The Social Sharing of Hallucinations

Abstract In this dissertation, I explore the social sharing of hallucinations and address the primary question of the lived-experience of this phenomenon from multiple perspectives. What is it like to speak about and hear about hallucinated experience outside of professional contexts? I interviewed 23 individuals regarding their experience sharing hallucinations with others (Experiencers) or hearing about hallucinations from individuals who experienced them (Listeners). Data were gathered from community as well as clinical samples. A wide variety of hallucination contexts were present, ranging from sleep paralysis, post-partum psychosis, drug-ingestion, mental illnesses, medically-related conditions (stroke, fever), healing, religious visions, as well as encounters with ghosts, archetypes, and deities. I analyzed these data using a hermeneutic-phenomenological perspective and process, following Max van Manen’s style of using this methodology. Through analysis, four Facets were recognized: Care, Sense-Making, Dual-Processing, and Ontological Cross-Bleed. Care Facet represents the explicit and hidden experiences and expressions of care that Listeners and Experiences share or withhold. For Experiencers, the Sense-Making Facet represents experiences of sense-making related to determinations of whether hallucinations are real, why they occur, and what they mean. Listener experiences of sense-making include shock, confusion, and processes of curiosity and determination regarding the hallucination. Dual-Processing Facet explores the dual experiential response many Listeners described when hearing about a hallucination. This response often involves interior thoughts and reactions that are masked from exterior representation. Finally, the Ontological Cross-Bleed Facet explores the transition that occurs during social sharing in which the hallucination transfers from being an object of consciousness only for the individual having the hallucination, to an object of consciousness for a Listener as well. Results of this study can help clinical psychologists tailor treatments and recommendations to individuals who are involved in related conversations and can also provide useful knowledge to community members who themselves are involved in the sharing, either from Experiencer or Listener standpoints

Exploring the Cybersecurity Hiring Gap

Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing segments of information technology. The Commonwealth of Virginia has 30,000 cyber-related jobs open because of the lack of skilled candidates. The study is necessary because some business managers lack strategies for hiring cybersecurity professionals for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contracts. The purpose of this case study was to explore strategies business managers in DoD contracting companies used to fill cybersecurity positions. The conceptual framework used for this study was the organizational learning theory. A purposeful sample of 8 successful business managers with cybersecurity responsibilities working for U.S. DoD contracting companies that successfully hired cybersecurity professionals in Hampton Roads, VA participated in the study. Data collection included semistructured interviews and a review of job postings from the companies represented by the participants. Coding, content, and thematic analysis were the methods used to analyze data. Within-methods triangulation was used to add accuracy to the analysis. At the conclusion of the data analysis, two main themes emerged: maintaining contractual requirements and a strong recruiting process. Contractual requirements guided how hiring managers hired cybersecurity personnel and executed the contract. A strong hiring process added efficiency to the hiring process. The findings of the study may contribute to positive social change by encouraging the recruitment and retention of cybersecurity professionals. Skilled cybersecurity professionals may safeguard businesses and society from Internet crime, thereby encouraging the safe exchange and containment of data

STRENGTHENING ECONOMIC SECURITY IN THE FORCE: RECOMMENDATION FOR BASELINE FINANCIAL READINESS SCREENING FOR INITIAL ACCESSION CANDIDATES

In late 2021, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin directed expanded financial readiness resources for all Service members. Part of this provision included developing a financial assessment for Service members to help them assess their overall financial well-being and develop strategies to manage their financial affairs. What was missing from this guidance was a provision for an initial accession assessment to provide a baseline for each Service member. Without this baseline data, there is no way to track the improvement of Service members’ financial readiness over time, or to assess the effectiveness of financial literacy education programs. This thesis reviews National and Defense policy, from United States Code to Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Armed Services’ policies. The review identified gaps in these policies related to requirements to collect data for the purpose of assessing the performance of and improving the effectiveness of financial literacy education programs. Neither the United States Code nor the Department of Defense and Service policies require the collection of baseline data. The product of this thesis is a financial readiness screening matrix, which assesses the (1) financial literacy, (2) debt-to-prospective income ratio, and (3) credit score of initial assessment candidates. The recommendation is for the Department of Defense to adopt this model and initiate a baseline data capture program.Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Prediction of selenium in Spring Creek and Fossil Creek, Colorado

