Frontiers of reason: on epistemology and mystery

This thesis has two parts. The first part is a development of Dionysius the Areopagites' theophanic notion of being, what I call his notion of the mystery of being-as-ikon, in relation to his epistemology and theory of language. The second part is an application of this notion to certain epistemological and linguistic issues in western philosophy. The purpose of the thesis is to develop a Dionysian philosophical theology through the notion of being-as-ikon in dialogue with western philosophy

Engineering Student Outcomes for Grades 9-12

The following research study was conducted during the 2005 – 2006 academic year. Its purpose is to help the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education determine those engineering outcomes that should be studied in high school when the high school student intends to pursue engineering in college. The results of the study will also be used to determine those engineering student outcomes that all technology education high school students should learn in order to aid them in becoming more technologically literate. A modified Delphi approach as used for the study. The participants were a panel of experts consisting of engineers, engineering educators, or those expertly familiar with engineering education such as a government expert or learned society employee. The modified Delphi study ran for six rounds of inquiry during which the panel of experts reached consensus on the identity and importance of 43 engineering student outcomes for use in pre-engineering high school student learning. The panel of experts also reached consensus on the relative importance of three of seven groupings of engineer student outcomes for high school

Impact of intermediate volumes and cell diameters on cell recovery: A predictive model for autologous immunotherapy workflows

CAR-T immunotherapy workflows can vary from process to process and customer to customer. Variables that can alter overall processing efficiency include cell type, cell diameter, input cell numbers, input volumes, final volumes, and number of rinses, among others. These process-specific differences can make it difficult to estimate outputs, and equally challenging to select which processing parameters to use for which workflow. We hypothesized that intermediate processing volumes might vary as the size of the cell diameter increases, to accommodate the larger pellet created during centrifugation and other processing steps. From this, we developed a mathematical model and designed a study to test the validity of our hypothesis. Testing involved using Sepax™ C-Pro CultureWash v432 software to assess the calculated intermediate volume as a function of cell diameter by looking at percent recovery of the harvest. As shown in Equation 1 below, we predict the minimum intermediate volume required for the total number of cells to be function of cell size, total cell number, and an additional 20% buffer volume. Recoveries exceed 88% on a linear range up to 4 billion cells that are ~16 µm in size, where the formula holds true. While recoveries dropped to 68% for larger cell harvests, with a more optimized parameter set (e.g., altered flow rates), we rescued 86% on average for 6 billion cells. In summary, the model and associated data developed on the Sepax™ C-Pro around intermediate volumes provides a framework for future decision-making as scientists develop and adapt workflows to serve novel immunotherapy applications. Future work will address other variables of interest such as additional cell types, pump speed, and larger input cell numbers. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Adolescents’ preferences for sexual dimorphism are influenced by relative exposure to male and female faces

Exposure to a particular population of faces can increase ratings of the normality and attractiveness of similar-looking faces. Such exposure can also refine the perceived boundaries of that face population, such that other faces are more readily perceived as dissimilar. We predicted that relatively less exposure to opposite-sex faces, as experienced by children at single-sex compared with mixed-sex schools, would decrease ratings of the attractiveness of sexual dimorphism in opposite-sex faces (that is, boys at single-sex schools would show a decreased preference for feminised faces, and girls at single-sex schools would show a decreased preference for masculinised faces). Consistent with this prediction, girls at single-sex compared with mixed-sex schools demonstrated significantly stronger preferences for facial femininity in both male and female faces. Boys at single-sex compared with mixed-sex schools demonstrated marginally stronger preferences for facial masculinity in male faces, but did not differ in their ratings of female faces. These effects were attenuated among some single-sex school pupils by the presence of adolescent opposite-sex siblings. These data add to the evidence that long-term exposure to a particular face population can influence judgements of other faces, and contribute to our understanding of the factors leading to individual differences in face preferences

Age, puberty and attractiveness judgments in adolescents

Previous work has suggested that judgments of the attractiveness of some facial and vocal features change during adolescence. Here, over 70 Czech adolescents aged 12–14 made forced-choice attractivenessjudgments on adolescent faces manipulated in symmetry, averageness and femininity, and on adolescent opposite-sex voices manipulated in fundamental frequency (perceived as pitch), and completed questionnaires on pubertal development. Consistent with typical adult judgments, adolescents selected the symmetric, average and feminine male and female faces as more attractive significantly more often than the asymmetric, non-average and masculine faces respectively. Moreover, preferences for symmetric faces were positively associated with adolescents’ age and stage of pubertal development. Unexpectedly, voice pitch did not significantly influence adolescents’ attractivenessjudgments. Collectively, these findings present new evidence using refined methodology that adolescent development is related to variation in attractivenessjudgments

