has not yet been applied in humans to drugs in development. We successfully addressed both these aims with a perfusion MRI study of the novel adenosine A(2a) antagonist SYN115. During a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in 21 PD patients on levodopa but no agonists, we acquired pulsed arterial spin labeling MRI at the end of each treatment period. SYN115 produced a highly significant decrease in thalamic CBF, consistent with reduced pallidothalamic inhibition via the indirect pathway. Similar decreases occurred in cortical regions whose activity decreases with increased alertness and externally-focused attention, consistent with decreased self-reported sleepiness on SYN115. Remarkably, we also derived quantitative pharmacodynamic parameters from the CBF responses to SYN115. These results suggested that the doses tested were on the low end of the effective dose range, consistent with clinical data reported separately. We conclude that (1) SYN115 enters the brain and exerts dose-dependent regional effects, (2) the most prominent of these effects is consistent with deactivation of the indirect pathway as predicted by preclinical studies; and (3) perfusion MRI can provide rapid, quantitative, clinically relevant dose-finding information for pharmaceutical development

RNA interference in the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis : Approaches for sustained gene knockdown and evidence of involvement of Dicer-2 and Argonaute2

This work was supported by a Knowledge Transfer Network BBSRC Industrial Case (# BB/L502467/1) studentship in association with Zoetis Inc. We acknowledge the expert help provided by Nikki Kernell (Zoetis Inc., Kalamazoo) during the feeding trials. Declarations of interest: none.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Haptic Stabilization of Posture in Adults With Intellectual Disabilities Using a Nonrigid Tool

This study assessed the effects of haptic information on the postural control systems of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID), through the use of a nonrigid tool that we call the ""anchor system"" (e.g., ropes attached to graduated weights that rest on the floor). Eleven participants with ID were asked to stand, blindfolded, on a balance beam placed at two heights (10 and 20 cm), for 30 s, while using the anchor system at two weights. The lighter anchor weight appeared to improve the individuals' balance in contrast to a control task condition; therefore, we concluded that haptic sensitivity was more significant in helping to orient the body than was the anchor's mechanical support alone.CNPqFAPESPPROEX/UNES

Oculus Rift Application for Training Drone Pilots

The research described in this paper, focuses on a virtual reality headset system that integrates the Oculus Rift VR headset with a low cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to allow for drone teleoperation and telepresence using the Robot Operating System (ROS). We developed a system that allows the pilot to fly an AR Drone through natural head movements translated to a set of flight commands. The system is designed to be easy to use for the purposes of training drone pilots. The user simply has to move their head and these movements are translated to the quadrotor which then turns in that direction. Altitude control is implemented using a Wii Nunchuck joystick for altitude adjustment. The users use the Oculus Rift headset a 2D video stream from the AR Drone, which is then turned into a 3D image stream and presented to them on the headset