2014 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.The role and importance of selenium as an environmental contaminant has gained widespread attention among research scientists, natural resource managers, and federal and state regulatory agencies during the last two decades. Selenium has been listed on Colorado's Clean Water Act Section 303(d) List of Impaired Waters for Spring Creek and Fossil Creek in the city of Fort Collins. Selenium is one of the most hazardous of the trace metals, following mercury, with a narrow range between dietary deficiency and toxicity. Identifying selenium sources and understanding the environmental processes controlling how selenium is introduced to streams is critical to managing and mitigating the effects of elevated concentrations. A modeling approach was used to predict selenium concentrations with exploratory variables including 15 geospatial landscape parameters, precipitation, and streamflow for 5 sub-watersheds within Spring Creek and Fossil Creek watersheds. A correlation analysis was applied with surface water selenium concentrations and the better exploratory variables identified. Selected variables were used in a multiple linear regression model. Various combinations of different variables determined the best performing model, and included the area of shale, area of moderate to strongly alkaline soils, and the length of streams with an adjusted R2 of 0.99, [Se µg/L = 24.038 + 9.516(ALK) - 0.782(STR) -1.039(SHL)]; where ALK = area (km2) of moderate to strongly alkaline soils; STR = length (km) of streams; SHL = area (km2) of shale. Additional multiple linear regression models were developed in ArcGIS® using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression, and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) with area weighted geospatial variables. The best performing OLS model used only area (km2) of wetlands, with an adjusted R2 of 0.98, [Se µg/L = -6.584 + 170.509(wetlands)]. Similarly, the best performing GWR model included area of wetlands, with an adjusted R2 of 0.98. The second best performing GWR model included area of shale, with an adjusted R2 of 0.66. Limitations of this model include a very small sample size of water quality sampling stations, which limits the statistical power of multiple regression models used. Additional techniques applied in basin delineations with landscape element coupling for identification of hydrologic and/or chemical response units can further develop the platform for future modeling efforts targeting unmonitored watersheds

The Social Network of Early English Drama: A Digital Humanities Lesson Plan

The Folger Shakespeare Library\u27s recently launched Digital Anthology of Early Modern English Drama (EMED) provides searchable, TEI-encoded, digital editions of 403 English plays first staged in London between1576 and 1642. A central task for participants at the Folger\u27s 2016 summer workshop Beyond Access: Early Modern Digital Texts in the Classroom was to devise pedagogical uses for the Digital Anthology. Our team focused on the metadata that the editors of the anthology attached to each play—its chronology, author, printer, publisher, and the theater company that initially staged it—in order to foreground an aspect of these dramas that is crucial yet very difficult to teach at the undergraduate level: the social network in which they took shape as both performances and texts

Controlling and characterizing microstructure in lithium-ion battery electrodes

Lithium-ion battery electrodes consist of a functional composite containing electroactive solid particles where redox reactions occur, conductive additives, a polymeric binder to provide mechanical support, and void regions filled with electrolyte during cell fabrication. While much of the focus in the battery materials field is on the chemistry of the electroactive materials that dictate the fundamental limits on the energy density of the cell, the morphology of the electroactive materials and the microstructure of the electrode also have a significant influence on the resulting electrochemical properties. An example of an electrode microstructure is shown in Figure 1. For certain operating conditions and electrode architectures the transport of ions through the electrode microstructure can limit the performance of the cell, which means that controlling and understanding the microstructure can open up battery designs that improve the performance and energy density at the cell level. This strategy should be broadly applicable to multiple battery materials. In this paper, we will describe progress in our lab in synthesizing battery electroactive particles of controllable morphology and processing these particles into composite electrodes. The size, shape, and polydispersity of the particles results in different packing in the electrode and thus different electrode microstructures, while the active material composition is kept constant. Characterization of these electrodes to elucidate microstructure effects on electrochemical performance will also be described, in particular how different transport limitations become relevant for different electrode geometries. Measurements of the tortuosity of the electrodes will be detailed, and the conditions will be determined where transport is limited either within the electroactive particles or through the electrode microstructure. The electrodes described in this paper are functional composites for energy storage applications which is of relevance to the topical theme of this conference. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Prospectus, March 13, 2002