The social context of tuberculosis treatment in urban risk groups in the United Kingdom: a qualitative interview study

Objectives: There is scant qualitative research into the experiences of tuberculosis treatment in urban risk groups with complex health and social needs in the UK. This study aimed to describe the social context of adherence to treatment in marginalised groups attending a major tuberculosis centre in London. Methods: Qualitative cross-sectional study using semi-structured interviews with patients receiving treatment for tuberculosis. Analytical frameworks aimed to reflect the role of broader social structures in shaping individual health actions. Results: Seventeen participants, the majority were homeless and had complex medical and social needs including, drug and alcohol use or immigration problems affecting entitlement to social welfare. Participants rarely actively chose not to take their medication but described a number of social and institutional barriers to adherence and their need for practical support. Many struggled with the physical aspects of taking medication and the side effects. Participants receiving DOT reported both positive and negative experiences reflecting type of DOT provider and culture of the organisation. Conclusions: There is a need for integrated care across drug, alcohol, HIV and homeless services in order to address complex clinical co-morbidities and social need which impact on patients’ ability to sustain a course of treatment

Transgenic mice expressing LHX3 transcription factor isoforms in the pituitary: Effects on the gonadotrope axis and sex-specific reproductive disease

The LHX3 transcription factor plays critical roles in pituitary and nervous system development. Mutations in the human LHX3 gene cause severe hormone deficiency diseases. The gene produces two mRNAs which can be translated to three protein isoforms. The LHX3a protein contains a central region with LIM domains and a homeodomain, and a carboxyl terminus with the major transactivation domain. LHX3b is identical to LHX3a except that it has a different amino terminus. M2-LHX3 lacks the amino terminus and LIM domains of LHX3a/b. In vitro experiments have demonstrated these three proteins have different biochemical and gene regulatory properties. Here, to investigate the effects of overexpression of LHX3 in vivo, the alpha glycoprotein subunit ( ΑGSU ) promoter was used to produce LHX3a, LHX3b, and M2-LHX3 in the pituitary glands of transgenic mice. Alpha GSU-beta galactosidase animals were generated as controls. Male ΑGSU-LHX3a and ΑGSU-LHX3b mice are infertile and die at a young age as a result of complications associated with obstructive uropathy including uremia. These animals have a reduced number of pituitary gonadotrope cells, low circulating gonadotropins, and possible sex hormone imbalance. Female ΑGSU-LHX3a and ΑGSU-LHX3b transgenic mice are viable but have reduced fertility. By contrast, ΑGSU-M2-LHX3 mice and control mice expressing beta galactosidase are reproductively unaffected. These overexpression studies provide insights into the properties of LHX3 during pituitary development and highlight the importance of this factor in reproductive physiology. J. Cell. Physiol. 212: 105–117, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/56051/1/21010_ftp.pd

Establishing a new service role in tuberculosis care: the tuberculosis link worker

Aim.  This paper is a report of a study to develop a social outreach model of care, including the role of a link worker in developing collaborative care pathways, for marginalized groups with tuberculosis. Background.  Social risk factors such as homelessness and substance misuse are associated with poor treatment outcomes. Models of interprofessional practice to address the health and social care of patients are needed to improve outcomes. Methods.  A process evaluation involving a prospective cohort study of 100 patients and interviews with eight agencies involved in their care was conducted in London between January 2003 and April 2005. Outcome measures included a profile of patient need to guide service development; referrals to care providers; goal attainment; social improvement and treatment outcomes; and agencies’ views on the benefits of link working. Findings.  The median age of the sample was 32·4 years and 62% were males. Reasons for referral to the link worker included housing need (56%); welfare benefits (42%); immigration (29%) and clinical management issues (28%). One-third of the patients were referred to other agencies. Goals, as agreed in the care plan, were attained totally or partially for 88% (59/67) of patients and 78% of patients successfully completed treatment. Barriers to attaining goals included service criteria which excluded some groups of patients and, in some cases, a patient’s inability to follow a course of action. Conclusion.  Link workers can mitigate some of the social risk factors that complicate the treatment of tuberculosis by enabling integrated health and social care