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2002/1009/thumbnail.jp

The relationship between the Welsh language and higher education participation and experience

Both the Welsh language and Welsh medium higher education are key policy agendas for the Welsh Government. Recent and notable policy developments in these areas include the commitment towards, and the expansion of Welsh medium higher education and the establishment of Y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol in 2011, alongside the passing of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. Such developments have resulted in the Welsh language and Welsh medium higher education alike becoming increasingly embedded within the organisational structure of the higher education sector in Wales. As a result, the Welsh language now enjoys greater visibility and status across the HE sector than it has ever before. Despite such significant policy developments that has, and continues to directly impact the Welsh language, Welsh medium higher education and Welsh speaking students across the HE sector in Wales, rather surprisingly, there is a dearth of empirical research that exists on bilingual Welsh-English speaking students at this level. This study addresses this lacuna and examines the relationship between the Welsh language and higher education participation and experiences amongst current bilingual undergraduate students. By foregrounding language as the central focus of bilingual students’ higher education (choices and) experiences, the study explores how and to what extent (the Welsh) language is situated and negotiated within the various aspects of their university life: namely their learning/academic and their social lives and experiences. The study employs a mixed method approach. It combines quantitative online survey (n=943), secondary data analysis of official statistics, alongside qualitative, in-depth face-to-face interviews (n=36) with Welsh speaking undergraduate students. To date, this is the largest piece of empirical research that explores Welsh speaking students’ experiences of higher education. The study demonstrates that for these bilingual students the higher education sector becomes a site of constant negotiation between two languages – between the Welsh language, a minoritized language, and English, the lingua academia. Language choices and considerations are continuously negotiated and navigated by these students throughout their time at university and are not a fixed nor a pre-accounted choice simply made before arriving at HE. This is particularly true of bilingual students’ academic and learning experiences. The study demonstrates how the Welsh medium learning experiences of students are often problematised due to the various institutional and pedagogical challenges and barriers they frequently encounter in their attempts to engage with Welsh medium higher education, and to use Welsh as an academic language. The negotiating of two languages for academic purposes alongside the continuous navigation of these various barriers typify the bilingual student’s learning experience at university. Implications of these findings toward policy and practice are discussed. Additionally, several recommendations are made aimed at developing and improving the Welsh medium learning experiences of bilingual students at this level

Expression of Interleukin-1 and Temporomandibular Disorder: Contemporary Review of the Literature

Objective: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are a group of conditions affecting the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), leading to jaw dysfunction, joint and muscle pain, and a decrease in quality of life. A communication network of pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators called cytokines maintains the homeostasis of the TMJ. This review will focus on the Interleukin (IL) family of cytokines, which have been quantified in TMJ synovial fluids in a variety of studies. IL-1α and IL-1β have pro-inflammatory effects, while the endogenous receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) inhibits the pro-inflammatory effects of IL-1. Methods: A literature search (2006–2016) to identify eligible studies was completed using the PubMed database. Studies identified used saline irrigation to quantify cytokine profiles in synovial fluid of healthy and/or dysfunctional joints. Results: The initial search yielded 111 articles, 5 of which met the inclusion criteria after inter-reviewer discussion. Conclusions: Articles that compared IL-1 concentrations in TMD vs. control groups found significant differences